Munich - It took a while to get here

 It’s finally that time again. I get to use my passport and travel to a place I’ve never been. Where the food is “weird” and the people talk “funny.” Where I can’t understand the road signs, and all the prices have a different currency symbol. 

The last time I left the country was July of 2019. I brought a group of students to Costa Rica. It was an amazing trip, and I loved it, but I think I took it for granted that it was something I’d be able to keep doing. 

I originally planned this trip to Germany and Austria for June of 2020, but well, we all know how that went. Last summer, I planned another student trip to Ireland with my sister-in-law Ann and a group of students. But Ireland was still requiring a 2-week quarantine last June. It was only supposed to be a 10-day trip. So that trip got canceled as well.

Which brings us to this summer. June 2022. Germany has always been on my list of places to experience. Knowing that it’s part of my history and heritage, I wanted to see where I come from. 

Now back in 2020, I had already booked my flight to Germany before everything went crazy. So I had a sizable credit with AirCanada. I had a choice to make this year. While perusing flights, I noticed that I could use my credit and only have to pay about $150 for my flights. OR, I could use the credit and the money I set aside for flights anyway, and I could have a lay-flay seat on my long trans-Atlantic flight on the way over here. That has been an item on my bucket list for quite some time. So I pulled the trigger and paid for the lay-flat seat from Toronto to Munich.

My amazing sister-in-law Ann was nice enough to drive me to the airport so I wouldn’t have a car at airport parking for a month. On the way to the airport, it was a TORRENTIAL downpour. I think I’ve only seen it rain that hard a couple of times in my life. But we made it to the airport an hour earlier than I had originally planned. I said goodbye to Ann, Meredith, and Thomas and checked in for my flight. I had 3 hours before my flight was supposed to take off. So I did what you always do at the airport, buy food that’s way too expensive and people-watch. I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version of my flight debacle. 

The flight coming in to MSP was delayed, so our flight out of MSP was delayed. By the time we landed in Toronto (flying AirCanada, you have to connect through Canada), my flight was already supposed to have taken off. I cried a bit because, well, I really wanted to catch that flight. We finally get a gate, deplane, and I walk to what was supposed to be my gate. And just as I suspected, my plane was gone. After some mild panicking and talking to a couple of Air Canada representatives, I was told I’d been booked onto a flight to Dublin then connecting to Munich. Ok. Did I still have my lay-flat seat? Who knows, but I had been assured that my luggage would meet me in Munich. The flight to Dublin is delayed by a good hour, if not more, but finally, we’re able to board, and YES! I do have my lay-flat seat, and it’s almost 11:30pm. They served us dinner on the flight, but I didn’t take it because I wanted to sleep. It had been a long day, and I was still tired from the New Kids on the Block concert from the night before. I think I got between 2-3 hours of sleep on the flight. And I mean actual sleep, not airplane dozing sleep. And the blanket I was given was so nice! I actually got too warm on the flight. I didn’t think that was possible! So we land in Dublin, and what do you know, my flight to Munich has already taken off. So now I have to be rescheduled again, and it’s a 7-hour layover in Dublin. Would I have had enough time to go to Dublin and do something? Probably. But after having missed 2 flights, I was so paranoid about missing another. I just hung out at the airport. Finally, I get on my flight to Munich, it’s delayed about 40 min, but I don’t care; Munich is my final stop. We land, and I go to the baggage claim. I’m about 95% certain that my bag will not be there. I put an AirTag in my bag, and it said it was still in Toronto. And I was right, no bag. So now it’s after 10:30 pm, and I have to go to the lost baggage office to complete all that paperwork. Then I can finally figure out how to get from the Munich airport to the Munich city center. That was fairly easy, and it was a short walk (less than 2 blocks) to my hotel. I was actually kind of glad I didn’t have my suitcase because cobbles and suitcases aren’t the best of friends. So, after all of that, I made it to my hotel at about 11:50pm, when I was supposed to be there around noon. I had finally made it to country #15.

I had originally planned to have a half-day in Munich on the day I arrived, but we know that didn’t happen, so the first thing I did in Munich was…leave Munich. I had a tour booked to go to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Visiting the site was a sobering and eerie experience. Dachau was the first concentration camp. It opened about 6 weeks after Hitler took power and was liberated just 10 days before the end of WWII. The guide led us through the barracks where the prisoners slept. Each barrack was meant to house about 250 people. In the beginning, there were 6 sets of triple bunk beds in each room. Each layer of the bunk would hold 1 person. By the end of the camp’s time, each barrack was housing approximately 2500 people, 10 times the number it was designed for. Some people had to sleep standing up because there was no room. We were brought through the gas chamber and crematorium. It’s almost impossible to describe what you’re seeing and feeling. The stories that are told show you just how much the Nazis thought that the people in the camps weren’t humans. The hardest part of the visit for me was at the very end. They showed actual video footage that some of the soldiers took as they liberated the camp. To see grown men reduced to 85 pounds, sometimes less. Emaciated and dirty, and broken… It’s a hard sight to see, but I think anyone who comes to Germany should visit a camp. It’s a part of our history that we need to make sure never happens again.

After the very heavy morning at Dachau, I decided to go out and see some of the sites in Munich. The first one I wanted to see was the Hoffbrauhaus, the brewery/beer hall. I sat and had 2 half liters of beer. I didn’t order a full liter, I should have, but it was the same price, so no biggie. I got half of a roasted chicken with some kind of cold potato salad. I didn’t care for the potato salad, so I got a giant pretzel from the woman walking around selling them. It was the size of my head and DELICIOUS! As I was eating my pretzel and drinking my beer in Bavaria, I was chatting with a German teacher friend. It will definitely go down as one of the top experiences of my trip. Of course, no trip to the Hoffbrauhaus is complete without a run through the gift shop. I won’t say what I bought to keep the surprise for the people I bought for.

After my liter of beer, I was feeling a little tipsy, so I headed back to my hotel to rest for a bit. I got a basket of strawberries on my way from a little stand. They ended up being my “dinner.” I ate lunch so late that I wasn’t really hungry for a full meal, and after the ordeal from the day before and the emotional morning, I was tired and wanted a good night’s sleep.

On my second day in Munich, I booked a tour of the Viktualienmarkt - the Market in Munich. But that wasn’t until later in the day, so I spent the morning with my buddy Rick Steves and let his self-guided tour of Munich lead me around town. I got lost several times, but that’s on me. I saw beautiful churches (like, seriously, a lot of churches) and typical European city squares. By this point, I was getting tired and hot, so I stopped at the Glockenspiel Cafe, which overlooks the Marienplatz (which is the main square of Munich). I had a light snack and a Radner (a beer mixed with Sprite) while I killed some time before my Market tour.

The Market tour was interesting. Though I had expected to stop at more places actually in the Market and try things, we did sample some traditional Munich foods like Leberkase, which literally translates to Liver Cheese. However, there is no liver or cheese in it. Leberkase is a meat sandwich made from a type of meatloaf, much like a hotdog. The cheese part comes from the consistency of the meat; it’s made so that you can eat it if you don’t have teeth (like the King at the time didn’t). We also had Schmalznudel, which is Munich’s answer to the doughnut. It’s deep-fried and dipped in sugar. I had already had one that day, for breakfast, at the same place we went on the tour!

After all the eating on the tour, I wasn’t hungry for dinner, so I grabbed a pretzel and went back to my hotel.

Sunday was the day I was most excited about. I booked a tour to Neuschwanstein Castle. It’s the castle that Walt Disney used as his inspiration for the Disney Castle. We met our guide at the tour office and boarded a bus to go to the castle. It’s about a 2-hour drive from Munich. We arrive at the little alpine town, and it’s idyllic. There’s a small lake at the end of town that is popular for swimming. I didn’t bring my suit, but I did wade in the water. I waded in the water of an Alpine lake in the shadow of 2 fairy tale castles. The town hosts 2 castles; the first belonged to King Max II, his is smaller, and I didn’t tour it. The other, Neuschwanstein, was built by Ludwig II. He built it to look like an ancient castle when in reality, it was built in the mid-1800s; Bridgerton is set 50 years before this castle was built.

The castle (as all good castles are) was built on top of a hill. There are 3 ways to get up the hill. You can walk (yeah, it was 95°, hard pass), you can take a bus for 3 € which brings you actually above the castle and bit and you have to walk down to the castle, or you can take a horse and carriage, which brings you about ⅔ of the way up the hill, then you have to walk the rest yourself. I chose the bus cuz momma didn’t raise no fool. 

The castle tour was beautiful, though only 14 rooms were completed because of the intricacy of the design work and the short time Ludwig II actually lived there. If you ever find yourself in Bavaria, I highly recommend a visit to Neuschwanstein castle. I went with Radius Tours, and they did a great job. Our guide Charlie was phenomenal. 5 stars.

And that brings me to the end of my time in Munich. I wish I had stayed longer, but I had reservations to keep in Salzburg. I guess I’ll just have to go back to Munich. Darn.

I know I’m behind on getting these posts up to date, but I’m working on them. I have a long train ride tomorrow, so hopefully, I can get all the typing done that I want to. Bis Später! Alf Wiedersehen!