Beattys Overseas

After our trip to Dachau on Sunday, we came back into Munich's city center looking for a hot meal to warm our bellies and our spirits.  We landed in front of a very authentic German restaurant which featured a team of butchers in the window, poking at huge cuts of meat on spits.  Right on!  This place looked legitimate, so we went in and were welcomed by friendly staff and menus in English.  John chose to order whatever it was that he saw in the window (turns out, they are roasted Pork Knuckles, yowza). 
Meatloaf?I went for the seemingly-safe, comfort meal of homemade meatloaf with potato salad.  I was a little shocked when my meatloaf arrived looking like a 4-inch thick slice of pressed bologna.  This was no American meatloaf, and I should have known better. 

After dinner, we somehow - by a magnetic force from the universe - ended up back at the Hofbrauhaus, which was much more tame tonight than it was Saturday night.  Everyone seemed to be behaving themselves, and the waitresses were only carrying 4 or 5 steins of beer instead of 12 in their strong little hands.  We watched the great German band play a few songs, then found a whole table to ourselves, which made for a very different experience than the night before.  We ordered a dessert and watched a sweet old German guy at a nearby table talk to himself and practically fall asleep into his beer.  Awww.

The next morning, we were on a mission to buy our train tickets for Tuesday to travel to Salzburg, Austra (our next stop).  The main train station (Haputbahnhof) in Munich is very central to all other touring areas, and after our tickets were purchased we just cruised.  Then, an ice skating rink at a plaza called Karlsplatz seemed to call our names.  We had a blast on the ice, and wondered why so many other people were standing around the rink, watching us.  Almost as if ice skating is not a common activity here, or something that only children do...?  Who knows, and we didn't care; we enjoyed ourselves despite being 2 of a dozen people out there. 

Great hat, great cityJohn's friend Jim recommended a great beer hall in Munich that isn't as touristy and big as the Hofbrauhaus, and we found it right after leaving the skating rink.  We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Augustiner Brauhaus and a few brews (it's 5 o'clock somewhere!).  Wandering around the city after lunch was fun, happening upon a few other mainstay beerhalls (I know, I know, a pattern has formed), browsing a huge bookstore with some English books and seeing some landmark buildings. 

By the following morning, while walking to catch our train, John said, "I'd really like to come back here again."  To which I practically screamed, "I was just going to say that!"  We enjoyed Munich, although we didn't see nearly as much of is as the touring brochures offered.  A big city that seemed like a small town, we think you'd enjoy it too.   Proust!

- Whitney