Happy 4th of July! Aside from my “Love USA” t-shirt, it hardly feels like the 4th in Munich, although one could argue that the biergarten atmosphere makes every day feel like the 4th of July! Today, I took a walking tour, ate in a biergarten, watched some surfing (yes, in Munich!), and got a birds-eye view of Marienplatz from atop St. Peter’s church spire.
I slept for a glorious 10.5 hours last night and woke up feeling like a million bucks like I got run over by a truck. Seriously. Not a great way to start the first full day of vacation. I took some allergy medicine (thankfully, I’ve decided to start packing a small pharmacy when I travel out of the country) and felt better as they day progressed. Breakfast was in the hotel lounge, complete with an international version of the New York Times and American-style eggs. In fact, my hotel couldn’t be more American if it were dropped in the middle of New York City. Everything is in English, the room is American-sized (read: large), and it has American-style bedding and bath products. I expect that won’t be the case in the rest of my hotels here.
After breakfast, I set out to wander towards Marienplatz again. I was planning to take a walking tour that started at 10:45, so I walked around and then bought my ticket for that. I had just enough time to climb the 300 steps to the top of St. Peter’s church tower before the tour. From the platform at the top, you have 360 degree views around Munich.
The walking tour started a little late, thanks to a no-show tour guide. Once we got started, we were just in time to watch the glockenspiel on the New Town Hall in Marienplatz. The glockenspiel (glocken = bell; spiel = story/play) performs three times a day during the summer, and tells the story of a wedding with a friendly joust between the bride and groom’s families. From there, we walked the streets of Munich to the English Garden, where we watched surfers riding the small (but hugely popular) rapids on the Eisbach (brook). The garden forms one of the largest urban parks in the world and also serves as Munich’s outdoor summer playground. Nude sunbathing is very much a thing here, and though I did not feel the need to participate in this local custom, there were plenty of people taking part!
When the tour ended, I stayed in the English Garden to have lunch at the Chinese Tower biergarten (the second largest in Munich with seating for 7,500 people). It is a traditional biergarten where you walk through a series of stalls to get your food and beer and then sit in the garden to enjoy it. Kind of like an outdoor food court. I had a breaded pork schnitzel with country potatoes and a “spezi”, which is Coke mixed with Fanta (they love their Fanta here!). I settled in to relax and regroup at a table in the shade and soaked in the biergarten ambience.
My last stop of the afternoon was at the Asam Church, designed by two brothers from the Asam family to be their private church. The church itself blends in with the adjoining houses and looks unobtrusive from the outside. I couldn’t believe the beauty behind the door! The walls are gilded in gold, the ceiling has a beautiful mural, and the dark benches just beg you to sit and marvel. Being just 30 feet wide, there’s not a lot of room inside, but it was absolutely breathtaking. From there, I walked back to my hotel and relaxed for a while before enjoying the complimentary happy hour in the lounge for “dinner”.
Traveling with Laura 