For our team leadership meeting, I convinced my colleagues to hold it in Munich, where we have a small office. This made sense as there were two of us coming from the US and two from Europe so it really didn’t matter whether it was in the US or Europe.
Wed 8-Jan – Thu 9-Jan. I was excited to head back to Germany and, in particular, Munich as I hadn’t been to the city since our Christmas market trip way back in 2010. I decided to spend a few extra days of personal time. I flew out Wednesday night, arriving at Munich airport a bit before my scheduled 10:20 AM arrival. Immigration was quick but I had to wait a while for my bag. After grabbing the S-Bahn train to the center of Munich, I arrived just after noon. I dropped my bag at my hotel, the wonderful and amazingly located Living Hotel Das Viktualienmarkt. The hotel is right across the street from the Viktualienmarkt and maybe five minutes from the Marienplatz. My room was large and even had a kitchenette (and free soda and beer in the fridge). After grabbing a wonderful bratwurst at a stall in the Viktualienmarkt, I wandered around town for a bit, stopped by the Frauenkirche cathedral and grabbed my first pint at Augustiner Klosterwit. After a bit more wandering and some shopping, I headed back to my hotel to check in and unpack.
While this was my third trip to Munich, the first being the end of my first trip to Europe way back in 2000, I had never been to the famous Hofbräuhaus. I had always heard it was super touristy but I figured I’d give it a shot this afternoon. To be clear, it is super touristy but was a great place. I had a couple of good beers, I prefer the dark “dunkel” versus the light “helles”, and a pretzel. As it was getting to be early evening, I headed around the corner for my first Schweinshaxe (roast pork knuckle) of the trip at Haxengrille (it was good but the others I has was better), wandered a bit more and stopped for a great local beer at Giesinger Bräu’s Stehausschanke Viktualienmarkt spot. It was an early night back to the hotel after a great first day in Munich.
Fri 10-Jan. This was my day to visit Andechs Monastery, basically for their brewery. I had wanted to go there for a long time. After a delicious Schmalznudel “fried dough” at Cafe Frischut, I grabbed the S-8 S-Bahn right at Marienplatz for the 45-minute or so ride to Herrsching (the end of the line). There I went and saw the lake before hopping the bus to the monastery itself. There is a nice hike as well. I should have taken that but I thought it would be snowy. It wasn’t and I missed a nice walk through the woods. After visiting the church, I settled in for some wonderful beer, an apfelweisse (apple juice and hefeweizen shandy which was really interesting), some weinerwurst and sauerkraut, and some obatzda cheese dip.
I grabbed the 3:30 bus over to Staneberg and hopped the S-6 S-Bahn back to Munich, arriving around 4:30. After wandering a bit in the evening light, I grabbed a dinner of sauerbraten at the Weisses Brauhaus im Tal (home of Schneider Weisse beer). After dinner, I headed out to the wonderful Higgins Ale Works. This was a great spot with some great beer. The couple who owns it is even from NJ so it was great to talk to them for quite some time.
Sat 11-Jan. I wanted to do another day trip. I had thought about the Zugspitze, in the Alps and the highest point in Germany, but decided maybe not in January. Instead, I hopped the 90-minute train (a Czech train headed to Prague) up to Regensburg on the Danube River. This was a great town to wander around in. I visited St. Peter’s Cathedral, grabbed a bratwurst at the famous Wurstkuchl (possibly dates from 1146) and walked across the famous Steinerne Brucke (Stone Bridge). After more wandering, including a visit to St. Jakob’s Scottish church, lunch was some wonderful Weinerschnitzel at Bischoff am Dom. After more wandering, a walk back across the bridge for a flight of beer at Spitalgarten and a stop for another flight at Regensburger Weissbrauhaus, I headed back to the station for my train back to Munich. Back in Munich, dinner was cheese spaetzle and beer at Ayinger am Platzl. It was very cool as the seven of us at the bar were all from different countries and I ended up talking with an Argentinian/Irish couple for a long time. After another quick stop at a packed Giesinger, is was back to the hotel.
Sun 12-Jan. After very nice morning run along the Isar and some yummy donuts and coffee at Rischart Cafe on Marienplatz, I headed up to Odeonplatz to grab the subway out to the Transport Center of the Deutsches Museum. This was a cool spot with lots of cars, including a European “Mustang” (Ford Capri), some cool trains and a few other exhibits. After a short walk, I grabbed another Schweinshaxe at Augustiner Keller (best of the trip) for a late lunch. This location had a great spot for a biergarten in nicer weather. Even in January, there were people out playing Eisstock (kind of like curling). After lunch, I grabbed a bus to the east side of the Isar River. After wandering the neighborhood and a quick visit to the Holy Cross Church, I popped into BrewsLi brewery. Up next was a walk over the amazing Hop Dog craft beer bar. I had a great time talking to the owner who was another metalhead and had a yummy hot dog for dinner. After a walk back to the center of town and a quick weissbier at Zum Franziskaner (was my favorite beer when I lived in Germany but has since been sold to what is now AB InBev), it was back to the hotel for the night
Mon 13-Jan. After another run along the Isar, I wandered back to Zum Franziskaner for their 10 AM opening and Weisswurst and Weissbier (and a pretzel) breakfast. Next up, I headed across the street to tour the Residenz, home to Bavarian kings. This was a nice way to spend a couple of hours and I hadn’t visited before. After a quick Spaten at the Spatenhaus and a Doner Kebab, I headed back to the Hofbrauhaus. Here I ended up sharing a table with a fellow MSU grad and his friend from Washington state and had a great conversation. As it was getting closer to evening, my colleagues were arriving soon. I met one at the hotel, we wandered a bit around town, and then all four of us headed to dinner at Der Pschorr (one of the Hacker-Pschorr restaurants). I had a (what ended up being the last of my trip) Schweineshaxe.
Tue 14-Jan – Thu 16-Jan. Today was our first meeting day. It was great to see the Munich office (quite small in an old building) and meet the people there. For dinner, we joined the Munich people at Hoiz Neo-Brasserie. This was very good (for the most part). I wasn’t a big fan of the hazelnut schnapps though the chartreuse was quite good. Unfortunately, this marked the full onset of what was almost assuredly norovirus later that evening. It was not a pleasant night. Wednesday I just stayed in the hotel, joining our meeting from there. I did pop out for a couple of pretzels for lunch and then a quick stop by the supermarket (back to a Tegut – our main supermarket in Marburg) for some dinner (yogurt and some whole wheat cookies) later. While Wednesday night was still rough, I was much better Thursday morning to the point of actually going into the office. That evening, my European colleagues headed back home while my NYC office mate and I had a couple of beers (including a new Bavarian dunkel) back at Ayinger am Platz and then some weinerschnitzel at Andechers am Dom.
Fri 17-Jan. For a final morning in Munich, I still wasn’t feeling back to 100%. I packed up, skipped breakfast, wandered a bit, and did some final shopping for Suzanne. While my flight wasn’t until 4:10, I ended up grabbing the S-Bahn to the airport early and spending a couple of hours having lunch in the lounge. My flight back was fine, no upgrade but an empty middle seat. Immigration was super quick and even with waiting for by checked bag, I was home an hour after touchdown. (In fact, it turns out there was a kid we knew from Scouts on my plane. I was home before he exited baggage claim. Global Entry really paid off.)
Summary. Besides getting quite ill for a couple of days, I had a great time. Being back in Munich was wonderful and I really enjoyed being able to visit there again. Finally getting down to Andechs was something I had wanted to do for a long time. I’d love to go back to Munich with Suzanne and Kyle but maybe in the Spring or Fall when we could hit up some biergartens and the Alps.
