Breakfast at the hotel was again of a good standard, and we checked out by 8:30, heading for the station again. Just a few more photos of the outer wall and gate that we didn't stop to take on our way in yesterday. Today we moved on to Munich.
Errol managed to purchase our tickets on the hotel computer last night, so that made it a little easier today. The prices for the trip ranged from 26€ for a Bayern ticket, up to 126€ for a full priced flexible fare! What a price difference!! We had Bayern tickets, and only had about 5 minutes between connections on our changeovers, so had little wasted time.
Once in Munich station, our first task was to chase down that Swiss Half Fare card. The third place we went to proved to finally be the right one, and we are now set for travel in Switzerland. We decided to walk to the hotel to get a feeling for the city. We had been told it was about a 15 minute walk, and that would be a good estimate. We walked through the Mall (not sure what they call it) to Marienplatz - the centre of the city where the centre of attention is the New Town Hall (see photo below). The Mall was filled with lots of big name shops, and heaps of people. There were several fruit stalls along the way too - raspberries 3€ for 250g - I'll be back!!
The Pension Lidner is only a few minutes from Marienplatz, and while it is no 5 star establishment, there is no doubt that the location is wonderful. Once we had checked in and settled, we were off to explore the centre of downtown Munich.
Our first stop was Viktualienmarkt - an open air market for all types of food. Here we hunted through the many stalls with different types of food and drink, but decided it was time to try German sausages.
After our late lunch, we strolled through the mall for those promised raspberries - yummmmm! Then checked out Church of Our Lady a Gothic cathedral, just off the main Mall. It is such a tall building, and is beautiful in its simplicity inside.
We stopped for a while in the park behind Marienplatz, and decided to check out the train and bus services for possible activities tomorrow. Then it was back to Marienplatz by 5 o'clock to watch the carillon on the 'New' Town Hall.
After a short break, we ventured out to the Hofbrauhaus (the largest beer hall in Germany) for dinner. It was VERY noisy and crowded. We checked the menu, but the food was very basic. Decided to have a drink first, and see how we felt. Well, it must have taken 10 minutes before we finally managed to get a waiter to take our order of 1 beer and 1 wine. Then another 5 - 10 for him to bring Errol's beer, and an empty wine glass for me! After another 5 - 10 minutes when we finally saw him again, we asked about the wine, so off he went again, and finally brought back a one serving bottle. All the while the band was playing, the guests were singing and some banging on tables in time, ........ decided we would eat elsewhere!!
On the walk around to the Hofbrauhaus we had passed lots of great looking restaurants and cafes, many with tables and chairs out on the footpaths. We strolled back, and finally decided on a Thai place. German Pad Thai is different to Australian, but still very nice.
......and so ends another very full day.
No comments:
Post a Comment