Munich
When you think of Munich, what comes to mind? Disneyworld? Veggie burgers? Skeletons? Our journey to Munich was full of surprises…
When we got into Munich, we headed to our hotel. After we settled in, we asked the front desk to recommend a good German restaurant. They sent us down the street to Hams im Gluck. When we walked in, our first instinct was that it looked similar to our go-to burger place at home: there were lots of burgers, fries, and even ketchup. By the time our waiter arrived, we were questioning why the hotel sent us here when we asked for a German restaurant. The first thing that she asked, “Was what type of beer would you like?” referencing a seemingly endless list. We stopped questioning the “German-ness” of the restaurant and my parents ordered a beer. The menu had lots of options for meat lovers like my brother. Unexpectedly, there were also some vegetarian and vegan options for my father. The restaurant had a cool ambiance that included a treehouse and lots of sticks. There were tree branches on every wall. The food was delicious deep-fried goodness. We were pretty tuckered out from our travel day, so after enjoying the burgers we headed to the hotel and went to sleep.
The next morning, we headed out on a Rick Steves walking tour, a pre-planned guide from one of his books. Rick Steves’s tours are super fun and a great way to get to know a city… they’re a secret hack for the system of planning trips to explore new places. My mother had downloaded his travel book for Germany. We started the tour and saw the town square during the coo-coo clock show. The square’s main building has a giant collection of moving statues on a huge clock that tells the story of a wedding procession. Twice a day, it comes alive to the excitement of all the tourists. It 
was crowded and worth doing, except for those who have neck issues. You have to look up to the tippy top of the building to see it. Afterward, we headed inside St. Peters Church and saw a skeleton in a box. It’s a relic. It’s also my worst nightmare. Although it’s bejeweled, it’s still frightening. This skeleton gets the honor of being in a box because, when it was alive, it was a martyr! We stepped out of the church and headed to the Victuals market. It has fresh veggies, souvenirs, and, of course, beer… the iconic symbol of Germany that only makes sense to adults. Seriously, what’s so great about beer? The main thing to see at the market is the large maypole. I didn’t find it interesting; it’s just a decorated pole, about 4 stories high. I’m sure it gets super fun during Oktoberfest. There’s a tradition of trying to steal the maypole. I’m not sure how people could get away with stealing a 4-story high decorated pole, but if you figure out a way to do it, 
give me a call! And, of course, if you do succeed in stealing the maypole the tradition is that you can “sell” it back to the locals in exchange for… some beer! Germans certainly love their beer. After that, we headed to St. Johann, which is this over-the-top church built by theAsam architect brothers to advertise their work (in a day without google advertisements). It’s pretty beautiful and you can see why this was a big ad for their work. Hundreds of years ago, when you needed to build a church, you knew where to come! If you name any type or feature of church architecture, you will find
it there. There’s columns, friezes, carvings, marble, paintings, and on and on. It’s overwhelming but beautiful. My recommendation is that you give yourself at least five minutes to let your eyes adjust. What I’d do if you were trying to take it all in is go from left to right. Columns (actually fake marble!), a dome (not a dome- just a flat ceiling painted to look that way), and even some very cute looking cherubs. On the way out of the door, beware! There’s another skeleton as you leave. Churches in Germany can be scary. After that, we moved on to St. Michael. We headed into the underground crypt where the Wittelsbachs, a royal family of Germany are buried. More skeletons! At least this time, the skeletons are in crypts! Still, it’s pretty scary down there. Then, needing refreshment, we walked a bit to the Hofbrau House. This loud hall is also an iconic brewhouse- a place that makes and serves… BEER, of course! My parents got a beer to share while my brother and I shared a soda. My parents don’t normally drink, but the beers of Germany are famous. The beers there were super big and must have weighed about a million pounds. The most astounding part, however, was that the waiters could carry a few using just their fingers, not their whole hand. The glasses were large and heavy, even when they were emptied (which most of them weren’t). After that, we headed to the English Gardens because we were following the Rick Steves tour. On the way, we saw a small patch of golden cobblestones noted on his tour. The easy-to-miss golden path turns out to be a memorial to those who took that side street path to avoid saluting the big Nazi statue that was at the other end of the road. The golden cobblestone path is a subtle but very moving memorial. We would have missed it without the guide, and, looking down at those out of place golden stones in the street I thought about the people who stood up against the Nazis. The street was pretty busy as we stood there and I also thought about how many people walked the other path during the war, who gave that Nazi monument at the end of the street a salute because it was the easy thing to do, or because they liked the feeling. We continued along the street, which was filled with pastel colored shops. After the nice walk, we arrived at the English Gardens, which are enjoyable to walk around. Since we were hungry for dinner, we grabbed some yogurts and granola. I enjoy eating like this because it’s a nice break from all of the heavy food at restaurants. We brought it back to our hotel, ate there, and went to bed.
The next day, we headed to the castle that inspired Walt Disney. Pretty cool, right? When I first heard from my mother that there’s a castle in Germany that was the inspiration for the famous Disney castle, I was expecting a midieval age stone building with defensive walls and maybe even a drawbridge. We woke up early and hopped on a train and when we got off at Fussen, our first stop was the ticket counter. We had gotten tickets in advance, but we still had to wait in a pretty long line to pay for them. There are actually two castles to visit there, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. And, even though we had gotten the tickets in advance, we still had to wait some time before we could start out tour. A visit to this town might have helped inspire Walt Disney, but the visits to these castles aren’t nearly as well organized as a day at Disneyland. You have to wait until your exact time and you can’t go in early, even if you’re there way before your time slot, as we were. Then again, if you’re late, you can’t go in. After venting about how horrible the organization is, we 
picnicked, hiked to the Alpsee lake, and did some explorations of the gardens. These things were remarkably pleasant and enjoyable. Afterwards, we went to Hohenschwangau Castle. Hohenschwangau, of the two castles there, is not the one that inspired Disney, but it is in my opinion the more interesting castle of the two. I think I found Hohenschwangau Castle a bit more intriguing because it is older. Once you get inside, there’s some more waiting. It was all for a small 30-minute tour of the castle. It was brief and led by a guide. We learned that this is where King Ludwig II lived as a child. I would have liked going in on our own, but that’s not an option. You can only go on guided 
tours. After the tour, we headed to Neuschwanstein Castle. The hike from Hohenschwangau to Neuschwanstein is about 30 minutes, so it’s not hard. Neuschwanstein is the castle that inspired the iconic Disney castle. It was nothing like what I was expecting. It was like the Sleeping Beauty castle. Even better! When I was younger, I was really into Disney. I dressed up as princesses and watched the movies. I lived and breathed Disney, essentially. Seeing the castle reminded me of why I loved Disney. We read about it beforehand on the Rick Steves guide, so when we went inside with our group (the policy and waits are the same as Hohenschwangau) we knew what to look for. The castle is mildly interesting inside. You don’t have a real tour guide, you just have someone who turns the audio guide on and off as you follow room to room, which makes sense, considering the 6,000 people who visit every day. It was pretty cool, but it didn’t completely blow my mind. The outside is remarkably Disney-ish, but the inside is about the same as every other castle. The one unique hall was under construction. Bummer! I thought that it was nice, but if you’re only spending a day in Munich, then you shouldn’t bother going. In fact, if I had it to do over again, it might have been nicer if we had taken two days: one to visit both castles, spent the night in Fussen, and did all of the hikes around it on day two. It was scenic and fun to hike, so I would’ve enjoyed more time to spend there. That said, it was still great to visit this place and it was a special memory to see the castle that inspired Walt Disney! When we got back to the train, I shoved myself past the crowds on for a seat. Once I sat down, I asked myself a question: When you think of Munich, what comes to mind? (See opening.)
BE READY FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE IN BERLIN!
