July 17, 2013

Our train arrived in Munich around 6am. We were both a little cranky due to lack of sleep. We decided to head to the cheapest place with coffee and free internet that would be open: McDonald’s. Outside the train station, we encountered a new world. There were bike lanes everywhere with special lights indicate when it was safe to cross the street. And it seemed like everyone was on a bicycle, dressed up for work. It was obvious that coming to Munich was a good idea.

Traffic lights just for us

Dressed for biking success

We hung out at the McDonald’s until we came up with a plan for the day. We decided to bike around for a bit before trying to find something to remind us of home: a boardgame!

Clock tower

Lovely building

Back at home, Chandler and I have a pretty good boardgame collection. Boardgames that are found in stores where people play Dungeons and Dragons in back rooms, possibly dressed as their favorite character. Germany happens to be a bit of a boardgame utopia. So, figured we might be able to find an English edition of some of the more pricey games and headed off for the game store. Unfortunately, the stores in town didn’t have of the games we were looking for in English. We settled on a WWII card game to get our fix.

Multi-sided dice on display is always a good sign for a game store

Next, we headed to the hostel “The Tent”. This hostel is a giant circus tent with bunk beds or floor space to sleep on right in the center of town. There is also a large yard for people to set up their own tents. A perfect place for us. We pitched the tent, unloaded our bikes and headed off  for lunch at Hirschgarten, the largest biergarten in Munich.

Biergarten Picnic

It was still pretty early by the time we were done drinking our liters of beer, I emailed a family friend who lives in the area and made plans for the evening. There was a music festival going on that night, so it was decided we would meet up with Matus for a beer and live music.

Live music!

We had a nice night hanging out with Matus and a few of his colleagues. We learned about life in Munich and were tempted to come back in the winter for some skiing in the Alps.

Thoroughly exhausted after a long day we rode back to our tent at ‘The Tent’ and fell asleep.