Bavarian culture 101
After lunch, Lindsay and Dominique headed back to the hostel as D had a flight to catch. I headed to the English gardens in desperate need of a nap and some green. I really notice that with sitting in an office all week, even if it is a modern and pleasant work environment, I still crave running my fingers through fresh grass or lying under a tree staring up through the canopy, marveling at the hundreds of layers of leaves filtering the light. You may laugh, but tree-time is a very important part of the Fräulein's life!
Unfortunately this time not even the trees could soothe me enough to lull me into a slumber, and pretty soon Linds and I had made yet another plan to head out for drinks. What could possibly go wrong?...
The evening started in a very civilised manner in the 'Glockenbach' quarter, another "swanky" part of Munich where some of the FC Bayern stars have their haunts. I could definitely imagine them hanging out at 'Nero'.
With its double-height ceiling, green glass feature wall and stretched tables that invite anybody to mix with everybody.
Another discovery of Lindsay's, Nero specialises in woodfired steaks and pizza. Obviously the steaks aren't so much of interest to me, but the pizza, especially the gluten-free option was!
Lindsay had also described a cocktail she had seen another customer have there the night before, and it was enough to lure me back out on the town instead of crawling into bed at 5pm...what can I say? I'm a sucker for pretty things...
To be honest I don't reeeaaally remember what these cocktails even consisted of (give me a break, I had had one hour of sleep!). It was something along the lines of raspberry puree topped up with Prosecco and soda water...I couldn't actually taste any alcohol, which is probably why it went down so smoothly! :)
We shared a GF pizza and recapitulated the previous night. Although I took even longer than usual since I was continuously distracted by the beautiful people (some just "interesting") that wandered past!
As well as cocktail spotting, Linds had also befriended the young waitress the previous night (she's very efficient!), and dared to inquire where might be a good place to go out, should one feel so inclined...I quickly changed the subject since there was no way I was able to survive another outing past 10pm!
Well little did I know that a mob of Lederhosen-clad Aussies would cross our path back at the hostel, and I would get roped into playing the Bavarian tour guide...
The number one stop for tourist in Munich, if not here around Oktoberfest time, is the 'Hofbräuhaus'. Here's a little of its founding history in 1589:
Wilhelm V., Duke of Bavaria (1579 – 1597), had a thirsty and demanding royal household, which was dissatisfied with the beer brewed in Munich. As a result, beer had to be imported to Munich from the city of Einbeck in Lower Saxony. Wilhelm ordered his royal court to come up with a way to reconcile cost and pleasure. On September 27, 1589, the chamberlains and council members, C. Strabl, A. Amasmeyr, S. Prew and G. Griesmair, approached him with an idea: why not build their own brewery? Wilhelm welcomed the plan with open arms. As a matter of fact, that same day, he recruited the master brewer of the Geisenfeld Monastery, Heimeran Pongraz, to be the planner, developer and the first “brown” Hofbräuhaus’ master brewer, which went into operation at the “Alter Hof” ( Old Court ) in 1592. It was called the “brown” Hofbräuhaus as only brown ale was brewed there.
Obviously nowadays its just a tourist filled beer hall, but the beer and food are worth a visit.
Those Australians really are a crazy bunch, but somehow you can't help but be infected by their craziness. They seemed happy with my impromptu guiding, and we parted ways at 2:30 am. So much for that early night.
Feeling like I hadn't really achieved anything all weekend, I figured (despite my serious sleep-deprivation!) a 40km bike tour with my aunty and uncle would be a splendid way to end it. So I headed back to their place in the country...
Before embarking on our bike tour, there was a tray of homemade 'Zwetschgendatschi' to demolish. This is a yeast dough base topped with the currently seasonal 'Zwetschgen' (plums). My aunty didn't quite have enough plums, so she chucked on some apricots as well. In my humble opinion this is the ultimate combination of sweet and sour!
The goal of our tour was to reach the town where my little cousin had his football match. Thankfully this was a pretty flat route through beautiful stretches of countryside and along the "hops plantations".
40km isn't a Olympic distance for sure, but I was pretty proud of myself for managing to keep up, considering it was my first ride of the season. I must admit though, it definitely helped knowing I didn't have to bike the way back. My older cousin was going to pick us up with the car, but in the end my family's neighbour who had also come to watch the game beat him to it, and my aunty and I got a very special ride home in his old-timer.
It was like taking a trip back in time, and the cushy, bouncy seats made it very tempting to fall asleep...
A round up of this weekend tomorrow!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
Unfortunately this time not even the trees could soothe me enough to lull me into a slumber, and pretty soon Linds and I had made yet another plan to head out for drinks. What could possibly go wrong?...
The evening started in a very civilised manner in the 'Glockenbach' quarter, another "swanky" part of Munich where some of the FC Bayern stars have their haunts. I could definitely imagine them hanging out at 'Nero'.
With its double-height ceiling, green glass feature wall and stretched tables that invite anybody to mix with everybody.
Another discovery of Lindsay's, Nero specialises in woodfired steaks and pizza. Obviously the steaks aren't so much of interest to me, but the pizza, especially the gluten-free option was!
Lindsay had also described a cocktail she had seen another customer have there the night before, and it was enough to lure me back out on the town instead of crawling into bed at 5pm...what can I say? I'm a sucker for pretty things...
 |
| Pretty things: Linds & colourful cocktails |
 |
| Looking slightly worse for wear... |
As well as cocktail spotting, Linds had also befriended the young waitress the previous night (she's very efficient!), and dared to inquire where might be a good place to go out, should one feel so inclined...I quickly changed the subject since there was no way I was able to survive another outing past 10pm!
Well little did I know that a mob of Lederhosen-clad Aussies would cross our path back at the hostel, and I would get roped into playing the Bavarian tour guide...
The number one stop for tourist in Munich, if not here around Oktoberfest time, is the 'Hofbräuhaus'. Here's a little of its founding history in 1589:
Wilhelm V., Duke of Bavaria (1579 – 1597), had a thirsty and demanding royal household, which was dissatisfied with the beer brewed in Munich. As a result, beer had to be imported to Munich from the city of Einbeck in Lower Saxony. Wilhelm ordered his royal court to come up with a way to reconcile cost and pleasure. On September 27, 1589, the chamberlains and council members, C. Strabl, A. Amasmeyr, S. Prew and G. Griesmair, approached him with an idea: why not build their own brewery? Wilhelm welcomed the plan with open arms. As a matter of fact, that same day, he recruited the master brewer of the Geisenfeld Monastery, Heimeran Pongraz, to be the planner, developer and the first “brown” Hofbräuhaus’ master brewer, which went into operation at the “Alter Hof” ( Old Court ) in 1592. It was called the “brown” Hofbräuhaus as only brown ale was brewed there.
Obviously nowadays its just a tourist filled beer hall, but the beer and food are worth a visit.
Those Australians really are a crazy bunch, but somehow you can't help but be infected by their craziness. They seemed happy with my impromptu guiding, and we parted ways at 2:30 am. So much for that early night.
Feeling like I hadn't really achieved anything all weekend, I figured (despite my serious sleep-deprivation!) a 40km bike tour with my aunty and uncle would be a splendid way to end it. So I headed back to their place in the country...
Before embarking on our bike tour, there was a tray of homemade 'Zwetschgendatschi' to demolish. This is a yeast dough base topped with the currently seasonal 'Zwetschgen' (plums). My aunty didn't quite have enough plums, so she chucked on some apricots as well. In my humble opinion this is the ultimate combination of sweet and sour!
The goal of our tour was to reach the town where my little cousin had his football match. Thankfully this was a pretty flat route through beautiful stretches of countryside and along the "hops plantations".
 |
| Spot the bumble... |
 |
| A few Bambies! |
 |
| My uncle (looking pretty pleased with himself!) |
 |
| Hops plantation |
It was like taking a trip back in time, and the cushy, bouncy seats made it very tempting to fall asleep...
A round up of this weekend tomorrow!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
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