Munchen

The second part of the first week of block leave (did you catch all of that?) was spent in Munich, Germany.  John Ralph really enjoyed this city.  At first, I wasn't completely sold, but it definitely grew on me the more we explored!  It's a place I would love to take my family...mosty because I know they would love the food.  Because of weather, we only stayed two nights, but here are some pictures from our adventures:

This is a beautiful church on the way to the main square.  If I remember correctly, it is St. Michaels.  From the street, it's not much to look at, but inside it is so grand.   

Here we have The New Town Hall.  It is the main building and clock tower in Marienplatz (Mary's Square).  On the clock tower is a glockenspiel, which has 32 lif size figures that dance (I guess that's what you would call it) every day at 11:00 and 12:00. 

Apparently Gamecock Nation extends all the way to Germany. 

This is the Hofbrauhaus, the world's most famous beer hall.  It has long wooden tables, big mugs of beer, and live oompah bands.  Three things that sound like a pretty good time if you ask me!

 

Mama beer and Papa beer. 

I have never really understood why different places are called different things all over the world.  Why do we call Germany "Germany" and not "Deutschland" like they do?  Why do we call Munich "Munich" and not "Munchen" like they do? 

We snagged a few of these coasters to bring home. 

Ralphie started big.  Go big or go home I guess.

I decided I would ease my way into the night and started with a half liter.  I figured I could drink this and then if I wanted more I could just order another.  Little did I know that after 6:00 the beer only comes in whole liters.  Whoopsie.

The oompah band!  They were great. I love live music of just about any style, so I thought this was awesome. 

Prost!

Hofbrauhaus has tons of long wooden tables (some very old), and you just sit down family style and make friends.  Some people from North Carolina, believe it or not, ended up joining us later in the night.  Some tables have large signs hanging over them, reserving them for the "regulars".  Also, if you're really special and cool, you have your own personal space to lock up your beer mug. 

They only came in this size when I was ready for more...so, I mean, I had to drink it all...

My husband's view of me for most of the night.

We got the pork knuckle for dinner.  This picture is from about halfway through when we remembered we should probably take a picture.  It was pretty dang delicious.  The apple strudle we had for dessert didn't stay on the plate long enough for me to even bother turning the camera on. 

Munchen definitely seemed like a place that would be tons of fun with good friends.  I would really love to go to Oktoberfest and join in on those festivities!

This is all from our Munich trip, but we have plenty to show from our last week of block leave.  We both go back to work on Monday, so I'll try to post more before the weekend is over...if not, I'll just have to squeeze it in somewhere in the next week. 

Ciao for now!