Today we returned to Munich to have a pseudo-free day. The day began just like every other – waking up tired and quickly eating breakfast as we prepared to leave. We got on the train and departed, just like every other day, but about 20 minutes in, we decided to get off the train and switch cars to hopefully find seats. This was a mistake. We quickly found that the entire train was full, and when we tried to get back to our original spot, the train left and the group we split in two. We ended up waiting for at least 30 minutes to grab the next train, which was also packed. This delay ended up cutting into our tour time. What a start to the day.
The tour was shortened, but I still found it to be interesting. I envisioned Munich to be similar to a NYC or Philadelphia, but this was not the case. Like every other city that we visited in Germany, Munich had very few skyscrapers (BMW and Mercedes being the exceptions). Munich was also very historic, littered with churches and statues. The main difference from other cities was the sheer amount of people. The streets were packed with people walking around. This could be attributed to the Bayern-Munich soccer match against Stuttgart, but there were so many tourist shops and street performers that it seemed like Munich was always this crowded.
After the conclusion of the tour, we were all allotted a few free hours to do whatever. We first went to lunch at Hofbrauhaus as a whole group. This famous brewery was massive, consisting of 3 floors. When we entered, I was met with a wall of sound. People singing and dancing, wearing traditional German clothing; I found this to be very cool as I was able to see, first person, classic German culture. The food here was spectacular. I had a “knuckle of pork,” which I am still not entirely sure what this means, but it was so good. The serving sizes were also huge, as I was just barely able to finish my food. If anyone visits Munich, I highly recommend Hofbrauhaus for its great food and atmosphere.
After leaving, the group split, and we walked around for a while, touring the city and window shopping. The shops were very cool. Some of my favorites include: a tech store, where we saw a floating plant pot; a Louis Vuitton store, where we looked at clothing we could never afford; and a Porsche store, where we were kicked out because we obviously weren’t buying anything. Although I bought nothing, the window shopping was a fun activity.
We rounded out the day by getting some ice cream, which seemed to be a recurring theme for the time in Germany. Overall, Munich was a very interesting city, and I’m glad I got to have a full day to explore it.