So, the stag party invitation said Munich. A weekend’s heavy drinking in the beer capital of the world sounded a little on the dangerous side, but worth it for the adventure points alone. Naturally, the photographer’s instinct was strong in me, even though I was equipped only with a lowly iPhone 5. And for several of the shots my own inbuilt Image Stabilisation mechanism was – how shall we say – slightly damaged.
This first shot taken from onboard one of easyJet’s finest.
Snow over Germany
As an Edinburgh resident, one of the first things to note about Munich is that they have a functioning tram system. Much jealousy!
Look Edinburgh! A moving tram!
Actually, for a major city, Munich seemed to have a functioning transportation system. Trams, light rail, buses and lots of cars (all on winter tyres). And it all just flowed. We crossed the River Isar at the Ludwigsbrücke, passing a municipal swimming pool
Volksbad swimming pool next to the Isar river in Munich
We first visited Zum Dürnbräu, where the glasses had lids that acted as signals to the bar staff. The bar menu had some interesting sounding delicacies on it…
Some interesting sounding snacks there…
On the way to the next bar, we passed the new town hall, which was all lit up:
Munich’s New Town Hall at night
At Augustiner Am Dom, where despite the fact that it was -1 deg C and snowing, we were seated outside under an awning, and were presented with these:
A few small beers
And then I started to crash. Not exclusively from the excessive beer consumption, but from general tiredness. Many people (not in our party) were audibly struggling to cope with their beer loads in the toilets, but I was starting to really want a reasonably sizeable nap. So, it was time to don jacket and gloves, and head out into the snow. In spite of being full of beer and in desperate need of sleep, and in spite of the aforementioned snow and cold, I was quite struck by this view, so I took a photo of it:
Viktualienmarkt, Marienplatz, at night in heavy snow.
I’m surprised at the quality of the shot, for all the aforementioned reasons! What looks like noise near the tower at the top of frame is in fact the snow falling.
The following day, after a good sleep and restorative breakfast in the hotel, it was back out for more sampling of local products. We headed here:
Hofbräuhaus, one of Munich’s famous beer halls
But because of a local Bundesliga match, the place was rammed, and not all of us got a seat. There’s no real art to this place, it’s industrial pubbery on a level of which J.D. Wetherspoon could only dream.
It being a 6 Nations Rugby day, we headed to local Killians Irish pub, only to find that it’s also Ned Kelly’s Australian Bar. Something of a culture clash one would think, but it’s essentially beer with sport on the telly. We watched Scotland beating Italy, and most of France contriving to lose to Wales. We bumped into another stag party there, and the stags had a quick chat:
The stags converse
This other party were on the same flight over to Munich as I was. They must have consumed at least their plane tickets’-worth of booze on the plane. Something in the region of six rounds of drinks at ¬£50 per round.
Sunday morning dawned bright… for some members of the party. Others had been fairly well destroyed by the port and schnapps in the Wirtshaus in der Au restaurant on Saturday night. We had several hours to kill before our flight, so I went for a wander around town.
The New Town Hall during the day
The German Museum and the River Isar from Zenneckbrücke