Let’s lift a glass…to Munich!

(August 23-26) In an effort to mitigate the pain of a ten-hour train ride from Paris to Prague (Czech Republic) we decided to break up the trip into approximately five-hour segments and have a BIG layover in Munich! Land of Oktoberfest, Rhine maidens in dirndls and aprons, men in leather lederhosen slap-dancing, and accordions playing endless folk songs. And, most importantly, HUGE MUGS OF DELICIOUS BEER. As many of you already know, I don’t drink beer. I drank this beer- not in a huge mug- and it was good. For beer. I will have to enlist the aid of Mr. Large in waxing eloquently about the attributes because he drank a good share of HUGE MUGS OF DELICIOUS BEER in quest of the ideal brand. I’m talking one mug being an entire liter. Did you know there are only six official breweries in Munich? Every beer hall- or tent-only sells one brand. You have to try them all. Augustiner? St. Pauls? Schiller-Brau? Who cares? By the time you get done it’s all you can do to stumble back to your hotel. Mr. Large just informed me that Schiller-Dunkel is his favorite.

Speaking of our hotels, Mr. Large has been our official “hotel concierge” and made our reservations throughout the tour like a champion travel agent. In Munich we were booked at a Marriott close to the train station. As we rolled our luggage along, we noticed tell-tale signs of certain undesirable elements. Pawn shops, numerous homeless and beggars, important street meetings on the sidewalk of men wearing gold chains. You get the idea. Nonetheless, we forged ahead.

We got a recommendation for dinner from the front desk and this was our first encounter with the HUGE MUG OF DELICIOUS BEER, along with vast amounts of pork ribs falling-off-the-bone, tender and dark bread that was undoubtedly “healthy,” along with potato salad and sauerkraut. First up? A liter of DARK beer for Mr. Large and a small Weissbeer for me. Mr. Large liked the beer so much he had another, but to be fair it was only a half-liter. Then another. This dinner kicked off an epic three-day segment of drinking and eating pork in all its permutations. Cheese sausage, Bratwurst, pork loin, bacon, skinny sausage, fat sausage, little chunky links…there was no end. My favorite was curry wurst! The sauce is a weird combo sauce of ketchup and curry but it’s tasty. Our friend DP, who is the other half of the world-famous Team Pumpkin golf duo with Mr. Large, says Lidl sells it if you have the courage. Rt. 22 in Union.

We had an entertaining conversation with one waiter who, when Mr. Large was ordering a half-liter of beer, informed us that size was only for “women and children.” HA HA. We laughed, and ordered the liter. Nothing like a good alcohol shaming by your German waiter in lederhosen. I had to double down on my statins after this “stop-over”.

Oh yes, we had a nice city tour and we saw the cathedral and the glockenspiel in the plaza, but what we really did was shop for Bayern Munich soccer club personalized jerseys for Mr. Large’s three grandsons (SCORE!), walk around and check out the various open-air markets and more beer gardens and other breweries…that’s about it…