A Walk Around Munich and A Stop for Chocolate!

We flew into Munich at the beginning of our trip but we didn't stay. We met up with our travel companions, got our rental car and hit the road. At the end of our journey we decided to spend the last full day exploring the city. 

An excellent way to see a city is to walk. We used the self guided walking tour in Rick Steves' Germany guidebook. Complete with maps, history and directions you can't really go wrong. 

It was hard to resist all the good food in the Viktualienmarkt.  This open air market boosts vendors stocking cheese and olives, fruit, veggies, breads and confections. 

We passed up the sweets in the market but then we found the Milka store. 

This store was massive. The shelves below show just a small portion of the Milka candy available. We brought quite a bit home with us!

And of course we had to make it to the Marienplatz in time to see and hear the glockenspiel do it's thing. You can watch the jousters daily at 11:00 and noon. 

We had to do the tourist thing and stop for lunch at the Hofbräuhaus. So much fun and the food and beer was really good. 

Time for a walk in the Hofgarten. A lovely park with a 400 year old Renaissance-style gazebo. The day we visited a street performer was playing a baby grand piano for tips. Apparently the acoustics are top rated. 

Munich is a thriving city full of history, beautiful churches and wonderful food. This was just a small sampling of all the Munich has to offer. 

Germany - Andechs Monastery and Biergarten

 This is the first in a series of posts on our trip to Germany and Austria in October 2014. I hope you enjoy!

Arriving in Munich

I love to look out of the plane window as we begin our decent. To see the surrounding areas and the city as the plane comes down is still thrilling to me. Unknown to me Munich was fogged in and I thought we were still up in the clouds when boom just like that we touched down. So much for getting a view from the sky!

We left Florida at 1pm on Monday with the time difference it's now 9am on Tuesday and I didn't sleep at all on the plane. I'm pretty much exhausted and wondering how in the world I'm going to make it though the day.

No time to rest! We had to make the long trek from the international terminal to meet our friends and traveling companions, Nancy and Charlie, in the domestic terminal. By the grace of God we found them but that's a story for another post.

After hugs and hellos John and I made our way to the rental car counter while Nancy and Charlie found a place to buy a SIM card. We now had a car and a phone and we were set to go.

While we were waiting for our friends to get back from the cell phone store John struck up a conversation with a man sitting near us. I don't know what all they talked about but I'm always amazed that no matter where we go, even thousands of miles from home, my husband can find someone to talk to. And it's so easy and comfortable. I envy that.

But I digress...after finding our car we hit the road.

Andechs Monastery and Our First Biergarten

Our first stop was just south of Munich at the Andechs Monastery and Biergarten. Yes, a church and a beer garden! This was recommended in Rick Steves' Germany guidebook. The timing was perfect since we arrived hungry and they were serving up lunch.

A small cafeteria provided simple but hearty food. Pork knuckles, pork belly and pork roast fried up to crispy perfection. Bless my heart it was delicious.

Lunch for two cost us 12 euro which we thought was pretty good. No beer for us. I was tired and John was driving and since we still had a long day in front of us we thought it best to refrain...That's just wrong. A biergarten and we didn't drink beer. We'll make up for it by the end of the trip!

I opted for the fried pork roast with potato salad and a big pretzel. We picked up our  food in the cafeteria and took it to the lovely, sunny terrace to enjoy. You can bring your own food if you want and use the terrace but I think they like you to buy a beer or two.

The terrace looks out on lovely rolling hills.

After lunch we enjoyed a stroll up to the church and views of the surrounding countryside.

You'll see these churches with the onion dome all over Bavaria.

 Perfect way to start our travels through Germany and Austria.

Lace up your walking shoes take a trip!