Munich Day One

We arrived in Munich at 6 in the evening and enjoyed walking only five minutes to our hotel. 

After checking in and freshening up a bit, we were ready to hit the town. We'd decided to eat at the famous Hofbrauhaus that evening and since we'd spent the last three hours on a train, opted to stretch our legs and walk. It was about 25 or 30 minutes' walk, which took us down a long shopping street and past the famous Glockenspiel and many beautiful churches.

The lion is featured on the coat of arms for Bavaria and so there are lions all over Munich. Danita especially was fond of these lions and requested a picture. Carson wasn't so keen.

We arrived to Hofbrauhaus and discovered that even on a Monday evening, it was pretty crowded. Instead of looking for open spots in the main hall, we opted for a table down the hallway near the kitchen. It was a quieter spot in the busy restaurant and also allowed us a glimpse into the busy kitchen area. We enjoyed watched the staff churn out meals with amazing precision. The waitstaff was dressed in traditional Bavarian attire, the women in dirndls and the men in lederhosen.

I feel that it's obvious enough, but I didn't drink this LITER of beer. Bleah. 

I did enjoy a lovely dish of spaetzel.

There was a man walking around selling these huge pretzels and Danita went for one. We all ended up so full after the meal that she brought it home and we didn't have a chance to dig into it until Wednesday... when it was hard and gross. It sure looked good though!

Friends of ours used to live in Munich and they recommended the pork knuckle (Schweinshaxe) to Carson so that's what he had. It was really tender and delicious.

Sorry for the photo guys, but I had to...

The large main hallway. This place has a lot of history, opening about 500 years ago. In more recent history, this was the place where Hitler first began talks with the Socialist party in the 1920s. It was bombed in the war, but has been rebuilt and it boasts the largest tent at Oktoberfest each year (I'm told the tent seats 5,000, which provides a different "tent" image than I'd had in my head).

Following our filling dinner, we walked back to the hotel.

We stayed at Arthotel Munich and it was a great experience. The staff was really friendly and once again we were upgraded to a "comfort room". We still shared one room but it was HUGE and had a big entryway where we could keep our bags and a huge bathroom. True to the name, there was artwork everywhere. Every door in the hotel had different artwork or an artist on it. The downstairs hallway had artists' faces and our door had the Statue of Liberty. We had a funny pink statue in our room and lots of artwork on the walls. They weren't kidding with the "art hotel" thing.