Honeymooniversary
Herr and I finally celebrated our first year anniversary this weekend (Herr coined the term in the title based on taking our anniversary around the time of our honeymoon). It was a last minute decision (purchased everything Thursday night and left Friday morning…). We caught the train at 9 a.m. and arrived around noon. Friday was absolutely gorgeous, so we quick took the public transit to Hotel Carmen to drop off the goods, then hightailed it up to Olympia Park.
Olympia Park wasn’t as impressive as I hoped, but it is fantastic to see so many people using it! It is undergoing some decent renovations, but the predominant glass is looking its age (over 35 years). We walked around the park area soaking up the sun, then popped into the BMW dealership building that looks like something out of Star Trek. I got to meet the Hydrogen 7 in person (lucky!) before we spent nearly 50 euro on a fancy dinner on an upper platform of the building. Back at the Marienplatz, we went up a church tower and ate ice cream while people watching.
Saturday turned out to be a bummer. The weather was completely opposite, cold and drizzly. We took a tram out into the German ‘burbs to the Bavaria Filmstadt. I really wanted to see the luck dragon from the Neverending Story. 😀 Sadly, it was tour-based because the studios are still in use, and we got there in time for the German tour. Herr and I did not understand most of the tour and were unfamiliar with most of the films and shows. I probably would have gone to the art museum instead if I had a choice now. We did try to see the art museum afterwards but ended up lost in the subway system. Herr was happy because he got lots of train pictures. I just wanted to go to the hotel.
Sunday was awesome! We started at the Residenz Palace. Absolutely beautiful and fun to check out. We got an extended ticket, so we saw the family treasures first, then got to walk through the seventy open rooms. What a maze! But it was a beautiful day, so we continued over to the English Garden for a nice walk before our train ride. Around the Chinese tower (looked more German than Chinese) is a beer garden that was very busy. Beer and pretzels! Well, we enjoyed the pretzel part while a live band struck up some merry German drinking songs from the tower. Plenty of soloists and little ensembles at every path junction for music merriment. 🙂 After a cone of ice cream, we took the train back, arriving a little after 9 p.m.
Overall, I would say Munich has much to offer and see. Hotel Carmen was a very nice hotel, although a bit away from the big scene. We enjoyed their yummy breakfast buffet every morning. 🙂 The train from here to Stuttgart was terrible; lots of tunnels cause for upset ears. The train from Stuttgart to Munich was very lovely though. It was a good trip, but some advanced planning for cost savings would have been nice.