{"id":272,"date":"2012-07-11T23:03:40","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T23:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anirama.com\/trip\/europe2012\/?p=272"},"modified":"2012-07-18T18:23:44","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T18:23:44","slug":"munich-day-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anirama.com\/trip\/europe2012\/munich-day-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Munich – Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

This seemed like a really short day. We spent a lot of it in transit, flying from Prague to Munich, getting settled into the hotel and taking a walk to get situated in a new city. Oh, and there was this beer garden…<\/p>\n

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Prague Airport<\/p><\/div>\n

The flight from Prague to Munich is a little over an hour, but adding in transit time to and from the airport makes it take half a day.<\/p>\n

While we were waiting at the gate in Prague the display over the gate changed to read “Go to Gate 12.” We were at Gate 12, so I was a bit confused. I asked the agent if we were in the right place and she said, “Ya. Go to here.” I felt much better.<\/p>\n

After arriving in Munich we took a cab to the hotel and went for a walk to see some of the city before our rooms were ready. Our hotel is near the train station and Karlsplatz, which is the plaza at one end of a long shopping mall that ends at Marienplatz, the main city center. We elbowed our way through the throngs of tourists and, running out of energy, stopped for lunch at one of the outdoor cafes.<\/p>\n

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Marienplatz is one of the main market squares and packed with tourists.<\/p><\/div>\n

We should know better than to eat in the middle of tourist madness like this.<\/p>\n

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Right now I’m thinking something like, “I’m pretty sure this was Jason’s idea.”<\/p><\/div>\n

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Jason hides in his beer.<\/p><\/div>\n

After lunch we explored more of the city on foot and then convened back at the hotel to check in, unpack, and plan our next few days.<\/p>\n

The first item of business was to visit an authentic biergarten, and the one with the highest recommendation from a friend was only a few blocks away. Augustiner-Keller Beirgarten<\/a>\u00a0lived up to our expectations. The outdoor tables can seat about 5,000 people, half in a full service area and half in self-service, all underneath a hundred chestnut trees.<\/p>\n

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Augustiner-Keller Biergarten seats 5,000, but was only about half full.<\/p><\/div>\n

We opted for full service, ordered a mixed plate of wurst, a couple beers and a pretzel. Any one of those items was enough for a few people, but we carried on as if we knew what we were doing.<\/p>\n

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That’s really both of our beers. It just looks better this way.<\/p><\/div>\n

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This is really both of our second beers – I would never order two at once.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jason: “Ocifer rolls off my tongue a lot easier than ocifer.” In his defense, he couldn’t say that right the next day either.<\/p>\n

More pictures:<\/p>\n\n\t\t