Auf wiedersehen Munchen, guten tag Berlin

I am adjusting poorly to my second time zone change in 4 days, so this post is being written at 5:30 AM (11:30 EST, 8:30 PST). One benefit of having a jacked up sleep cycle is being wide awake for the sunrise.

Yesterday we journeyed to downtown Munich. I wasn't sure what to expect as this was my first time in a European city. Exiting the Marienplatz train station, we were greeted by the beautiful architecture of the Neues Rathaus.

From here, we wandered through the downtown retail area, eventually stopping at the Hamburg Fish Market for lunch (bratwurst) and a thirst slaking German Pilsner (the brewery was Jever). The brat was delicious, especially when topped with a curry ketchup. After lunch, we headed towards the English Garden (or Englischer Garten). This lovely park was located northwest of the train station and featured, among other things, urban surfing on a river flowing through the park and several nude sunbathers. After strolling through the park and paying to use the bathroom for the first time ever (not too bad, only 50 cents). We started making our way back towards the downtown area to find a place to watch some soccer/football. Upon finding a Paulaner beer garden, we discovered that the game had been delayed due to thunderstorms, so we ate some pretzels and walked west towards the Maximilianeum.

I know what you are thinking, here we are in the beer capital of the world and we have only visited one beer garden. With our walking tour of the city completed, we ducked into a Starbucks to find directions to the Hofbrauhaus. Apparently everyone else had the same idea, but luckily we met a fellow American (lovely lady from Georgia) who gave us her table. They had the France/Ukraine game on and we ordered our first round. About halfway through our first round, Mike, who was wearing a Phillies t-shirt, met a guy named Steve (also from PA) who joins our table. Steve, while nice, appeared to have no short term memory. Lack of a functional hippocampus aside, he was pretty hilarious and we he joined us for another round. We for most of the England/Sweden game and then made our way back to the culturally rich Holiday Inn. It is now 6:10 AM and our flight to Berlin leaves at 10:20 AM. Check back tonight/tomorrow morning for a post from the capital of Deutschland.