Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2010
Gingerbread Hearts
A tradition for Oktoberfest-Can you translate?(Photos have been added to Onolzheim Entry Now..just click previous entry)
With Dan & Marilyn off to Onolzheim, Isabel & Jens met us at our hotel to take us on a walking tour of Old Munich. Jens told us that Munich is really a young city, only about 500 years old.....nothing like most other European cities.
Jens took us to the Augustiner restaurant for a traditional breakfast of weiswurst (white sausage), sweet mustard and pretzels. I've always loved pretzels, and I'm in pretzel heaven here. They are everywhere in sizes from about as big as your hand up to a foot and a half across. Nothing better than a stein of good German bier and a pretzel for me. The Augustiner is huge, beautiful and the oldest restaurant in Munich.
We visited the Frauen Kirche, which is a huge cathedral with two tall spires at the entrance. We toured inside and it was beautiful. There was a very large crucifix hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the church. We then went to the famous Marienplatz, the most famous platz in Munich. This is where the large and ornate city hall is located. It has a
Sunday Parade
Downtown Munich clock tower with the animated glockenspiel which moves on the hour at many hours. We arrived there shortly before 2:00 and waited for the action, but unfortunately, it doesn't do it at 2:00 (14:00)....Dadgumit!
Jens then took us to the Old St. Peter Church, called Alten Peter. There you can climb to the top of the tower for excellent views of the city. Little did I know just how high it was or that the only way up is climbing a narrow stairway all the way to the top.....11 floors! People were huffing & puffing after only 3 floors. Thankfully, the stairway was so narrow you had to stop at times to let people come down before you could continue up. By the time we got to the top my heart was pounding like a jackhammer. I was glad to hear that Jan, Jens and Isa said that their hearts were racing, too. (not just the old overweight guy!) I was kind of proud that I did it without a massive heart event....just kidding! The views were outstanding and Jens told us about the many things we could see from there.
It was now time for Isabel to
drive home to Stuttgart, about 2-1/2 hours away, it being Sunday and having to prepare to teach school on Monday. We sure had a great time with her. Thanks to her, our trip was so much better. I wished I could have brought her with us for the balance of our time here. She introduced us to Jens & Marco and made our time here so much more enjoyable; not to mention how nice it was to have an expert interpreter for a couple days! It was great to reconnect with her and I hope we see her again in the future...who knows, maybe on one of her frequent holidays in the US.
Jens then took us to the English Garden, which is the very large park in the center of the city. It really is huge and beautiful, with a river and several streams running through it. Muncheners, including Jens, love to come to the park to relax, get some exercise and get away from the hustle and bustle. There are even some nude sunbathers in part of the park. Near the entrance there is something very unique; guys surfing in the river. They created a large wave
for surfing by putting in some kind of cables and concrete at the bottom of the river. Jens said that even the top professional surfers struggle with this wave because you are always surfing into it. It's a cool scene. There were about 10 guys surfing it and a good size crowd watching.
We walked quite a distance into the English Garden to a place called the Chinese Tower. It is a tower in a pagoda type shape, surrounded by one of the largest beer gardens in the world. Up on the second floor of the tower, a band was playing German music and the place was jammed. We managed to get some beers (one of the great parts of Jens' tour is that he strategically plans 3 beer stops along the way) and sat down to enjoy the music.
After another long stroll through the park, Jens took us to a train station for a train ride back to our hotel. We said our goodbyes at the hotel while Jens was deciding whether he would walk over to the Oktoberfest to join some friends. I'm guessing he did!
Our visit to Munchen was made so much
Oberpollinger Store
Oldest store in Munich better by the world's best Munich tour guide.....Jens!
Postscript: October 16, 2010
I forgot to add a nice bit of info from our visit to Munich. We stayed at an absolutely wonderful hotel, Le Meridien. It was fantastic. The best part was getting to meet the doorman. His name is James. He was originally from Kenya and is now a German citizen, something he is very proud of. He spoke at least 3 languages and his English was excellent. He is always happy, outgoing and tries to make your stay wonderful. He succeeded with us!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 12; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0349s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
mr puggle
non-member comment
sehr gut
sehr gut!