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Munich

 

October 23–26, 2025

On our trip to Italy for fall break, we decided to fly into Ancona and in doing so, we booked a connecting flight through Munich.  On the way back to Amsterdam we spent a couple days in Munich since we had not been there before. 

More Munich photos here:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/KfiVg62t5EJR6gWH9

Thursday, October 23 

Dinner was at Augustiner-Keller, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.  A good start to a traditional Munich experience.  Ryan did not go small on the beer.



Friday, October 24 

Food tour!!  But first our guide took us to the Glockenspiel in the New City Hall since it was due to "perform".  The top half depicts a jousting tournament from the 1569 marriage of Duke WIlhelm V and the bottom half features a dance that celebrates the end of the plague.  Definitely not a "must-see" for Munich since it is underwhelming but there is meaning and history behind it. Here is a video if this seems interesting to you.


Then we headed to Viktualienmarket food market to try various foods such as sausages, sauerkraut, pretzels, cheese and pastries. Also more beer opportunities (for Ryan) and I was allowed to drink wine instead and was not even (openly) judged. I do enjoy that Munich has an Italian influence so wine-drinking is not uncommon. 


This is a packet of something sugar-like that our guide gave us to mix with vodka (for the adults) as sort of a shot.  Sam did it with water and seemed to enjoy the hit of sugar which I'm sure felt weird for him since I deprive him of sugar as much as possible. 


There are laws that only beers brewed in Munich and follow certain rules can be served at Oktoberfest.  Here are the beers:


Pastries:

Saturday, October 25 

Similar to food tours, history tours are a staple in our travel itineraries.  Munich is a critical piece to the WWII history we have been learning about all over Europe. We did a WWII Walking Tour with a stereotypical German guide who has A LOT of passion for WWII history (maybe too much??).  He was strict about us keeping focused and dramatic in his storytelling. But overall it was thorough and satisfying in giving us a vision for how the whole thing got started.


First meeting place for Nazis:

Hofbräuhaus – Site of Early Nazi Meetings and where the Nazi manifesto became official:

Viscardigasse (Dodger’s Alley) - Munich residents walked through this alley to avoid giving the Nazi salute at the memorial.  It is now marked with a bronze “golden cobblestone” path.


We were going to do the English Garden in the afternoon but the weather was not great so we skipped that.  Overall the cold and rainy weather was a barrier to fully experiencing Munich but we hit the highlights. 

Sunday, October 26  - Munich --> Amsterdam

Back to Amsterdam after a quick visit to St. Paul's Catholic Church, which was close to where we were staying.  The most interesting thing about this church is that it was involved in a plane crash back in 1960. This is mostly relevant due to Sam's current obsession with horrific and deadly plane crashes which he likes to discuss often, and in great detail.  😧🛬




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