It's nice to daydream about the perfect laid back, spontaneous, flying by the seat of one's britches Europe trip. Hop off the plane with no return ticket, stay in a city indefinitely, depart when the mood strikes. Choose the next destination from the departures board at the train station, wander around looking for hostels with vacancies, sleep in parks and train stations. Ahhhhhh, the adventure.
Knowing just how crazy Europe can be in the summertime, we chose to forgo that adventure and planned all our stops ahead of time, reserving hostels and trains in advance. The result has been a very stress free trip. When we arrive in a city, whether it is 6am or 10pm, we know we have a bed somewhere, and we know where to find it. It's a great way to travel, but it leaves a bit to be desired in terms of spontaneity. So when it occurred to me that if we shaved off a little bit of our stay in Austria, we could wedge a two-day adventure in Münich between our stops in Innsbruck and Berlin, I spoke up. Here was our chance to be a little spontaneous! I presented the idea to Marc and Alex, who both agreed that it was a good plan. We would have to stay one day less in Vienna and Salzburg, but we would get to see Bavaria! So we made the arrangements.  We arrived in Münich on Tuesday evening, after having our train delayed, then cancelled, then rerouted, all due to some unlucky farm animal having walked onto the tracks at precisely the right time to be destroyed by the train that departed before ours. Never a dull moment when living life out on the rails, I suppose. We checked into our hostel and then headed out to grab some dinner. I don't make it a habit to throw back 30-packs of Miller Lite like it's my job as some people I know do, but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy some awesome beer once in a while. Being in Münich, where else to find some than in a hulking 1 liter glass mug next to a plate of delicious currywurst at one of the city's famous biergartens? The beer was plentiful, if not a little mediocre, but the currywurst was quite delicious. The best part of all was the atmosphere. It's like somebody took a quaint city park, dropped a hundred long wooden tables down amongst the trees, brought in dozens of kegs of German brew and plenty of beermaids to serve it, and added a thousand or so jolly Bavarians into the mix. Add some tasty food, and the result is the most fun dining experience I've had in a while. Authentic German dinner options abound, from safe bets like bratwurst to more scary dishes such as fish cooked whole and roast pork served with chunks of pure fat. Out of deference to my stomach, I picked one of the less frightening options and then went to go find a seat.
 Maybe we showed up a little late, because this effort turned out to be completely futile. Every table was totally packed with people. Feeling too hungry to keep trying, we sat down on the ground next to a swingset and enjoyed our dinner and huge mugs of foamy beer without a table. The experience felt completely authentic and totally new to me, and was altogether rather incredible. After only knowing Münich for a few hours, I was already beginning to like it. Wednesday was spent mostly wandering the city, checking out the big landmarks and getting a feel for the area. Münich is an old city and seems a little short on some of the stunning architecture we've found in some other places, but it is still a very nice place in which to hang around. We headed east along the ritzy Maximilanstraße, taking time to check out all the fancy cars as we walked toward the river. When we reached it, we headed north into the English Gardens, the largest central city park in Europe, with a lake, huge soccer fields, and several biergartens. It's quite a place.
 After the long walk, we were hungry and decided to head in the direction of food. I had read about the famous Hofbrauhaus beer hall, with its loud band and typically rowdy patrons, which I have to admit sounded like a pretty good time. Luckily our city map detailed the location of every major drinking spot in town, so the Hofbräuhaus wasn't difficult to locate. It also helped that the place was huge, with a hulking facade and doors bursting with excited tourists, some coming and some going. 
We walked right in and were delighted at the sight of the place. The room was filled with roaring laughter and the band playing in the back. Some people sang along to the music, while others sat and enjoyed the show. Waiters carried beer four glasses per hand, to carved wooden tables filled with thirsty drunk people. We took our place at a table near the front and proceeded to enjoy the experience for the next few hours, over plates of amazing German food. We finished things off with a few pretzels and then headed back to our hostel.
On Thursday we headed to the center of town to witness the highly recommended Viktualienmarkt open-air market. We've seen markets in almost every city, from small to large and featuring everything from fresh fruit and fish to Chinese clothing knockoffs and plenty of wacky stuff in between. Since each is a little bit different, we were excited to see just how this one might be special. What we found was a pretty typical outdoor scene of vendors in stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish, along with all types of related items. What was really impressive was the prepared food, which included subs and sandwiches but also cooked fish, salads, and pasta, which I decided to have. Warm meals are few and far between on this trip, so I very much enjoyed a plate of spaghetti and shrimp in marinara.
Pleased with the experience, we walked to the Deutsche Museum, an entire building dedicated to exhibiting German engineering and technology. Topics range from computing to aerospace to photography, with a few quirky subjects such as tunnel digging and glass blowing thrown in for fun. Due to our collective short attention span for art and history exhibits, we normally skip most museums, but this one seemed to really grab everybody's attention. We stuck around until the place closed, and then hopped the subway north.
Münich hosted the Olympics twice in the second half of the twentieth century, so we figured their stadium must be quite a sight to see. When we departed the subway, we saw first the BMW offices, showroom, museum, and factory, and our attention was immediately diverted from Olympics to awesome cars. We could see the Olympic complex from a distance, but chose to more closely inspect the modern and impressive BMW compound. As it turns out, we missed the factory tour by only five minutes, which was a disappointment but is also a reason to come back to Münich again soon, I suppose. With all that the city has to offer, who wouldn't want to?
A night train will drop us off in Berlin early in the morning on Friday for Marc's birthday, where we will get to explore another one of Germany's famous cities.
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