Munich: Bicep Curls in the Biergarten

Very entertaining street band!

Yesterday was a solid workout day. We did the early morning run and bootcamp and then worked out our arms and livers at the infamous Hofbrauhaus Biergarten. A litre of beer? Sure, we'll take two! A second round...? when in Munich!

We're getting ahead of ourselves, so we'll back it up a bit and take things from the top of our arrival in Munich.

We checked into our hostel, Wombats, which is located wonderfully close to the train station and has a very fun vibe to it. We changed into shorts (woo!) and hit the streets of Munich to get a lay of the land. Stumbled upon an animated street band, some protesters, and some impressive buildings before sitting down for dinner. We thought we'd get some fresh air by sitting on the patio at a Sausalitos Mexican restaurant, but we were mistaken. We miss the non-smoking bylaws back home when it comes to enjoying a nice sit-down meal. The food was okay, but nothing to rival our specialty peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We couldn't say no to the happy hour, so set the standard high for the size of drinks we were ordering that night.

We then helped our meal digest by getting some retail therapy. We made just enough room for a small drink at the hostel, followed by several larger ones at the Biergarten. We made some new Aussie friends with the guys next to us at our table, and taught them a lesson in Dutch dice drinking games. These Aussies were a lot of fun and we able to keep up with our sarcasm and wit. They coached us through an arm-wrestle (Heather won for those who placed bets!) and confirmed our choice of traveling solo rather than with Contiki Tours as they were. We are happy to be able to do as we please and have the freedom to change plans, or miss a train if necessary (not that we intend of doing that any time soon! We learned our lesson earlier) Needless to say it was a fun night and we impressed? ourselves with the litres of beer consumed.

This morning we woke to find two fellow Queen's alumni in our hostel room! We had breakfast with Ashley and Shane and swapped stories of travels and outrageous hostel roommates. They had an appetite to visit biergartens for the day, and as Heather hadn't the slightest, we set out for some sightseeing. We trekked up the 906 bazillion stairs to the top of Altar Peter to get a spectacular view of the city and surrounding area. Then we grabbed some food and planned to have a nice picnic lunch at Englischergarten. The park is nude friendly so it took a bit of searching and avoiding to find a place to enjoy our meal. A beautiful afternoon in the sun with our books - life doesn't get much better than this! Then again, we could have done without the naked old men. 

Yay sun!

An MJ Memorial

Tonight we are hanging with the Queen's crew in our hostel (we just discovered two more Queen's alumni are in our hostel) and might have to show Munich our mad board game skills.
Tomorrow we are off to Lucerne, Switzerland and can't wait to breathe in some fresh alpine air! 


Auf Wiedersehen!