Munich: Day Ten

We woke up to a bright, sunny day in Munich, and knew that we had to make the most of it, because the weather report is showing rain for the next three days. Phil has been to Munich before, but it was my first time, and so we decided to do a walking tour with a guide. This was a great decision, because we learned a lot about the history of the city and it helped to orient us to where things are in the city. 

The first stop was to see the glockenspiel do it's thing, above City Hall. 

You can't really see it in this picture, I must have used the camera to take it's picture. Basically it plays music and figures rotate around. With all the hype it gets in guidebooks, I was expecting a bit more...but in 1909 when it was created, it was probably so exciting. 

We walked around the downtown area, the Marienplatz, which is all pedestrianized, lined with shops and places to eat. We learned a little about the history of Munich and Bavaria, and played a game against the others in our group over who could spot the Munchen symbol first (our guide, Noel, was giving me an edge by telling me where to look!). After leaving the downtown area, we went to the English Garden, which was designed by a Bostonian in 1789. Walking through, we noticed so many people sitting on the edge of a stream, and with such a hot day, we wished we could do the same thing. The biggest surprise of the day was seeing the surfers - yes you read that right - in the river. 

Each one waited a turn, letting one person at a time surf the waves. 

The walk ended with a visit to the Hofbrauhus (I'm probably spelling these things wrong), one of the oldest beer houses in the city. They even have a place for you to store your own beer stein:

Now that we had an orientation to how the city was set up, we decided to head back over to the English Garden because we wanted to put our feet in the water! It was ice cold but you mostly got used to it after awhile, and it really helped us cool off. 

Then it was time for ice cream. Since Paris, we have had ice cream (or gelato or sorbet) every day, and we had to keep up the streak! Buildings on the way to get ice cream:

These are most likely post-WWII buildings, but recreated in an older style. About 75% of the city was destroyed, and unlike other cities, they decided to rebuild similar to what had been there. 

It was an early night for us, but a good first day in Munich.