Germany Day 7 - Krun to Munich

This morning we woke up early to clean up our ferienwohnung (vacation house) and pack for our trip to Munich. I am so thankful for James. We work well together and have a good rhythm. He has certain things he takes care of, I have certain things I take care of, but both of us know almost without speaking when we need to jump in and help the other. The cleaning and packing went smoothly and we were able to get out of the house exactly at 10am. James had packed the car so perfectly that even though we were all jammed in, none of us needed to have luggage on our laps. 

 

Luggage tettris

For breakfast we went to the little cafe James and I had been to the day before. I'd loved the chocolate croissants and cinnamon things, but I was thrilled to discover that everything in the place was equally as delicious. Christian got a ham and cheese in a pretzel baguette that was divine. There was only one of them but he was kind enough to share it with me. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and the best I'd ever had. 

 

The breakfast cafe

 

Enjoying breakfast

Even after a leisurely breakfast, we still had time to kill before we could check into our hotel. So we decided to take the private toll road to the town of Bad Tolz. This was the one lane road our navigation had tried to take us down on our way to Herrenchiemsee, but today we had the time to actually enjoy it. The road was very curvy and incredibly narrow, maybe a one and a half lane road. Everytime we came across a car going the other way, one of us needed to pull over. Thankfully it wasn't a particularly busy road.  

 

The forest road

A covered bridge

The Isar

Cloudy mountains

The road followed the Isar river, the river that runs through Munich. It is a beautiful and broad river that has carved its way through the valley floor. There are wide swaths of dirt and gravel on either side as well as sandbars (or gravelbars?). It reminds me very much of the Saco river up in Conway, NH. It's a cloudy and periodically rainy day today and the clouds are covering the mountains. It is a haunting look. 

 

The Isar

The Isar spreading out

The forest in clouds

I love these clouded mountains

At one point the river opened up to a deep turquoise lake. We pulled over for pictures and found a swimming area with a raft out in the water. There were three motorcyclists enjoying the lake and if it hadn't been so very cold I would have gone swimming too. It was stunning. 

 

James takes a picture

The tempting raft

 

Emerald Lake

Eventually we found ourselves in Bad Tolz, a charming but hilariously named little town on the river. The shopping district was on a steep hill and the street was lined with beautifully painted stores. These shops were more normal rather than particularly touristy like the shops in Mittenwald. We did get some very expensive and fancy gelato and while we were enjoying it we met a woman and her son who were vacationing from the Netherlands. We chatted for a bit and I think she was trying out her English. Occasionally she'd ask her son for help with a word.   

 

Camille waits for gelato

The view from the gelato restaurant

Bavarian clothing

Walking around Bad Tolz

One of the many painted buildings

The last bit of the drive to Munich went slowly because we hit a bit of traffic and construction. James says that Germans are a lot nicer now than he remembers. Every time someone lets us merge or pulls over on the one lane roads he is pleasantly surprised. And aside from those few notable exceptions, all the Germans we've talked to have been very kind too. The woman at the Krun information booth was particularly friendly. Hopefully we'll have good experiences in Munich as well. 

Christian amuses himself on the drive

Our hotel is a Holiday Inn but it used to be called the Forum and it is where James and his family used to stay during his childhood. We have two family rooms and Christian is sharing one with Camille while Jon and Will are on the couch in our room. Like the car, these "family" rooms seem to be designed by someone who doesn't actually have or travel with a family. The couch pulls into a rather nice bed, but there is no door between it and the bedroom. Instead there is a large open archway between the rooms so that one of the people in the bedroom are in full view of the rest of the hotel room. I'm making James sleep on that side. The other ridiculous thing is that there is only one main light switch. The light switch next to the bed turns off all the lights in the hotel room, including the power to the desk where we were trying to charge our phones and laptops. Like the car it feels like this room is designed to be only comfortable for one person, despite ostensibly being able to accommodate more.  

 

We were all very tired but we still needed to find some dinner. So instead of availing ourselves of the many nearby restaurants, we decided to walk 20 minutes into town to go to the Hofbrauhaus. This was completely my fault because I didn't want to miss it. We'd been here the last two times we were in Germany, once the year we got married and once with the boys, and James and his family have been coming here his entire life.   

 

The back of the Hofbrauhaus

The Hofbrauhaus is a very famous tavern in Munich. The seating was in the German beer hall style, open seating at large tables. You seat yourself and usually sit with strangers wherever you can find an open seat on a bench. The tables are crammed in together and the noise from hundreds of conversations was rather overwhelming. There is also a live German band which plays loud Bavarian tavern music every 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

 

The band 

The band

The place was packed when we came in. I found out later that the Hofbrauhaus can seat 1,300 people and that does not surprise me. There were certainly more than 500 people on the first floor alone. We wandered for a while, which was difficult with the wheelchair, but didn't have to wait too long before we found a recently vacated table with enough seats. There were two young women sitting on the other end and during the evening Camille struck up a conversation with them. When she found out they were graduate students she tried to set them up with Will, and one of the girls did want to talk, but he wasn't interested.  

 

Pictures can't capture the constant noise

The Hofbrauhaus is a place you go for the atmosphere and the beer. It is not a place for fast service. But it was impossible to fault the staff for that because they were clearly working incredibly hard trying to serve so many people. Waiters and waitresses would go by with their arms full of large mugs of beer, or with trays piled so high with food it seems incredible anyone could lift them. Someone did drop a glass, not one of the big mugs, and it shattered near us. Will noticed that they missed some pieces when they swept it up so he got down on the floor and picked them up. He's a good man.  

Grandma and Christian

Raise a glass

Trying the maß of beer

Camille enjoys her maß

They serve their house beer in a maß or mass (sounds like mahs) which is a 1 liter glass mug. We ordered three different house beers to try and share with the table. Christian was very excited and completely forgot that he'd sworn off alcohol. Jon doesn't seem to like beer very much and we discovered tonight that it makes James sick. So it was mostly Will, Camille, and Christian who enjoyed the maß. The food wasn't fancy but it was good. I loved my roasted chicken but Will said his food all tasted like sausage. 

I tried the beer

I do not like the beer

 

Christian enjoys the maß he is sharing with James

Decorations in the Hofbrauhaus

 

Will enjoys his food

It was after 10:30 by the time we made it back to our hotel and we were all very tired. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring but hopefully we'll have a chance to rest. 

Goodnight!