To make up for our business-heavy day yesterday, today we were officially free from all official business! Instead, we went into Munich for a tour and some sight-seeing.

I had gotten used to knowing my way around Augsburg, and getting dropped into the middle of Munich was definitely a shock. The city is massive (horizontally, if not vertically), and today it was absolutely packed with people. There was some sort of religious festival going on, and it seemed there was a parade on nearly every street.

Our tour began in Marienplatz, the so-called “heart of the city.” It houses the new city hall and accompanying Glockenspiel, featuring colorful figurines that revolve three times a day to play out a famous Munich folk story. We also visited the city food market and beer garden (the so-called “stomach of the city”), as well as the famous Hofbrauhaus. At the end of the tour, our guide showed us a map of the city, and she told us it was nearly impossible to get lost here.

We spent the next four hours proving her wrong.

During our free time, we climbed over 300 steps to reach the top of St. Peter’s Church. We got some incredible pictures, as well as some very tired legs. The rest of the day was spent eating far too much, getting lost, and buying wildly overpriced souvenirs. So, a pretty great day.

We think we might come back to Munich on our free day, because there’s just so much there we haven’t seen yet. I definitely want to see the English Gardens, and I’d like to learn more about the history of the city as well. At the very least, just sitting in a cafe and people-watching promises to be a pretty good time.