Munich

Munchin is the heart of the German beer culture. If you don’t believe it then I must tell you a fact that our guide told us during our walk around Munich. According to her data Germany is ranked 3^rd in the most amount of beer consumption in the world per capita. If Munich was classified as its own country then it would bypass the top two countries (Czech Republic and Ireland). No wonder they host Oktoberfest each year. Oktoberfest brings in millions of tourist each year. This was actually the reason we visited Munich when we did. We were so lucky to be able to stay at Hanna’s friends flat. Finding accommodations during Oktoberfest is a struggle!

Hanna and Nigel were coming in late Friday night so Chris and I took advantage of an early train so we could spend the day exploring Munich. Munich is one of the most beautiful cities we have been in so far. It is definitely my favourite city in Germany, and not just because of the beer. Munich has the feeling of stepping back into time. Although a lot of it was destroyed during WW2, Hitler had loved the city so he had every single building and street documented so it could be rebuilt if anything were to happen. After WW2 the city took a vote whether or not to rebuild based on the plans or to create a new modern city. Unlike many other German cities, like Berlin, the locals voted to restore. In my opinion this was the best idea because the city is stunning!

Some of my favourite parts of the city were:

• From far away the new town hall looks as though it is covered in beautiful bricks but when you look close they are actually panted on. Construction took longer than expected, go figure, so it was not completed by the time Munich was due to host the Olympics, so they did what any one in their right mind would do… fake it!

• The old church just outside the main square was rebuilt but while they were searching through the rubble they came upon an old cannon ball that used to be lodge into the side. The figured it should be showcased in some museum or something… so to show the world a piece of their history they built it right back into the side of the newly built church.

• The Hofbrau Beer Hall is legionary. It is one of the original 6 brewers in Munich. The old beer hall has quite the history. Originally the beer hall served beer yet didn’t have any toilets. To make things more sanitary the owner dug a trench in the street for men to relive themselves. The only problem with this was once you left you lost your seat and usually your beer. Being such a cleaver man the owner decided to just dig trenched under each table. The locals didn’t want to accidentally splash each other so they would hollow out their canes or sticks to make a nice pee stick.

• The new town hall is beautiful! It was built to have a show that goes off at noon and 5pm but it is operated by hand some sometimes the worker just doesn’t show up and it doesn’t go off. Apparently this is a normal occurrence especially during Oktoberfest.