Winter in Bavaria: Munich

I got back from Germany a week or so ago, but I am only just now getting around to writing about it. I ended up falling in love with Germany a little bit and I had a really relaxing weekend.

I arrived in Munich on Valentine's Day. I found my hostel super easily, because it was really close to the train station. It was a pretty nice hostel, but definitely the best part was my personal experience. I've now stayed in several hostels and had a variety of experiences, but this time I did the best job reaching out and meeting new people. One girl in my room came into the room just after I checked in. I asked her if she had eaten dinner yet and she hadn't, so we decided to go and find a restaurant together. The guy working at reception in the hostel gave us a good recommendation for a typical Bavarian restaurant, and it was really nice. I'm glad I met someone new (plus I didn't have to eat alone!). 

As soon as I got back from dinner I crashed. I think I left my flat at 6am and didn't get to the hostel until about 6pm, so it was a really long day.

The next morning I got to sleep in a little bit, and then I ate breakfast at the hostel. I ended up eating with the same girl from my room, which was also nice. Then I packed up, checked out, and even had some time to kill before I left. I had to walk about half an hour to a different part of town, because I was meeting my aunt. After getting a little bit turned around, I managed to meet her at the hotel we'd be staying at. 

We then had the rest of the day to explore Munich. We walked around the market near our hotel, which is called Viktualienmarkt. There were all sorts of amazing fruits, vegetables, cheeses, etc. and it was the middle of February, so I can't imagine what it's like in the summer!

Our next stop was the Glockenspiel. We happened to be near Marienplatz around noon, so we figured we'd stick around and see. We ended up laughing through the whole thing, because the music was so slow. It sounded kind of sad. But the whole thing was cute and definitely worth the 10 minutes it goes off. 

We found this Thai place near the center for lunch, which was great because it had lots of vegetarian options. It was also the beginning of a strange Asian food trend that would continue for the rest of our trip. 

Then we headed to the Neue Pinothek, which is the half of the main art museum with the slightly more recent art. We actually went to see Monet's Water Lilies, but it turns out that exhibit is no longer in Munich.

A little disappointed, we left to find something else to do. We walked back towards the center of town through this massive park, which was nice and quiet. We also walked through the old town.

 We were actually headed back to our hotel, when we accidentally stumbled upon the Hofbrauhaus, which I think is quite famous (and a bit touristy), but we decided to go there and get some Bavarian food.

We ended up having a nice meal and there was even a live band playing while we were in there. It turned out to be a really nice place to sit for a couple of hours. It was a really fun environment. After dinner, we were kind of craving something sweet, so we kept our eyes peeled for a chocolate shop that was still open at 9pm. We ended up finding this place called Beluga in Viktualienmarkt. We got nice little chocolates and they were so good! Definitely a good call. After picking up some treats, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed pretty early, because we had an early morning the next day.

Read my next post here to see what we got up to!