Day 13: Christmas markets a-plenty!

Overnight it turned out our Munich hotel had some sound issues. Addy and I found it to be like the place I used to be renting on Gibbons St in Redfern. The tram went past every 15 minutes, and additionally due to the proximity to nightlife, so noise was constant. This meant we needed to be caffeinated, now more than ever!

We left the hotel and wandered towards where Christmas markets were the night before, and soon ran into a chain called Coffee Fellows. Turns out this chain is bigger than Starbucks in Germany and we thought it was better too. It had a very similar feel but the main selling point was that they had a big selection of bagels. We both got an avocado and salad bagel on parmesan and it was brilliant. (Yes, Adelaide's coming around to avocado in context). The coffee was quick and what you would expect from that kind of joint.

We threw together a plan for the day over our brekkie. I wanted to hit the Deutsches Museum on the river, and Adelaide wanted to check out the Englischer Gardens which had a supposed beer garden in the middle (they are huge).

We set off bound for the museum but shortly after we left the cafe Adelaide couldn't find her gloves. Neither of us could remember if she had worn them when we'd left the hotel - as we were tired - but she had worn them out every day before. We quickly returned to the cafe and checked our seating but couldn't find them. Just to be sure we headed the 4 or so blocks back to the hotel to see if they were there; but there too, we couldn't find them. Where had they gone? I suggested we go back to the cafe and check one last time, and if they weren't there we could get some more at the markets. Addy tried calling the cafe but the man on the other end of the phone was just very confused, not knowing much English. We did learn a new German word though, handschuh. Take a guess what that means... We returned to the cafe and success! Addy had taken them off when collecting the coffees, and they were still there.

On our way to the museum we wandered through more of the main shopping district which surrounded the main strip of Christmas markets we had canvassed the night before. The town hall revealed a smaller inner court that had even more stalls we'd missed. As we headed towards the river - the Deutsches Museum was located on an island in the middle - the international stores turned to luxury brands the closer in proximity we were to the opera house. My first real look at German architecture in the day time, I found it to be a weird mix of boring communist blocs, Georgian town houses and ultra-modern glass buildings, with a few gothic influences thrown in. Before we crossed the river, we stopped for a sit down and had a crepe and I tried a chocolate apple. The chocolate part was great, the apple however tasted more like an under-ripe pear.

The main shopping mall

A cool dragon on town hall

The opera house...

...And a very boring building next to it

Some plants were growing out of an escallator

A cheap 5 mil.

I thought it said 'Gluten Biken', which I think would have made the pretzel much funnier

The museum was located in a very nondescript building which looked more like an old factory, and there were few signs to indicate where it was, or what was on. We paid for our tickets not really sure what to expect, other than it was a science museum. When we entered though, we were greeted with a huge range of exhibits on a plethora of topics, each thoroughly detailed. We started off in the naval section which had information on early boats right through to the modern era, including the science behind the keel. We then headed through an exhibit on early electricity and generators with many preserved pieces. There were some interactive displays on the wall about current, switches and voltage.

Bit of a downgrade from Brugge...

Heading upstairs, I wanted to check out the aviation exhibit which had some detailed history on early aviation, and more interestingly, balloons and zeppelins. It was shame all the information was in German with no translation! We continued around and while Adelaide was looking at a piece about cave paintings and early writing, I was oggling a flight simulator they had set up. Leading on from that were sections on ceramics, paper, glass and then bricks (more interesting than it sounds!).

We headed up some more stairs to a new floor and they had an expansive area dedicated to computers and micro-computing (including codebreakers), which naturally lead into an are around navigation, surveying and satellites, before we entered the Astronomy section. By this stage we had been on our feet for a few hours and with the little sleep we had, I was feeling very drained. We left the museum still with many areas untouched, but had also taken on so much information.

Quite the conference

The museum was huge!

Addy and I returned back to the hotel for a nap via a different route though the city. On this new route we found some more cool museums, dedicated to ancient antiques and the Roman and Egyptian civilizations. We got back and I was out like a light!

Okay it looked a little better once the sun came out

It was a little later in the afternoon Adelaide realised we hadn't had lunch! The sleep had done me some good and I was feeling right as rain again, so we left the hotel and set off to check out the gardens while we still had a little light left. Naturally, we ran into more Christmas markets we hadn't found before. Located at Wittelsbacherplatz, these were smaller, but had a medieval theme which everyone in the stalls got right into. We did a lap of them before we settled on another delicious bread-pizza-thingy accompanied with burnt-top-of-mouth and mulled wine. All these market stalls require you to pay a deposit for your cups, so despite it only being $8 for the drinks, we had to pay $18, $10 of which you got back if you returned them (and didn't fancy pinching them). It's a bit annoying but it's a good system.

We had burned some of our available light left, but we figured we could still make it to the beer garden so carried on. We passed by the university, and by the time we made it to the English Gardens, it was a bit dark. There were plenty of people still walking through so we headed in. After a short walk around we found the Chinese restaurant which is the heart of the park, and, you guess it, they had more Christmas markets on. It was clear we weren't going to make it to the beer garden any time soon (still being around another half an hour away), so we settled for another lap of these markets. It all had very similar stuff as the others, although this one also had a dry curling rink in the middle (so no brooms or aggressive sweeping; basically bocci). I had my first pretzel (and set the bar kinda low with it too).

It was now quite dark, so we revised our plans and set course back to the ice skating rink for a drink there, where we would then sus out dinner plans. We were still a bit full from our bread-pizza-thingy. It was around a 45 minute walk back into town, and when we passed through the main Christmas markets in the Marienplatz it was clear the markets were far busier tonight than they were the night before. Despite this, the skating rink bar had space, and we settled in for a beer. Scouring google maps for some nearby dinner options, Addy spotted a burger place called Drunken Cow and that instantly had our pick.

The first Schumacher of the trip!

Very busy markets

Kaufingerstrasse has a cool gate

We had one more beer before we left the ice rink bar, and made a beeline for Drunken Cow, Adelaide now dying for a burg. When we arrived, we were lucky to score two seats at the bar as the small place was packed. Positioned down the end of the bar, it gave us a great vantage over the establishment, and the bartender provided lots of entertainment with his skills. The place prided itself on it's beef, whether in steak or burger form. I opted for the cheese burger, while Adelaide went against the grain and got a chicken burger.

We also felt it was the kind of place we could have a cocktail, being a bit fancy. I had a Smoke And Salt (tequila-based), while Adelaide had a trusty Dark and Stormy. Both were great! The burgers came out and Adelaide reckons hers was amazing. Top 10 easily. Myself, on the other hand, felt a bit jibbed. The burger was good but what was advertised as a cheeseburger was really more just a hamburger with cheese. First world problems! I would definitely go back.

We finished the night with a local beer (me) and a Mojito (Adelaide) and placed bets on whether two women in deep conversation with the Bartender were trying to chat him up.

Tschuss!
D+A