The Capital of Bavaria: Munich, Germany

Photo courtesy of: http://www.destination360.com/travel/events/oktoberfest

City: Munich (or in German, München)

Length of Visit: 3 days

Primary Language: This one's easy... German.

Known For: Oktoberfest, 1972 Olympics, Castles, the origin city of the Nazi Party, FC Bayern Munich, and home to some of the most recent World Cup winners

Notable Places:
Olympia Park, English Gardens, Marienplatz (city center), Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace (summer residence), Dachau Concentration Camp (a few miles outside of the city, BMW Welt, Allianz Arena, Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest grounds, nothing there when the festival isn't happening)

City Atmosphere:
Unlike Vienna and Salzburg, Munich seems to be a place where locals actually go about their daily lives. There is a hustle and bustle to this place that feels like a real working city. It is full of people who get up, join the morning commute, go to work, join the afternoon commute, and come home. There is a lot of history and many tourist attractions to go to, but after visiting two places mainly filled with tourists in a row, it was refreshing to actually see normal people going about their normal day.

Olympiapark (Photo courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiapark,_Munich)

Cuisine:
Like the Austrians, the Germans do their meat and desserts really well. And like the Austrians, the portion sizes are lovingly large, so an appetizer, two entrees and one dessert was more than enough to fill my family of three. The food is similar, but a little different from city to city and region to region. Interestingly enough, I had the best hamburger of my life at a restaurant called Stemmerhof in Munich. I'm not quite sure what kind of meat it was or what was in it, as the menu was completely in German, but it was like biting into a slice of heaven. Another interesting thing to note is that whenever I get a burger in Europe, no one asks me how I would like it done and even though it appears to be fully cooked, still tastes absolutely delicious unlike the fully cooked burgers of America.

When we visited it was also white asparagus season, so there was a seasonal menu with all these specialties. I would highly recommend trying one.

As far as desserts go, our hotel gave us a recommendation for a nice little cake shop, but unfortunately it was closed when we went. I do hear that the Bavarian cakes are a must have so if you're in the area, try one for me. On another note, there was a cute ice cream shop that made the most glorious sundaes and ice cream drinks, and it being so hot outside, we settled for that instead. Maybe not exactly what I was looking for but definitely still sweet and refreshing!

Photo courtesy of: http://flickrhivemind.net/User/Rob%20Foy/Interesting

My last note on cuisine has to do with McDonald's. I know it's a weird thing to mention, but McDonald's is surprisingly international. If you pop into a Mickey D's in a different country, they often have a touch of local flavor. In Paris, they had croissants and macaroons (not sure how good the macaroons were but I'm digging the effort). In Vienna, they had an assortment of cakes. In Munich, I ate the euro menu equivalent of a dollar menu McChicken. While the McChicken itself cost about €4, which to me seems grossly overpriced especially for a McDonald's, the Chickenburger was a mere €1.10 and tasted just like a McChicken with a special red sauce instead of mayonnaise. It was actually rather good and a nice cheap alternative to eating out at more pricey local restaurants all the time. So even though the health-conscious and pro-local business folks in the Bay Area where I live abhor chains, I have to say when traveling, they can be your best weapon against hunger. Don't discount the value of chains like McDonald's and Starbucks. When you're in a foreign country, a familiar face never hurts.

People:
Because there exists a combination of local and foreign flavor in Munich, the people you meet will also be a mix. Some are tourists like yourself. Some are too busy with their own lives to stop and help you. However, some will take the time to stop and help you even if you don't ask. One particular gentleman saw how confused my family was by the S-Bahn directions and promptly offered his assistance. All the restaurants we completed meals at (by "completed" I mean actually stayed long enough to eat and didn't walk out due to poor service or inability to communicate) had waiters who either walked us through the menu items one by one in English, or offered satisfactory recommendations without having to translate the menu. The hotel front desk was also very helpful in directing us to where we wanted to go. Overall, a pleasant experience with the people here and no overly rude tourists or tour guides (except on our day trip out of the city but that couldn't have really been avoided with a coach bus full of foreigners and an impatient tour guide).

Inside Allianz Arena: Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich (Photo courtesy of: http://seattlesportsblog-kshell.blogspot.com/2012/05/chelsea-stun-bayern-munich-on-their.html)

Public Transportation:
It's easy to get around Munich and its surrounding neighborhoods using the U-Bahn and S-Bahn trains. The U-Bahn takes care of most of the inner city travel while the S-Bahn is used to reach the suburbs. The trains are efficient and run on time, though some of the larger stations can be a bit confusing to find your way around in. Nothing too atypical of any other large city's rail system.

There are also buses and above ground trams that can be utilized. However, I have no personal experience with these so you'll have to find another source to tell you about them.

Weather:
For once, no rain. If you're going to visit the Allianz Arena, there's quite a long walk with no shade from the U-Bahn stop to the arena itself so make sure to bring a hat or sunscreen.

Favorite Place(s):

Neuschwanstein Castle

I'm not really sure I had any favorites that particularly stood out. One thing I will mention here is that we took a day trip with a tour group out to two of Ludwig II's palaces. The first was Linderhof, which was small but elegant, and the second was Neuschwanstein, one of Walt Disney's inspirations for creating the Magic Kingdom castle. Although both places are crowded, full of tourists, and no pictures are allowed, the overall grandeur of both castles was well worth the visit. Plus the views from Neuschwanstein are breathtaking.

Linderhof Palace

If I had more time in Munich, I would have liked to visit the Dachau concentration camp as well as seen some of the old Nazi Party government buildings. And given the opportunity again, I would have taken a tour inside Allianz Arena, although when we arrived there was only one more tour left in the day and it was in German... so perhaps not quite worth it for us non-German speakers.

Tips:
Because Munich isn't purely a tourist city and we didn't stay in the city center, many of the restaurants we went to only had German menus. If this is the case, make sure that someone on the waitstaff actually speaks English. One of the restaurants we tried to eat at, Wirtshaus, had staff that only spoke very broken English and were unable to understand us. Maybe we just came at an inconvenient time, but the waiter kept asking us if we wanted beef, fish, or chicken even though there were obviously multiple types and ways to prepare all three meats on the menu. Although the food smelled great (and Trip Advisor has decent reviews), we just couldn't manage to communicate or read the menu so we decided to leave. I figure you're better off eating at a restaurant where you actually know what you're ordering, just to be on the safe side.

BMW i8 spotted at the airport

If you're going to be in Munich for at least 3 days, get one of those 3 day subway passes (they have family passes at a discount too). Like Vienna, there are no barriers to prevent you from getting on the trains, but they do perform occasional checks and if you don't have a validated (they have little machines at the stops to put your ticket into for validation) ticket, they'll fine you €40. Not really worth it in my opinion.

Finally, for those of you who are really into beer, I would recommend taking advantage of that love in Munich. Visit a Beer Garden or Hall while you're there and enjoy the atmosphere. It's something you definitely don't get to experience just anywhere.


La destinació final: Barcelona, Espanya