Eurotrip2011: Day 5

Munich

Eager to taste my first *real* bretzel in seven years, we hit the bakery early and were rewarded with a soft, doughy, salty knot of joy. Replete, we headed to our nearest S-Bahn station and travelled around 25 minutes to the city centre. First stop: Marienplatz. I was flooded with memories, as I locked eyes on the Glockenspiel (town hall), wandered through the Viktualienmarkt (a daily farmers' market in the centre of the city) and pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the Frauenkirche (the city's cathedral). Having lived in Bavaria twice - once as an exchange student and later as a university student - these icons of Munich certainly evoke some powerful memories for me, ranging from homesickness to overwhelming joy. I proudly showed off the monuments to my beloved and bored entertained him with stories about my previous experiences in Germany.

We planned to spend the day at the Pinakothek art museums; however, upon arrival at the most recent of the three galeries - Pinakothek der Moderne - we were dismayed to find that all were closed on a Monday. We quickly kicked into improvisation mode and decided to take a stroll through the sizeable Englischer Garten (the English Gardens)...and no, we did not engage in any nude sunbathing! We eventually found ourselves in the vicinity of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where there are plenty of funky little cafés, art supply stores and bicycles - a very atmospheric area.

Having worked up quite the appetite, we opted for the most clichéd lunch choice possible - Hofbräuhaus München. I convinced my beloved to try Leberkäse (which literally translates to liver cheese), a typical Bavarian meat loaf (interestingly made with neither liver nor cheese!) served hot with sauerkraut. I couldn't go past the schnitzel. Despite the reputation of the beer hall (and its vaguely frightening counterpart in Melbourne), the food was reasonable - not brilliant, but certainly filling and tasty. In any case, how can you go wrong when a small beer is half a litre?!?

Being in the land of das auto, my beloved was eager to visit BMW world. We jumped on the U-Bahn and found ourselves at this glimmering showroom and car museum. Beyond aesthetics, I have to admit that I don't really *get* cars, but I certainly appreciated this experience and particularly enjoyed the BMW ute (what the?) and the diminutive blue and white number (both pictured below).

Throughout the course of the day we must have walked at least 10km and, when we arrived back at our Munich home, we could scarcely stand. Fortunately, our delightful hosts cooked us a delicious meal and we enjoyed a quiet evening chatting together.