Munchen, Germany

So I'm about a week late posting, but it has been a crazy week!  I'm hoping to get my next post up either tomorrow or Monday.  Everything in Rome is going really well and I decided to stay in Rome this weekend to explore.  

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Last weekend, Marissa and I traveled to Munich, Germany.  We left Rome on Friday morning and returned on Saturday night. This was my first time to Germany and it does not look like any other city I have been to before.

When we first arrived in Munich, we had to figure the train system out.  The train ride wasn't too bad, it was just a matter of figuring out how to leave the train station once we arrived at the stop.  Its hard when we didn't know any German! Pro tip: if you are traveling and don't know the language, at least learn the words for hello, please, thank you and exit.  

Marienplatz

St. Paul's

Our hotel was very close to Marienplatz, one of the main centers of the city.  Once we checked in, we started our journey around Munich!  I think the theme of the semester is walking many, many miles.  I think at the end of Friday, Marissa and I walked over 15 miles.  On our journey we saw St. Paul's Church, the Palace of Justice, Old Botanical Garden, The Karlstor, Court Garden, the Maximilianeum, the Victual's Market, the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, St. Peter's Church, and New Town Hall. SO MUCH TO SEE!

Bavarian State Chancellery

The Maximilianeum

Munich Residenz

We climbed to the top of St. Peter's and had a beautiful view of Munich! The stairway up was difficult, there was only one way up and down.  The path was very narrow, especially when people were trying to go up and down at the same time.  

View from the top of St. Peter's

On top of St. Peter's

I love music and everywhere around Munich there were musicians on the street playing.  It was like walking around in a movie and having background music!

Later that night we met up with one of our friends from Loyola.  Since everyone had a long day we decided we did not want to walk around.  We ended up at the Hofbrauhaus, which was a lot of fun!  The German music was playing and the pretzels were delicious.  It was nice to be able to sit and talk to friends! 

Hofbrauhaus

We then walked down the street to Haxnbauer, a restaurant some of the SLAs recommended.  This restaurant served typical German food, and it was surprisingly very good.  We ordered the pork knuckles and it was served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.  

Pork Knuckles

Marissa and I wanted chocolate and thought how hard could it be to find some German chocolate?  The answer is pretty hard when it is after 10:00 PM.  We wondered around the area and when we thought all hope was lost, we found none other than Eataly.  We definitely were not expecting to see this in Germany but we were very happy that it was open.  We ordered a Nutella crepe and enjoyed the Nutella.  

Saturday morning we walked back to Marienplatz and watched the famous glockenspiel.  We then just wondered around and went shopping.  We made our way up to the English Gardens, however, since it was January, there wasn't much to see.  Before leaving Germany, I needed some bratwurst and another giant pretzel! We found this at a giant market on the other side of St. Peter's.  Once we figured out how to order, the bratwurst was delicious and filled with cheese! Much better than our Mensa food (dining hall).

We had some time to kill so we found a giant pretzel and walked around the area.  Even though we were only in Munich for 36 hours, we saw so much (and ate a lot as well!)  Next weekend I am traveling to Prague with Marissa, Cara, and Emily.  

Arrivederci! 

~Christina