Munich Day 2 - Munich City

Munich is undeniably one of my favorite cities I've been too! Not even for its history, just being there and soaking up the atmosphere makes me want to return.

Evening Munich and Maggie


A church, of course

Street pianist in a tux and all

Maggie was fascinated by the fact that there were a few pianists playing their grand pianos on the streets. There were other musicians playing all sorts of instruments like violins, cellos etc, dressed in clothing befitting concert musicians...

Kids get their fair share of fun in Munich city...

And adults too...

And kids...

And more kids... (gulp.. was I the only adult there?)



No no.. there's still Maggie :)

Okay, so the deal was that someone (don't know who) would just leave all these toys around.. things like stilts, balls and all sorts of things I've had never seen before. And anyone's free to play with them! And people really do play with them!

I miss the atmosphere so much! It's carnival-like, even on a regular day! People are relaxed, as are we (perhaps cos we're on vacation, anyway). We could just roam around all evening in spite of our ACHING legs... I miss Munich. Grrr.

Lastly, here are some extra photos of Munich I found on the net that I also remember so fondly of Munich :) Hope you do too, Maggie.

Munchen Hauptbahnhof

Interior of the train station

(Maggie: Remember how we pulled out luggage and dashed like crazy? Lol!)

Wombats Reception Area

Don't they bring back such wonderful memories :) +smiles to self+

Munich Day 2 - Dachau Concentration Camp

We arrived at Munich from Amsterdam at around 4pm, and so we spent the rest of the day mulling around the city nearby Wombats. We checked out the Tourist Information to collect brochures and figure out what to do the next 3 days at Munich.

Guess it were the history lessons in Sec 3 & 4 that made me wanna visit all those places that had to do with the World Wars. So, we headed for the Dachau Concentration Camp bright and early the next morning!

"Dachau was a Nazi German concentration camp, and the first one opened in Germany, located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory near the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 miles) northwest of Munich in southern Germany." -Source: Wikipedia


These were the gates to the concentration camp.

Arbeit Nacht Frei - Work will Set You Free

The guide told us this phrase was used largely for propaganda purpose - to hide the cruelty of what goes on behind these gates in the name of re-education.

The expanse of the camp

The shacks that used to house the prisoners are now gone, but every slab filled with gravel you see now was the exact position that each shack used to be.

The few remaining buildings behind me

Reconstructed replica of how the bunk beds used to look like

Of course, prisoners did not have the luxury to have one bed per prisoner. I can't remember the exact numbers each shack housed, but it was ridiculous overcrowding.

Wash basin

Toilet bowls

Another segment of the camp

Doors to the solitary confinement cells

The rear of the building with the solitary cells

Prisoners were tortured and executed in this open area here just behind the solitary cells. Purpose was to let these prisoners hear, see & fear that the same might happen to them.

Where bodies were cremated

To escape - against all odds

To escape this camp, prisoners had to overcome three hurdles, well-depicted in this picture. Firstly, the grass strip. Anyone found on the grass strip would be shot immediately (there were lookout towers of cos). Second, the moat which was pretty wide (can't really tell from this photo). Lastly, the barbed wire fence.

The memorial reads "Never Again"

Post SEP - Munich!

What better a way to end our SEP than with a MAGNIFICENT post-SEP tour!

Our first stop from the Netherlands was Munich, Germany!

It took us a 9 hour train ride from Groningen to Munich with 2 transfers. Our post-SEP tour began with a bang when we woke up 45mins late :P

Yeah, it was quite freaky. Our train was around 630am and we woke up at 550am. Hee! Thank goodness Tessa was there to give us a lift to our train station. Well, we made rushed like crazy but we made it.

The next bad thing that happened to us was that we couldn't find any seats for our 2nd and 3rd trains :( That was like, a total of 6hrs..... Well, if you're using the Eurail pass, always remember to reserve seats on popular long-haul routes.

Well, no matter, we got there in the end.

The blog post isn't going to be in chronological order, but in terms of what was most memorable at our stay in Munich.

Without a doubt, it had to be the...

...

...

BEER!!!

Yes, omg. From a beer-hater to a beer-lover, that's the kind of transformation a trip to Munich could do to you. (not forgetting also that, a 0.5L beer costs about the same as a 0.3L coke at a restaurant)

We had lots of good food in Munich too (I guess cos it was our first stop and we had plenty of money :) ) so here are pictures of Bavarian / German food :D

A combination platter of 3 sausages, sauerkraut (some salty cabbage) and a liver dumpling!

Maggie's pasta. The mushrooms were delicious!!!

My ugly hair.

"Noodle-pudding"

Maggie and I were curious how to make a pudding out of noodle, but it turned out to be like this --- hmmm. Like bread pudding. Disappointing but very nice anyway.


Next, is a very IMPORTANT part of our stay in Munich that complemented the BEER. It's the BEER GARDENS!!!!!!!!!!


In summer, all over Munich are these magnificent beer gardens where everyone just gather to have beer. It's kindda same as beer houses, except that it's open-air. The best thing about the beer gardens are the atmosphere. At these places, you'll NEVER feel as tho drinking is a vice.

There's just a very healthy, relaxed chilled out atmosphere. I mean, people bring their pet dogs and all. And of course, lots of good beer :D

I'm proud to say, in our 5 short days, we visited three of their major beer gardens, including the largest one!!

The Hirschgarten

This is supposedly the biggest of them all. Sitting capacity of 8000 people! Like what a big MERRY bunch!

The truck carrying the beer mugs :)

With the "beer-men"

Absolut Beer.

Maggie likes the beer better than her apple soda, can u believe it???

Our dinner at the Hirshgarten. A platter of Bavarian duck, pork kunckle and something else I can't remember now. The potato-looking-thing is not mashed potatoes but potato dumpling. It's a cross between potato and the glutinous rice dumpling, no kidding.

Veal steak in mushroom sauce. Absolutely YUMMMMY.

(You should have already noticed by now that if you are a beer and meat lover just like me, you really ought to be in EUROPE. :) )

Next up, at another beer garden! I can't remember what this is called, but it's in the centre of a market. Pity.

The third beer garden - The Chinesischer Turm

Shit. Check out how fat my face has become after all those beers by the fifth day in Munich.

Other beer garden related photos that I'm too lazy to sort. Bottomline is.... when you visit Germany, don't miss Munich. When you are at Munich, don't miss the beer gardens. When you are at the beer gardens, miss the beer and U really ought to be shot.

Queing orderly for their beers. How can beer possibly be a bad thing????

Check out the expanse of the beer garden!

Lastly, our hostel at Munich. Wombat's City Hostel. I'd give it 4 stars!!!



We slept in a all girls' dorm for the last three nights... Bad choice.

Honestly, my advice would be that, sleeping in a mixed dorm is better. Cos guys are ALOT quieter and they don't take 2hrs to wash up.

It's the beer, I swear.