Day 1
We arrived in Munich at 1.30pm local time. The 6 hour flight from Doha was a breeze and we were starting to get exited about the trip ahead.
We slowly worked our way through customs and caught a taxi to the City. The driver new little English other than the cost to get to Munich (70€) which left Ryan and I talking crap amongst ourselves in the back seat and enjoying the high speeds of the autobahn.
We checked into the Europaischer Hof opposite Hauptbahnhof Central Station
and connected to wifi with no issues. I couldn't believe how easy it was to contact Sherri through Messenger and speak with the little monk, but it made me immediately home sick for my family and I would have to battle a fair bit of anxiety for the rest of the night.
We cleaned up for dinner and beers at the Augustine Braustuben beer hall, which apposed to Hofbrauhaus in Marienplatz that attracts a lot of tourists, this beer hall attracts local uni students and residents. The atmosphere in the hall was chaotic, the place was full of loud German men drinking steins at long tables shouting and singing, it was actually a little confronting at first. We grabbed a quiet spot in a corner and ordered a stein of larger that set us back €5.40 and a half pork knuckle with potato dumplings and sauerkraut for €9.30 and it was amazing! We enjoyed a few beers with some young American guys who had scrapped a few dollars together for their euro trip, we even shouted them a beer.
Leaving the beer hall feeling extremely groggy largely because of the beer but somewhat attributed to jet lag, we decided to make most of our first night and stroll into Marienplatz. I was immediately overwhelmed by the stunning architecture and amazing plazas that wrapped the streets into forecourts creating the most usable balanced public spaces that complimented the architecture perfectly. The care and detail taken to create such an amazing public realm humbled me and I quickly became absorbed by it all.
As the sun set the street lighting brighten everything and the city took on a new radiance.
Ryan and I had a couple more drinks before calling it a night.