Here it is, the part of the trip I have been waiting for, a return to Bavaria (No, not for the beer fest, we’re not there yet). We had one day in Munich, Bavaria’s capital, before catching an overnight bus to Vienna. The walks in Hamburg‘s parks and overnight train had rid myself of a hangover I did not think I would be getting again, but as I mentioned, this trip was all about “More Beer, More Food, No Sleep” We only booked a day and not a nights stay because I had already seen Munich (though it was only an brief hour) but by the time our overnight bus to Vienna was here I was like a little kid crying to stay.

The more I visit Bavaria or meet its residence, the more I know why I love it! Its thriving with culture and tradition! (no not just the good beer and food, though that helps!)

We took the Sandemans walking tour again and they did a great job at showing us places I would never of seen and explaining the history that I would never of known, some of our stop offs were as follows.

The May Pole

In the middle of the Viktualienmarkt is the Maypole. As the tour guide went on to explain the traditions and story behind the maypole, fascinating everyone, I sat there as a know-it-all because I had heard it all from my previous trip to my friends small town in Bavaria. I felt like quite a smarty pants with all my knowledge on the Bavarian culture.

The tradition of Mayday has a lot of history, it is believed to be from the Germanic regions and dates back to the early med-evil cultures. The way my friend explained it was… basically, it is a festival where the men will get in traditional clothes and put up a tall wooden pole in their town, this usually takes many men and much beer! Once the pole is up, the town sit around and protect the pole from neighboring towns, this also takes much beer! After all, you wouldn’t want to let your guard down and fall asleep. The point is to steal the other towns pole and if you succeed they must pay you with loads of beer to get it back. Sounds like a good tradition to me.

Viktualienmarkt

This market in the center of Munich has been going on for ages! and believe me, it is irresistible! After the tour we were pretty hungry not too mention with all the talk of beer; Thirsty. We stopped off in this market searching for schnitzels and beer.

In Munich you may find the spare tables in the beer gardens are rather hard to come by but being Bavaria and such a friendly place you generally just sit anywhere there is a spare seat, be it near a stranger  or complete group of them and start chatting away. We ended up sitting by an American couple and were later joined by an elder German man who challenged me to drink 7 liters of beer, I excepted and that story comes later in the beer festival.

I remember darting from beer garden to bakery store, to another food store and another in the pouring rain. My foodie friend just had to try every delicious food you could imagine and with plenty of stalls full of fresh food and vegetables, meats, desserts, pastry’s and cakes, foods and ingredients you cannot find anywhere else in the area she was in heaven!

This square is also hosts to a number of traditional and folkloric events.

National Theatre (Trust the Germans)

So the story we are told by the walking tour just made me think… no, really… only the Germans!

Apparently in 1823 this find building was half destroyed and had to be rebuilt. There was a fire, and the city of Munich had just had a very harsh winter so all the water was frozen, This building not being far from the Hofbräuhaus all the men of Munich formed a line and started putting out fire with beer! Only, putting out a fire is pretty tough work, so  they decided to drink it at as it was coming down the line and the fire destroyed half the building.

Hofbräuhaus

Here it is! The worlds most famous beer hall, an historic beer palace! The place you simply can not leave Munich without paying a visit! Extravagant and just “oh so German!” huge inside, filled with rows of wooden tables and checkered table clothes, with murals on the walls, roofs and floors. It really is a must stop of when you come to Munich.

Now if you remember me saying that empty tables in Munichs beer halls/gardens are hard to come by, they are no better in this big, beautiful building, The story goes, to fix this problem they put drains under the table that ran outside, this way one could relieve himself without losing his spot, or beer for that matter.  But what about the splatter one may ask?  Well, wooden walking canes were originally used to help guide the urine to the drain without getting others wet.  Weird, but genius, and lederhosen were even more convenient with its easy to open front flap.  Talk about Germany efficiency!

Enjoy some traditional food whilst sipping on liter beers and listening to a traditional live band! All in a historic wonder hall of tradition. You will sit on a table with random people who may or may not speak your language and by the end of your meal or beer/s be in conversation with your table and maybe the table next to you… This is the Bavarian way! and this is how our night played out. We ended up making friends with our entire table of locals, having loads of fun and almost cancelling our overnight bus to Vienna, I just DID NOT want to leave!