Staatliche Münzsammlung

I woke up full of energy (finally fully fueled up since the tummy incident) and went out to grab coffee and to enjoy the quiet streets without the midday crowds.

Soon after, Igor was also up. While our two recently arrived companions continued to sleep off the jet lag, we went and took a little walk together to get breakfast.

Igor finally got his traditional Bavarian breakfast he had been craving: sausages slow cooked, pretzels, and a crisp stien of beer.

I tried out the beef broth and pancake soup - shockingly amazing and I am desperate to get it again!

We met up with Chams around 11 and headed to the Christmas market, getting some classic market food (no oysters!!). We got some tornado potatoes on a stick, frites, pretzel, and Gluhwein.

The majority of the day was spent wandering the halls of the Munich Residenz. This is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria - now museum of all their fancy things.

After much walking, we got some much needed lunch at a little Brauhaus and a quick ice cream treat on the way back to the hotel to relax.

In the evening we joined a group for a ghost walking tour of Munich with spirits (the liqueur kind). The tour guide was a quirky and funny woman in her 30s and took our group of 20 so around the city. While some of the ghost stories felt a little silly, there was also a lot of interesting history about Hitler's rise to power in Munich with some of his early coup planning happening here at the famous Brauhaus. Also some stories of the witch trials that occured across Germany and old Bavarian kingdom politics.

We also learned some German drinking games!

Fizzy Candy & Vodka - with a packet of basically fizzy sugar candy, you combine it and a shot of vodka in your mouth and shake your head back n forth to mix (but don't swish! Otherwise it will burst out your mouth as a fountain!)

Fig Liqueur - you get a small individual bottle, find a number on the bottom and tap the bottle on your hand that many times. Then take the cap, balance it on your nose, and shoot the drink with your hands behind your back.

Guess there wasn't a lot to do in the cold months of Bavarian Winters 🤣

We wrapped up the night in typical Chadogi (Cha, Ams, Dan, Igs) fashion - a swanky cocktail bar followed by all the food we could find. Given the late hour on a Sunday night, all the food we could find was McDonalds. A tasty finish to our first full day in Munich!

McDonald's across the world are very fun to explore, here we found: the Royale (basically the classic quarter pounder), the Rosti (cheesey bun, with bacon and hash brown toped burger), curry sauce, and curly fries.Read more