Munich, Germany

Our final stop on our trip was Munich. From Munich, we would take a couple of day trips to the Andechs and to see "Mad" King Ludwig the Second's castles. We met up with a friend of mine and his husband on our first day and got to see the famous Glockenspiel do its thing (once you've seen it, you're pretty much done and can move on) as well as got to go to the famous Hof Brau Haus (with its liter beers and massive pretzels).

It was in the fabulous Munich central train station that I finally found the famous Bavarian pretzels. These things were huge. I could easily wear one around my neck (and considered it, but I was really hungry). Lived off of the giant pretzels and Dunkel (dark) beer, for the most part.

Munich is, first and foremost, a city. Parts of it are pretty. Parts of it are not. It was a bit underwhelming after all the touristy kitch of Prague and Rothenburg, but it was still a nice enough place. It certainly helped to know people there.

And it was nice that it's a hub for pretty much all of Bavaria.

We spent a day exploring Munich with my friend Alex. We walked to a gorgeous park on a beautiful and clear Autumn day, then drank in a beer garden before parting ways for the evening.

We spent a day on a bus tour to see Ludwig's castles nestled in the mountains.

We spent a day taking a train out to the Andechs, a monastic brewery about an hour or so outside of Munich and along a gorgeous lake.

We saw Nymphenburg Palace (and found a relative's painting on the walls within).

Up to this point, we'd had fabulous luck with weather. It was occasionally gray and overcast, but we never had any real rain, from Prague to Munich.

Our luck ran out the last day when the rains it and it got cold.

Oh did it get cold.

But that didn't matter, as we then flew from Munich to London and then from London home.

It was a delightful trip. I'm glad I waited a couple of days to get a head cold.

Time for drugs...