Munich first days

We started our journey together from the IBM Herndon office near Dulles airport so we can leave our car there.  Finn worked a half-day in Arlington and joined us there.  I finished up some meetings in the office and then told my team I was going off the grid to attend a beer festival.  No meetings for 6 days!

We arrived at Dulles about 2 hours before departure.  Lines weren’t bad.  Finn got some design-your-own pizza at &Pizza.  He built a tasty concoction with mushroom sauce, arugula, jalapeños, pepperoni and ranch dressing.  Brendan got a burger at one of the Chef-inspired quick-serve places.  Our full flight to Munich departed on time and was gratefully uneventful TG.  Finn and I watched Jordan peele’s Us on our respective mini screen – thumbs down.  I also binged the new Netflix limited series – Spy –  thumbs up. 

Arrived at Muchen Flughagen on time.  Took us a bit of time to sort the S-Bahn tix to our hotel station.  We shoulda read Peggy’s cue sheet on the plane instead of watching all those shows.  55 minutes on the train to Donnersbergerbrucke station and then a 1km (Euro-metric now) walk to the welcoming boutique Hotel Orly.  Well not so welcoming because the Fraulein advised the room would not be ready for 60 minutes but we did arrive at 1030AM.  No worries as we left our bags and walked to nearby neufasen café for some breakfast.  It was surprisingly crowded on a Thursday morning at 11AM.  Does anyone work??  What am I doing wrong??  Our choices:  bagel and herb cheese for me, museli/fruit/soft boiled egg for Brendan, and fried eggs, bacon, cold cuts, and breads for Finn.  All very good and group shared.

Back to the hotel and found the room to have 4 comfortable cots but virtually no floor space or dresser storage.  Will make due and just happy we have the beds to crash after beer drinking.  Time for quick arrival naps.  Liam started checking in at this point from Frankfurt and then Munich airport.  He was running behind schedule for the 4pm free walking tour he reserved.  I woke the guys at 3pm and urged them to get to the tour while I awaited Liam’s arrival.  They did not move too quickly but Finn’s spidey sense navigated the U-Bahn to get them to Marienplatz in time to meet their guide for the 2.5 hour tour. 

Liam finally arrived at about 5pm after a mistakenly going to the wrong hotel and recovering by Uber-ing to Hotel Orly.  He read the cue sheet but just too quickly.   He took a quick shower to refresh and off we went to meet the guys in center city.  Liam and I did a self-guided walking tour using the free tourist map where we caught the Town Hall Glockenspiel, St. Peter’s Church, Royal Residence, and the Church of St. Mary.  Reconnected with Brendan and Finn at Marienplatz and then headed to the Paulaner brew pub to enjoy a traditional Bavarian meatstravaganza — sausages, braised beef, roast duck, and pork belly with krauts, dumplings, cabbage, roasted potatoes, and salad.   We drank our first liter beer following the server’s recommendation of the seasonal Paulaner Oktoberfest brew.  Doing  surprisingly well on day one so choose to keep going.  We headed to tourist favorite Hoffbrauhaus but it was full so we went to Augustaner brew haus to cap the night.  Headed back to the hotel via U-Bahn and survived bike paths with rushing cyclists and street crossing.  No casualties on day 1! 

Day 2 started with the hotel breakfast which did not disappoint.  All the euro-favorites were offered:  croissants, breads, jams, sausages, eggs many ways, fresh squeezed OJ, bacon, cold cuts, cheeses, pickles, yogurts, smoked salmon, herb cheese spreads and even doughnuts for the Yanks.   Our plan for the day is to catch the train to Herrsching and hike to the hilltop Andech's monastery where they have brewed beer since the 1800's.  

The sign said 4km but hiking up the holy mountain to visit Andech Kloister but my watche showed 20k steps and 20 miles today.  Apple Watch setting issue?  Amazing views of the Alps in the distance from the hilltop and the monastery chapel was full of pretty spectacular frescoes.  Relaxed in beer garden over more liters, pickled herring, jumbo pretzel and crispy pork shanks.   Back on train to Munich to connect with Michael B who arrived today with Patrick and Tim.   Also Brendan as he unfortunately got a flu bug? and chose to rest today.

Here is some video from days 1 and 2.