Munchen Excursion

Our adventures felt like they were drawing gently to a close.
We headed down for a very early Holiday Inn breakfast…& were surprised to see an old couple who had come in with the coach party at the beer hall the night before. Enjoyed a bit of jolly banter (with no shared words…) before heading out for the station.

We were heading for a longer stop in Nuremberg….but I had spotted our travels were just shy of 10,000km, so we decided to take a little diversion south to Munich for a few hours (& a few kms) 🤣

We dumped the bags in a €6 locker, and headed into town passed Karlsplatz.

A busy place, we were in time to see the 11am Rathaus-Glockenspiel perform its little animation, with hundreds of others in the square.

Munich was chock full of churches, but St Peter’s lays claim to being the oldest, dating from before the first documented evidence of the city’s existence in 1158. It has the distinctive skeletal Saint Munditia in the second alcove on the left: the patron saint of spinsters, clutching a container of dried blood. What a beauty!

We headed to the Munich Hofbräuhaus, perhaps the worlds most famous beer hall. Christine had some miniature tankards from her father with the HB crown logo on….still not sure where they came from: to her knowledge, he never visited the city.
Sadly, or perhaps luckily for our livers, it was rammed full, so we continued our walk.

An American tour guide seemed unwilling to relinquish his speakers spot next to the polished brass breast of a lady’s statue, so we pressed onward for a cuppa & at the pleasant Schmalznudel - Cafe Frischhut.

A final check in at the vaulted and restored Gothic church, Frauenkirche: two mighty towers at the front, and the legendary Devil’s footprint inside….strangely, my shoe matched perfectly 👀

Back out to the main station, under massive construction and not terribly grand today, we headed back up to our next destination: Nuremberg.

An old work friend, Tony, had got in touch just before we left, back in March. He and his wife Laura were in Germany later in May.
He mentioned some detail, but the only part I heard was that they were planning a day’s hiking in Bavaria with a guide, involving stops at 5 breweries.
Would we care to join them?

Is the Pope a Catholic?

It gave us the impetus to plan the tail end of our trip early, to dovetail in with them…& we added an extra night to allow for a decent hangover!

Here we were staying close to the station in the pleasant Hotel Garni Probst.

After a final little laundry, we headed out to meet up with them. Nuremberg seemed a very pleasant city, and we met in the main square. After greetings and introductions, we went down some incredibly steep steps to Der Nassauer Keller zu Nürnberg, where beers, food and travellers tales were shared, before heading home to prepare for The Big Day!Baca lagi