Over winter break, my dad and I went on a charm-filled trip to four bucket-list worthy European cities: Munich, Vienna, Prague and Budapest. Each city had it’s own unique character and personality. Since we packed a lot into a two week trip, I’m going to post each city separately, starting with Munich.
We arrived in Munich, jet-lagged and out of sorts, a few days before Christmas Eve. We only had two nights in Munich, which amounted to only one full day. Visiting a Christmas market was at the top of our to-do list, so after getting a good night’s sleep, we headed to Marienplatz, the city’s central square. Every year around the holidays, Marienplatz is home to the Christkindlmarkt, the oldest Christmas market in Munich. Vendors set up stalls filled with festive goods, such as ornaments and other decorations, traditional Bavarian crafts and desserts, candied nuts, mulled wine, coffee, and of course, giant pretzels, which my dad and I devoured at the first opportunity.
After we wandered the market stalls for awhile, we wandered the city streets, my favorite thing to do when visiting a new place. I instantly fell in love with the charming little side streets that we stumbled upon, obsessing over the European architecture. I basically wanted to take pictures of everything we saw.
Munich and its surrounding area (as well as pretty much all of Europe) is home to some pretty incredible castles and palaces. There were many I wanted to visit, including Nymphenburg Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle, which was the inspiration behind Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. Since we were short on time we decided to just visit Munich Residenz, a palace that served as the main residence of former rulers. As we walked through the palace’s many rooms, it felt like we were walking back in time. The opulence and intricacy of the rooms and decor was breathtaking.
We worked up an appetite touring the Residenz, so we decided to get lunch at SIGGIS, an all vegan restaurant in a super cute space. They have a large menu with a mix of options such as salads, bowls, sandwiches, hot dogs, and pasta. My dad got one of the hot dogs, which he wasn’t super impressed by. I got a vegan schnitzel sandwich which was delicious!
We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing before going out to the Hofbrauhaus, a giant German beer hall. Since I don’t drink much and especially don’t like beer, the Hofbrauhaus wasn’t exactly my scene. But it seemed like something you just have to experience while in Munich, and an experience it was! The place was packed with people from all over the world, there was polka music blaring, and Bavarian food-galore. We stayed for awhile and people-watched while I sipped my peppermint tea (#oldladylife) and my dad drank his giant mug of beer. After checking the Hofbrauhaus off our list, we took a quick walk and then headed back to our hotel to get some sleep before our train ride to Vienna the next morning.
We had such a short amount of time in Munich that I feel like I didn’t get to take it all in. From what we saw, it seems like a very charming and fun city with friendly people. I would love to go back to Germany someday and stop in Munich again to hopefully see some of the things we weren’t able to see on this short but sweet trip.
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