As we pulled into Munich, it was already getting late and since it has been raining most of the day, it was grey and really just that sort of weather that you want to snuggle up with a blanket and drink hot chocolate. On top of the weather, we spent about an hour trying to find our hotel that we had booked as the Google directions were wrong, and there was a blocked road due to a building being on fire.
We pulled up to all the policemen there and found someone who was very helpful to give us directions - viola! We pulled up to the 'newly renovated Marriott' - as it claimed online...WOW - this hotel was incredible... pretzels and apples at check in, selection of about 8 different newspapers (including New York Times!) and we were lucky enough to get a room on the 14th floor, which gave us great views. To our suprise our mini bar was FULLY stocked, and was all complimentary... so given the weather, we made ourselves a comfortable night in and snacked on the fresh cheese and baguettes we had bought earlier on in the day with the bottle of red that was in the fridge for us!
Once again, for just 5E/person more, we got a full buffet breakfast the next morning (We always stuffed our pockets with some boiled eggs and pretzels so our lunch was covered too :-) sshhh..
We hoped to wake up the next morning with better weather, but no such luck (maybe it was the payback for taking food with us from the buffet :-)
Still, we were here and we were going to make the most of it.. we went for a walk through the English Gardens, which was a beautiful piece of greenery in the midst of the city, followed by a wander through the Altstadt (yes, every city in Germany has an old city in case you havent realised!), stroll over the farmers market, where we picked up some cheese (suprise suprise), and some gingerbread.
Off to the famous Hofbrauhaus - the state court brewery of Munich. The reason why its so well known is because in earlier days, the brewery used to belong and produce beer to the Kingdom of Bavaria, later it was used as Hitler's meeting spot with the National Socialists.
Today, it is a popular tourist attraction where the most famous beer in the world comes from! They own the main tent at the Octoberfest, as well as a couple of other Hofbrauhaus's around the world. Geoff had the obligatory bret'n (pretzel) and stein of beer - I had myself some homemade Spargelcremesuppe (Cream of Asparagus soup) since I was so cold from the rain!
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