I’ve been to Munich before (München in German), but it was for a stag party. I do remember that it was a nice city, but I don’t really remember much of the details… It was definitely worth a second look, and with Joolz this time.
The city of Munich is home to 1.5m people, so it’s pretty large, but walking around the centre, it still had plenty of character that’s often missing from big cities. Despite the fact that much of it was bombed to the ground during the second world war and most of it is re-build, it has authentic charm and doesn’t seem faked.
The name Munich comes from old German and means “by the monks”, and a monk is the city coat of arms and appears in many places all over the city, including as a golden figure on top of the ‘new’ town hall. As many of the streets lead towards the main town square, Marienplatz, the little monk is a useful navigation guide.
The Neues Rathaus (new town hall) 
The Rathaus-Glockenspiel 
The Munich Monk
After the obligatory stop in Starbucks so Joolz could get the city’s mug, we went to the Victuals Market, which is an outdoor market full of stalls selling farmers goods, food and drink… You can’t go to Bavaria without trying the cuisine! Later in the day we also went to one of Munich’s 7 old breweries (you can see their emblems on the maypole), Hofbräuhaus where we had some more really nice Bavarian food (slow roasted pig knuckle) and I got a proper dunkle beer in a stein…
Maypole in the Victuals Market 
Lunchtime snack, Weißwürste with sweet mustard and a pretzel 
Hofbräu 
The Hofbräuhaus 
Dunkle!
We spent several hours walking around the centre following an audio guide on my phone (thanks Rick Steves and to Lindy for suggesting it). We visited Dallmayr, which is like the food hall in Harrods, and has a history of providing tasty delicacies to Royalty for three hundred years. We found the Asam Church, which was built by a couple of brothers in 1740’s. They were up and coming architects and it was mainly a showcase for their skills and hence it has the most holy bling packed in to the space as possible. The guide also took us to the tribute in Viscardigasse, also known as Shirker’s Alley. When Hitler was in power, citizens walking past the Feldherrnhalle monument were expected to salute. The string of metal cobbles in Viscardigasse marks the path to those non-supporters could dodge down a side alley to avoid the monument.
Posh coffee in Dallmayr 
Angel slaying a serpent (aka protestants) 
The incredibly extravagant Asam Church 
Boar outside the Hunting and Fishing museum 
Viscardigasse (Shirker’s Alley)
After spending a brilliant couple of days in Munich, camped up by the Allianz Football Stadium, which we recommend as it is next to the train station and reasonably priced, we headed east, back in to Austria…