Plus3 2023

Germany Tage 7: The beautiful city of Munich (and fast trains!)

Posted by noahkochavi on

A view of Munich from the clock tower. The Frauenkirche can be seen in the far right of the image.

We generally spent the last few days in Augsburg. Why not switch it up a bit and explore a new city? Today was (mostly) about the city of Munich.

The day had one of the latest starts to any day, only starting at 9:40AM. We walked over to the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station of Augsburg, on the Regional Bahn (Regional railways), headed to Munich’s Hauptbahnhof. Germany has the Regional Bahn, the Regional Express (the Regional Bahn with less stops in the middle), and the ICE, or the Inter-City Express, used for the fastest traveling. The Regional Bahn is like SEPTA in Philadelphia while the ICE is like Amtrack. Despite being the lowest of these designations, the Regional Bahn traveled at (GPS-verified) speeds up to 100mph (160km/h)! The SEPTA only reaches 60mph, while the Amtrack generally doesn’t crack 80mph. Apparently the ICE hits 300kph (186mph)! It definitely felt strange watching the landscape go by that fast, it seemed like a sped-up video.

Anyways, Munich! If I had to succinctly describe the city, it’s as if Augsburg and New York City had a baby. It had the German architecture and charm of Augsburg, but on a much bigger scale with tons of crowds not unlike NYC. There were tons and tons of shops and restaurants. I got a souvenir from Munich, and had Bratwurst and pretzels as my food. We also visited the famous Hofbrouhäus and we shared a jumbo pretzel together. I’m telling you, German bread and pretzels can be addictive. And I almost forgot, I got some oreo-flavored ice cream, which was really good. I want more as I type this sentence.

Munich’s Rathaus. The Glockenspiel takes place in the center.

There were sights galore in Munich. We saw the Glockenspiel at the Munich Rathaus (town hall), a 5-minute event where the figurines move and dance and re-enact medieval jousting events. Additionally, I walked up 306 (30% of the Dorr Mtn. Ladder Trail, or going from the basement to the 12th floor of Benedum hall, not bad) steps across an incredibly narrow stairwell to the top of a clock tower near the Rathaus to get a panoramic view of the city through a similarly narrow viewing deck.

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