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!)
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