Sojourn a journey through life

Munich, Germany

I think it's safe to say that we love Munich. Between the friendly Bavarian folks, the super cool train station and public transit (I heart trams), and the absolutely amazingly cool beer gardens scattered throughout the city - this is a place where I would love to return. It's a ton of fun walking all throughout the Marienplatz area (as long as it's not the weekend ). There are huge pedestrian-only areas that give the city so much character, along with huge parks, fields, rivers, monuments, art galleries and food, that I'm not too sure what else you might want in a city.

Glockenspiel

Glockenspiel with scaffolding, and music that doesn't work.

New City Hall (I think)

We've had all sorts of excellent highlights including a bike tour through some of the major sites (Note: Mike's Bike Tours. Do It.). We also went on a brewery tour where we hit up the Weisses Brauhaus whch serves up beer from Shneider Weisse (I tried an Eisbock here which packs a mean 12% - interesting stuff), following a stop at a Paulaner microbrewery and restaurant for some more tasting and dinner before we ended up at the world-renowned Hofbrauhaus.

Chinese Tower Beer Garden

Maypole

Yum.

Many of the beer gardens (including the Hofbrauhaus), don't even sell beer by the pint. If you want a beer, you're drinking it in Liter form. They don't call 'em Maßbier's (pronounced "mass", but means "measure" in German) for nothing.

People surfing on the river. Yes. Surfing. For Real.

The best apple strudel ever.

Augustinerkeller is the oldest beer garden in Munich, and of the ones we've been to, it's also the nicest. Of the German folks we've talked to, it would seem that the Helles (lager-ish) produced by Augustiner seems to be the favorite of the masses. Described as liquid gold and sweet apricot nectar - these people love the stuff, and I can't say we're any different.

Enjoying a good time at Augustinerkeller (beer garden)

An interesting thing about the beer gardens here is that they are absolutely gorgeous. Trees and forest, nice shady areas. Also, you're allowed to bring in food from outside (just not drinks). So if mom wants to pack a Sunday picnic for the kids and head down to the beer garden to eat up, and drink a couple liters, you can head on down. Sounds like it's not uncommon, either.

I (Daniel) headed on my own one day to the Deutsches museum which was out of this world. Probably the best museum I've ever been to (and easily the largest). No end of huge displays on everything from naval navigation to U-boats to electricity, aeronautics, astronautics, nuclear power, physics, tools, engines and a pile of other things I can't even remember.

Aviation section of the Deutsches Museum with replica of the Red Baron's triplane near the center.

Munich is a town I'd love to come back to. A great place to relax, friendly people, and terrific culture.

And now I guess, the whirlwind adventure has come to a close. Carly and I are back in Vancouver, having left Munich on 1-August and now settling in back in Canada. The next adventurous pictures might be of Vancouver restaurants, or um, buying a car, or something.

It's been a pretty fantastic two years, with more experiences and adventures that neither of us can probably even begin to remember them all. But now the adventure continues in a different form, and since the photos might not be as exciting, I might have to resort to more good old fashioned sarcasm and attempted wit to keep everyone entertained.

At any rate, we hope that anyone who reads this blog (if anyone actually does read it) enjoyed whatever bits they did read. I think we'll keep writing here, but obviously it'll take different turns.

So um, signing off for now.