Big city day! We took the 40-minute train to Munich bright and early. It was cool to me how we could put up to five people on one single train ticket. I think in Germany, it’s really the small things that says a lot about what they think of unnecessary waste, which really adds to their whole emphasis on sustainability.
Our first stop was Marienplatz, the central square in the heart of the city. We arrived just in time to see the Glockenspiel in the New Town Hall go off. The Glockenspiel is a clock located at the very top of the New Town Hall building that features 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures that reenact two stories from Munich’s history.
The first story is a reenactment of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine in 1568. The highlight is the joust, where knights on horseback tilt at each other. The Bavarian knight always wins. The second story is the Schäfflertanz (Coopers’ Dance). According to legend, this dance was first performed in 1517 to commemorate the end of a plague. The coopers danced through the streets to reassure the townspeople that it was safe to come out again. The Glockenspiel show lasted about 15 minutes.
We passed by the English Garden. It was really cool to watch the surfers ride the waves at the Eisbach River; I’ve seen people surf in oceans, but never in a river.
For lunch, we went to the original Hofbräuhaus, Munich’s most famous beer hall. One thing that stood out to me was its communal tables, where we could sit down anywhere, even if other people were already there. I was impressed by how the waiters and waitresses managed to keep track of everyone and everything going on—it’s a mental feat in itself.
