Trip Back to Germany - Day 8 (an unexpected day in Munich!)

 Things almost never go right for the Griswolds and this trip was no exception!  First, both kids got sick RIGHT before we left, but thankfully recovered in time (and it wasn't COVID!)  We thought we had all of our travel troubles out of the way after this, but of course, we were wrong!

On the day we were to return to Boston, we had a leisurely morning because our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so everyone enjoyed a nice breakfast at the hotel. I love these machines!

More meats at breakfast!

And like, a dozen types of bread!

Pretzels for breakfast? No problem.

Weißwurst and bier to go with that pretzel? Absolutely necessary.

We finally got to the airport, all of us very sad to be leaving Germany (well, except Grant, who was ready to be home.) When we got there, we were told we could not check in.  I knew our flight had been changed (I got an email about it earlier in the morning) but didn't look at the fine print.  Our flight wasn't today, April 22. It was TOMORROW, April 23!  And we were no longer going through Reykjavik on Iceland Air. We were now going through Lisbon on Tap Air Portugal. 

After an hour on the phone with Iceland Air (hmm, wonder what THAT will cost me!) they told me they could not get us to Boston on this particular day.  They could get me to Newark, and that was it.  So we made the best of it. We booked a hotel at the Novotel right there at the airport that we have stayed in many times before and decided to grab the bus to the S-Bahn and head back into the city. I told everyone to give me their reaction to having to spend another day in Munich and this is what I got. 

Grant was very unhappy.  Todd was somewhere in the middle but willing to make the best of the situation.  Natalie was thrilled.  I was felt kind of like Todd, but leaned toward how Natalie felt. I purposely booked a flight home on Saturday so we would have a day to recover, do laundry, etc. Natalie also had her confirmation interview on Sunday that she would now have to reschedule. 

But hey, let's go back into the city, shall we?

We "landed" at the Marienplatz and the bells were ringing for us at St. Peter's nearby.

The Marienplatz was PACKED on a beautiful day. We walked under the arches at the Old Town Hall which was originally built prior to 1310. The Grand Hall here at the Old Town Hall was the scene of a speech given by Joseph Goebbels in 1938 that led directly to Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass.  That night, rioters shattered the glass storefronts of Jewish businesses, destroyed synagogues, and raided the homes of Jewish families, injuring and killing some of them. In the end, 30,000 Jewish men were also sent off to concentration camps - all while the authorities watched without interceding.

Here we are, me and the babes, walking under the arches at the Old Munich City Hall.  You can see Grant is less than pleased that we are not on a plane home!

But this gave us a chance to go back to the Hofbräuhaus!

Hofbräuhaus was founded in 1589 by the Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria and was intended to be a brewery for the Residenz. He found the brown beer of Munich SO gross, that he wanted to start up his own brewery!

Here we go again, with the pretzels that are bigger than their heads!

This pretzel DID look pretty tasty though!

Grant was STILL grumpy at this point because he just wanted to go back home.

So we demanded that he smile! Ok ok... he KIND OF looks like his dad here.

Hmmmm. What should I order?

Ahhh yes, a traditional Hofbräuhaus lager!  Only a halb Maß though!

The Hofbräuhaus has been in this location since 1607 and simple folk like you and I weren't able to drink this beer until 1828. This particular beer hall was established in 1897 after the original brewery moved out to the Hofbräukeller in the Haidhausen district of Munich.  A fire destroyed the malt house in 1987, and the brewery was then moved out to Riem (a suburb east of Munich) in 1988. 

The building was heavily damaged on the night of April 25, 1944 in World War II, although the beer hall (or "Schwemme") itself was mostly spared.

A Stammtisch is a "regular table" - or a place where locals can sit (think of it like Cheers - where everybody knows your name!)  If you're not a regular, you don't sit here unless you're invited!

The fun just keeps on going!

Baileys at the Hofbräuhaus!

Now we're talking!  I was just trying to eat pretty much all of the kartoffelsalat that I could before I had to return to mayonnaise based potato salad in America. YUCK.

You'd better not be eyeing my kartoffelsalat because I'm not giving anybody ANY of it!

We finally finished up our meal and headed back outside to walk around for a bit.

A last family selfie at the Hofbräuhaus!

Munich was really hopping!

Another adorable manhole cover of Munich!

As I mentioned above, the actual Hofbräuhaus brewery USED to be here at the beer hall, but it moved out to the suburbs in the very late 1800s.  In the early centuries, they called the beverage we know as beer "barley juice!"  Another cool fact: When the Swedes (!!!) occupied Munich during the Thirty Years War, they were paid with 344 pails of Hofbräu Maibock so that they wouldn't loot and burn down the city! 

We were looking for a place to grab a table to watch the remainder of the FC Bayern München game, but didn't have any luck at this Irish pub.

But we did find a table at the Hard Rock Café (good enough!) Unfortunately, Bayern München lost to Mainz, 3-1.

We didn't eat anything, but we did have a couple of beverages while we watched the game.

I don't remember why he was doing this, but it made me laugh so I had to add it.

Ok, time to head back to the train station - but I don't want to leave!

Natalie is noticing the Sparkasse bank witch (??) that's up above her. Across the street, you can see the Heilig Geist - the Catholic church of the Holy Spirit.  This was a hospital church since 1271, and a city parish since 1844.  It was destroyed in a fire in 1327, and they rebuilt it in the Gothic style before renovating it in the baroque style in the 1700s.  It was again largely destroyed in World War II.  The frescos and stucco work were painstakingly renovated after the war and the interior is once again in the really pretty baroque style.  I'm putting this one on my list for the next time we visit Munich!

We made our way back to the Marienplatz (although we didn't get to see the Glockenspiel run today!)

On the train, you could tell that Grant really loves it when she does this.

Ahhhh!  It's not quite yet the vibrant yellow that we are so used to seeing in the month of May, but the rapeseed fields are starting to show it's yellow flowers!

We got off the bus near the hotel and walked back under the setting sun.

If we can't be in our own beds, it's good to be back in a familiar hotel.

We waited an extraordinarily long time for our dinner at the hotel though (they were swamped - which made me wonder if there were issues on other airlines too?)

I'm not gonna write a whole different post for our journey home, but the story does deserve to be told. We got to the airport and once again, we couldn't check in.  We got our bag tags, but no boarding passes. So we got in line (which was much shorter today) and the desk agent told us "not to freak out" because our tickets from Lisbon to Boston said that we were "standby" - even though we had seats.

Ok, peace out Munich, but honestly, I'd rather be stuck here than in Lisbon!

As we were landing in Lisbon, I spotted the Sanctuary of Christ the King overlooking the Tagus River! (It's just over the engine).

Can you see the Castelo de St. Jorge and the National Pantheon in the Alfama?  The Barrio Alto is in the foreground. I had a great view of downtown Lisbon!

Meanwhile, we finally landed and of course, the plane was parked about as far away from ANYTHING at the airport as you could get.  We had to get on the bus to go to the terminal, go through passport control (#1), and hustle to our next gate only to find that we had to go through a secondary passport check.  Once we went through this passport check, you couldn't leave again (so... no going to grab a snack or a soda).  We went up to the counter and the lady looked at our "standby" tickets and said, "Oh don't worry - just find a seat wherever on the plane. Join group C for boarding." Only... that isn't necessary because we actually HAVE seats. 

So we waiting with group C and of course, as they scanned our "tickets" - there was a problem. They asked us to pull aside and have everyone else board while they tried to figure it out.  It turns out Iceland Air had not yet paid Tap Air Portugal for our seats. Major face palm. Finally, they just waved us through!

The flight was unusually bumpy, and drink/food service didn't start for almost THREE HOURS into the flight. I was over it!  Funny story though - I decided to watch the movie Hot Pursuit (please, give me comedy so I can laugh instead of cry at this point!) with Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon.  Suddenly, there's a scene with a news anchor talking about these two ladies who are on the run from the law - and the news anchor is none other than my graduate school classmate, Nicondra Norwood! Talk about a fun surprise!

Until next time, Munich! (And Portugal - I haven't seen the last of you, either!)

Trip Back to Germany - Day 7 (Munich)

 Natalie said that this day in Munich was the one she was MOST looking forward to, but also the one she was least looking forward to because it was our last full day in Germany (or so we thought!)

And of course, the day we leave the Alps, the snow capped Alps finally appear to us!

We said goodbye to our cute little hotel in Garmisch-Partenkirchen...

... and we were greeted with the most beautiful view of the Zugspitze and it's surrounding mountain friends.

Stunning. 

It was so pretty, that we pulled the car over on the way out of town to get one last look. Mother Nature wasn't kind to us to give us THIS view as we were leaving town! (Well, I guess it's good we got to see it at all!)

But... we were on our way back to Munich because I REALLY wanted to visit the Residenz!  On our way there, we spotted the Theatine Catholic Church in the Odeonsplatz.  It was built between 1663 and 1690 (although the façade is from the 1760s).  Many famous Bavarian Electors and Kings are buried here, such as King Maximillian II and King Otto of Greece. Otto was the second son of Ludwig I. The last heir apparent of Bavaria, Rupprecht is also buried here.  I LOVE the Empress Elisabeth (definitely recommend watching The Empress on Netflix) and her niece is buried here! 

We finally got to visit the beautiful Residenz in Munich where the Wittelsbach family ruled from the 11th century until 1918, although they "only" lived here for 400 years!  The first stop at the Residenz is the golden Ancestral Gallery, built by Karl Albrecht after he became Elector in 1726. 

This Rococo style room displays over 100 members of the Wittelsbach family with each portrait set individually in the gilt framed paneling.

This might have been my favorite thing that I saw at the Residenz though - this grotto in the courtyard is almost entirely made of seashells!  It's hard to see that this actually IS in a courtyard because there is a ceiling attached. The original courtyard that was built in 1580 was destroyed in WWII.

Bavaria was broke after WWII, so the residents collected what must have been hundreds of thousands  of these freshwater seashells so they could recreate the original grotto. 

The Antiquarium is an impressive room that was built in 1568 to house (you guessed it) antiquities but it was rather quickly (in 1580) converted to a ballroom.

The Antiquarium is the oldest room in the Residenz, and even though a bomb destroyed much of the Residenz during WWII, this room largely survived.  Some water damage destroyed parts of the ceiling (unfortunately) but it's been painstakingly renovated in the years since.

While I enjoyed the Court Church of All Saints, most of the rest of my family was a bit annoyed with it. Ludwig I commissioned the building of this church between 1826 and 1837 but you would be correct in guessing that most of it was destroyed during the war.

Natalie was very displeased with the way that they rebuilt it - and the fact that it was only reopened in 2003.  Almost all of the frescos and the dome were destroyed and they had actually planned to tear down what remained in the 1960s until it was saved and renovated.  You can clearly see a difference in the brick work between what is old and original, and what is new.  The new brickwork is almost "too" pretty.

Our next stop was the Ornate Rooms.  And boy were they ornate!  I could immediately tell I was going to like these rooms, just based on the name!  The Ornate Rooms were the official apartments of the Elector Karl Albrecht who ruled from 1726-1745 (and he was Emperor after 1742).  

These rooms are considered some of the most important examples of South German Rococo interiors.  If you like shiny and sparkly things like I do, always search out museums, churches and castles that have the words Rococo or Baroque. You won't be disappointed!

This room was so cool, we had to take a family selfie in it.  Damask wall coverings are definitely my fave.

But of course, you should also stop to take a selfie with your daughter (or two separate selfies) in a mirror at the Residenz in Munich!

And then there was THIS. Everyone has agreed this was a super funny photo, so I decided to include it because of the pure ridiculousness of it.

The Green Gallery was another one of the magnificent Ornate Rooms at the Residenz which was built between 1731 and 1733 (and of course, the original ceiling frescoes were destroyed in 1944.)

This was taken right before Natalie leaned on her brother, causing him to almost fall into that mirror on the left side of the picture (major face palm.)

The Green Gallery was a picture and mirror gallery (as you can see here!) and was also a place for festivities held by the Electorate for his closest pals.

The Audience Room is where the Electorate received foreign diplomats (under the red velvet canopy).

The Cabinet of Mirrors (and Porcelain) contained a lot of mirrors (of course) and that doesn't seem like a huge deal to us these days, since we likely have mirrors all over our houses. But in the 1700s, mirrors were one of the MOST expensive decorative items of the aristocracy!

The Cabinet of Miniatures is situated directly next to the Cabinet of Mirrors - you can't go in here, but you can take pictures from the doorway. A lot of this was reconstructed (except these fabulous doors and the actual miniatures themselves), but it was intended to be a "pendent" to the large gallery of paintings at the other end of the Ornate Rooms suite. 

I actually took a million more pictures of the rooms we saw at the Residenz, but I don't want to bore everyone (ha!) and we didn't actually get to some of the best rooms because they were closed. After we left, we headed over to the Spatenhaus for some beer and lunch!  There is a lovely view of Max-Josef Platz and the Bavarian State Opera!

And YOU GUYS.  They brought my kids salads (which just came with the meal) that had funky (to them) lettuce and MY KIDS LIKED IT.  They didn't eat all of it, but they tried it and said it was good! (Read: Anything that isn't iceberg is funky to my kids). I definitely finished Natalie's salad. It was awesome.

The ceiling at the Spatenhaus restaurant was also very pretty!

After a delicious meal, it was time to head out to the S-Bahn because we had tickets for a tour of Allianz Arena!

In my imagination, I see Grant walking in front of a picture of my boy King Ludwig II! (That's the name of the book - In My Imagination).

We finally arrived at the highlight of our trip - a tour of Allianz Arena where FC Bayern München plays!  This stadium held it's first game in 2005, but the team played at the Munich Olympic Stadium before their move here to Allianz in 2005. Prior to that, they played at Grünwald Stadium.

You can see Allianz Arena from the A9 and the A99 autobahns so we have passed this a million times, but only just now got to see the inside.  It's always looked like a puffy tire to me ha ha.  But that façade happens to be the largest membrane shell in the world! Superlative, check!  And although I didn't get a picture of it, Allianz Arena also has Europe's largest parking structure!  

Now we all know that this stadium is home to Germany's greatest football team... but what about America's greatest football team?  Why yes, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers DID play here last year!  In fact, they WON the first ever regular season NFL game played in Germany when they beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16!

FC Bayern München has won 30 championship titles, and they've won more than half of the Bundesliga titles since it's inception in 1963! Meanwhile, the Bucs, who have only been around since 1976 have one TWO. Ha!

Mia San Mia is the FC Bayern München catch phrase and it's the Bavarian way to say "We are who we are."  

FC Bayern München has been the home club for some of the best players in Bundesliga history, like Gerd Müller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sepp Maier, Robben and Ribery (aka: the Robbery), Franz Beckenbauer, Robert Lewandowski, Phillip Lahm, Thomas Müller, and of course, the GOAT, Manuel Neuer. You know. If he would stop skiing during the season and breaking his leg.

This stadium is so pretty, it almost looks fake!

These are the real champions right here, folks.

People say that FC Bayern München is the New England Patriots of Germany. They win A LOT, and people hate them for that. I cannot even BEGIN to list all of the records that they hold, individually and as a team.  Haters gonna hate, right???

This hallway leads down to the press club.  The press know how to get there, because the walls are colored this macaroni and cheese color. 

Everyone needs to bow down to Robert Lewandowski on their way to the press club! (I miss him!)

There is a bar and food service in the press club! 

We followed our guide down to where the press asks questions of the coaches.  Players do NOT come into this room and the press is only allowed to talk to them and ask them questions (and only WITH their permission) in the tunnel.

Oh my goodness, I'm in an episode of Ted Lasso, only with a much better team! I need a Roy Kent interview, stat!

I think it would be Natalie's dream job to work here!

It would be my dream job to meet the GOAT, Manuel Neuer!  Is this really happening? Am I really at Manuel Neuer's locker???

The GOAT of sons everywhere - Grant Bailey.

I seriously cannot believe I'm sitting here. And yes, those are his shoes down on the floor.

Todd appreciates the king, Thomas Müller. He's not the oldest on the team (that honor goes to Neuer) but at second oldest, he's definitely one of the best ever! We love the old guys!

Natalie and I *might* have a crush on Joshua Kimmich. Just a little one.

Sadio Mané apparently PUNCHED Leroy Sané in the Manchester City locker room only a few days before we were here! Whaaat? 

Manuel Neuer is NOT Natalie's favorite player but I feel like everyone should get their picture taken at the GOAT's locker!

No, no... her favorite player is Jamal Musiala! He is a mere 4 years older than her, and she is madly in love!  His mom is German, his dad is Nigerian and he spent the first 7 years of his life in Germany before moving to England. We can't wait to see what Bambi does in his future!

Meanwhile, next door to Musiala's locker is my other favorite player (errr, boyfriend...) - Alphonso Davies! We won't fault him cause he's an Edmonton Oilers fan though!

I snapped this one when everyone left the locker room!

We moved next to the visitors locker room. You can see it is... not as exciting ha ha.

That's my GOAT!

Someone please tell me that play is Pepper Shakers, The Sandman or even Midnight Poutine from Ted Lasso. 

Our next stop was the tunnel.  Our poor little guide wasn't getting much love from our group, so when he asked for volunteers to be the two team captains that would lead us down the tunnel and he got absolute CRICKETS, I felt really bad for him. So Todd and I started pointing at Natalie, thinking she would be really excited to be a captain. NOT. THE. CASE. 

The Captain got to sit in the first seat on the bench and she was LESS than pleased with us. She was so embarrassed, but later told us she wished she could have been happier about it (because in hindsight, she was glad she did it!) I told her we would never see any of those people again, and they would likely never remember who were the actual captains so you might as well have fun with it! (Note: She is not having fun.) 

These two are honey badgers and don't care what the world thinks of us.  

Did you know that the entrance to the tunnel is actually a part of the pitch that can raise up and down to let players, coaches and staff in and out?  Also, the stadium announcer sits right there at that little table. Kind of my dream job, actually.

Hilariously, the sprinklers came on when we were on the pitch!  And - another interesting fact about the pitch is that it's heated by water pipes underneath the grass!

Dreaming of being a future FC Bayern player.  (Just kidding, he doesn't even play soccer!)

After we finished the incredible arena tour, we went into the museum and were greeted with an NFL helmet!  That wasn't super surprising since (as I mentioned before) the Bucs played the Seahawks here back on November 13 of last year, 2022. 

Love him or hate him, he brought my team another Super Bowl, so I'll always be grateful!

This explanation of American football is everything.

 

Game ball! I also love the ticket down below the ball - the sign says this is one of the 69,811 tickets that were sold for the game, and that it sold out in minutes!  I'm sure Ticketmaster overcharged EVERYONE who bought a ticket, and the game wasn't even in America!

Now, on to the REAL story... the championship trophies held by FC Bayern München!

You know I love a good superlative!  Our superstar Thomas Müller was the youngest player to win 50 UEFA Champions League matches and he did it back in 2015!

It's so ridiculous how many great players FC Bayern München has had over the years.  Bastian Schweinsteiger (who is sadly still 8 years younger than me) was one of the greatest midfielders of all time before he retired in 2019 (although he left Bayern München in 2015 when he transferred to Manchester United). 

I'm like, oh there's Manuel Neuer! And wait! There's Jerome Boateng! The kids still remember watching him in the World Cup when we were on the Mediterranean cruise back in 2018!

I seriously considered for about five seconds stealing this cardboard cutout of Manuel Neuer. 

But dang, if I take Neuer, I have to take the whole team, RIGHT?

Alas, it was time to head back into the city on the U-Bahn - but not before we made some purchases at the official Bayern München store!  Natalie got a Jamal Musiala jersey, and I got a cool scarf!  Even Grant and Todd scored some t-shirts.

Where to next?  Natürlich, we had to head down to the Englisch Garten for some beer, music and dinner.

One of our favorite sayings over the years has been, "Here we are, four Americans, in an Englisch Garten, by a Chinese Tower, in a German city!"  (Or something to that effect!)

The Englisch Garten is larger than both Hyde Park in London AND Central Park in New York!

This is just getting out of hand.

Voila! There I am! It was a bit cool but we enjoyed the blue sky and the leaves that were just sprouting from the trees.

The original Chinese Tower (or Chinesischer Turm) was built around 1790, but it unfortunately burned down during the war.  It was originally designed by Benjamin Thompson, aka: Count Rumford, a loyalist during the American War of Independence who was born in Woburn, Massachusetts! They rebuilt it in 1952 and it still stands as a place where the oompa band plays!

If it's not a beer mug in front of my face, then it must be a photobombing Grant!

Look at this feast!  

The pretzels in the Englisch Garten are literally bigger than your head.

Not even kidding! They're HUGE! Funny story about why she is wearing my hat... she was getting a sunburn on the top of her head!

While I did not have ANY Maß while I was in Germany, I did have a sip of Todd's just for the photo op.

Mmmmm. Bier.

The band kept us entertained at the Chinese Tower!

Bailey selfie at the Chinese Tower! I'm thankful Todd's gigantic wing span can accommodate these photos.

You guys would never believe how much they fight!  Yet here they are, strolling through the massive Englisch Garten, hand in hand.

They were feeling very worldly when they built this garden.  This is the Monopteros, which was a Greek Tower commissioned by Ludwig I in the 1830s. You know, to go along with the Chinese Tower (and a Japanese Teahouse!)

See, this is GOOD floodplain management. A stream (the Schwabinger Bach) that runs through green space.  They knew what they were doing in the late 1700s!

Finally, we headed back to the hotel (a lovely Marriott - we rarely stay in a Marriot because it's out of the Bailey budget but we used points to get this one!) and prepared for our trip home the following day. OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Until next time, Munich! (Or until tomorrow!)