Munich and Surroundings

Sorry for the delay in posts, but we hit a snag trying to post pictures from our phone as our camera won't let you transfer pictures if you have over 1000 pictures on it, which is very annoying. Thanks to our good friend Ela who we're staying with in Warsaw though, we have got a bunch uploaded and will be able to post a bunch of updates again! 

We had a lot of fun in Munich. We had a nice little apartment about a 10 minute walk from the old city. We arrived on a Saturday, and spent 4 full days there exploring the old town and taking a few day trips. The old town is really neat, mostly pedestrian, lots of people. There were lots of traditional stores with big window displays of leiderhosen and dirndls in preparation for October fest in a few weeks. We spent a few days just walking around and looking at the shops, churches and tasting the beers and sausages. 

One highlight was from the Hoffbrauhaus which is a very large and very busy and famous beer hall. They sell 1L steins of beer, and have a sweet band! We met some very interesting people there, and had a lot of fun our first evening in Munich! 

We took one day trip to Wurzburg and Bamberg which are two lovely little small towns near Munich. In Wurzburg we tried some of the famous local (Franconian) wine, and checked out the churches and riverside and residence. We then took the train to Bamberg which was interesting. Whereas 80% of Wurzburg was destroyed in 20 minutes during the war, and Bamberg was left totally undamaged. So we noticed a big difference in the age and types of buildings between the two cities. Bamburg is very famous for its special Smoked beer, and so we found a very neat old brewery that makes it, and had a fun evening there. It was very tasty! 

We spent one of our days in Munich walking around the market and seeing all the neat produce, trying various foods and drinks. It was really fun. We also found a really awesome board game store! 

Another day we took a day trip to Augsburg which is another nearby cool city. It used to have a castle and has a moat around the old city. We rented a row boat and went boating in the moat! 

Laura drinking a 1L beer at the Hoffbrauhaus

The Hoffbrauhaus Band

The Town hall in the main square which houses the Glockenspiel

Dirndls in a shop window

Jerome eating a traditional Pork Knuckle

Barrel top from Hoffbrauhaus

The Castle in Wurzburg

The Residence and gardens in Wurzburg

A neat church in Wurzburg

The Bamberg smoked beer brewery

Jerome enjoying Bamberg smoked beer with a stuffed red pepper

The market in Munich

mmm Hopps!

and mushrooms and red berries!

And a Splitterbomb!!
(A chocolate covered marshmallow with nougat flakes inside)

So many awesome board games!
- and monopoly is relegated to the bottom row in the corner! 

A cool door in Augsburg

On a boat in a moat!

A neat statue and fountain in Augsburg