Nils from Switzerland, an exchange student I hosted during the 2019-2020 school year, joined me on my first-ever trip through Germany.  We took the train from Zurich to Munich. Our train car was filled with a school group of pre-teens who ran amok for most of the journey and our train experienced several delays, but we arrived in Munich in the early afternoon.  At the train station, we met-up with Dean, my German exchange student, whose train was also delayed.  Dean lives with his grandparents and his younger brother in Gottingen, a town in central Germany about midway between Munich and Berlin. When Dean arrived, the three of us walked to our hotel, less than a mile from the train station. 

Once settled, our first stop was to get lunch.  We ate at a restaurant in Marienplatz, Munich’s central square. The Marienplatz is a hub for tourists with many restaurants and shopping.  For lunch, I had my first German Wiener Schnitzel. No, not WeinerSchnitzel, the American fast-food place famous for its chili dogs and corndogs, but a traditional German dish consisting of a thin, breaded, and fried veil cutlet. Very tasty!  After lunch, we climbed the tower of the New Town Hall which offers excellent, panoramic views of Munich. The New Town Hall is one of the most impressive buildings in Marienplatz, and features the famous Glockenspiel, which is adorned with 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.

Next, we set-out to visit one of Munich’s famous beer gardens. A friendly bike tour guide pointed us to the Chinese Tower, one of Munich’s largest outdoor beer gardens located in the center of the English Garden. The English Garden is one of the biggest urban parks in the world, larger than Central Park in New York. I loved the English Garden! We spent time in this park every day we were in Munich. The weather was beautiful each day we were there, so the park was always packed with thousands of people (mostly college-age) having picnics on the lawn, playing volleyball, riding bikes, and swimming in the river which runs through the park. And there are a few outdoor beer gardens located within the park, including the one at the Chinese Tower, which we also visited each day we were in Munich. 

Even though I am not much of a beer drinker, I really liked Germany’s  outdoor beer garden scene.  Sitting at picnic benches under large shade trees drinking beers and eating giant pretzels is a great way to spend an hour or two.  We also visited Hofbrauhaus, one of Munich’s oldest and largest indoor beer halls located within short walking distance from Marienplatz.  This place seemed like a much more traditional Bavarian beer house with musicians playing traditional music and the whole place had a very lively vibe.  An unfortunate fact I later learned is that this beer hall is the place where Hitler helped launch the Nazi Party with one of his first big speeches.

For our second day in Germany, I booked a guided day-tour to Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle located in the Bavarian Alps, about a 1-hour drive from Munich.  Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the most popular of all of the palaces and castles in Europe and served as the primary inspiration for Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland. Both castles were impressive. Even more impressive was the number of steps I recorded on this day! Neuschwanstein Castle is perched upon a hill, and while there is a shuttle bus available to drive guests to the entrance, we decided to make the approximate 40-minute walk straight up the hill with not a single flat stretch. We took a couple of short breaks on the way up  to allow my two, much younger, companions to catch their breath, but the view from the Marienbrucke bridge above the castle was amazing!  So amazing that, even though I have an unreasonable fear of heights, I was able to stand on the bridge for several minutes taking in the beauty.

On our last day in Munich, we visited the BMW Museum (kind of boring), the Munich Olympic Park (also kind of boring), and Nymphenburg Palace.  Nymphenburg reminded me of Versailles in France – not quite as big or elaborate – but still very nice.  Later in the afternoon we visited the Deutsches Museum, the world’s largest science and technology museum.  We arrived at the museum about 90 minutes before closing, so the fact that it is the world’s largest did not bode well for us.  While I feel like I have been to more interesting and interactive science and technology museums, this museum was nevertheless impressive, and I wish we had more time to explore it. Our last evening in Munich was spent eating Italian food, then drinking beer and  playing cards for a couple of hours at another outdoor beer garden in English Garden.

The next morning, we boarded a 7:30am train for Berlin. However, we made an intentional stop in Gottingen, the home of Dean!  Dean’s mother met us at the train station and drove us to Dean’s grandparent’s house, where Dean lives.  We spent a really nice two hours at their home, where they barbecued some delicious hamburgers for us, and we sat outside and enjoyed their beautiful and lush backyard filled with many different plants (even cactus), a koi pond, and a basketball court upon which Nils and I destroyed Dean and his younger brother in a game of 2-on-2. Let’s go!

Then it was back on the train and on to Berlin.  Our hotel in Berlin was just steps from the train station, which made getting just about anywhere we wanted to go very accessible using the city’s excellent metro system. Once settled, we headed out on foot to start seeing the city.  We walked through Berlin’s popular urban park, Tiergarten. Nice, but not the same vibe as Munich’s English Garden. 

Later that evening we welcomed Roland, an exchange student I hosted during the 2023-2024 school year, who arrived from his home in Estonia. Roland would then stay with me for the remainder of my Europe trip.  We didn’t eat that evening until about 10pm, but that never seems unusual in Europe, and we stayed at the restaurant until close to midnight playing cards and drinking more beer!

We started the next day in Berlin with a 60-minute river cruise.  The cruise provided us with a lot of interesting facts about the World War II history of Berlin and about the city’s architecture, but it was a warm, very sunny day, and I think we got drained pretty quickly.  For lunch we ate currywurst – a fast food dish consisting of sausage and curry ketchup.  Definitely something you must try when in Germany.  The remainder of the day was spent going to the top of the Berlin television tower for views of the city (an overpriced tourist attraction), another beer garden, and taking photos in front of some of Berlin’s impressive architecture, especially the Berlin Cathedral.  For dinner, this Arizona boy was missing Mexican food, so we gave a place called Cantina Mexicana Que Pasa a chance.  To my surprise, the place was packed.  The food was decent. In Arizona, it would probably be considered above average, and our server even gave us free tequila shots at the end of dinner. But a word of caution, the restaurant only takes cash, no cards. So, I had to take a quick walk to the ATM before we ordered.

We started our final day in Berlin saying goodbye to Dean, who headed back to Gottingen to attend his high school prom that evening.  Nils, Roland and I then headed to the Jewish Museum. The museum presents the history of the Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to present day. The original museum was established in 1933, but it wasn’t open very long before it was closed during Nazi rule in 1938. The museum provides a powerful memorial to the Holocaust and the architecture inside the building is stunning. A short walk from the museum is Checkpoint Charlie, the former famous crossing point between West and East Germany, as well as the Berlin Wall Museum. We spent this Sunday afternoon in Mauerpark, another large urban park in Berlin.  This park had a somewhat similar vibe to English Garden in Munich.  Of course, there is a beer garden, which we visited, as well as a large flea market. My favorite thing about this park is that every Sunday afternoon it hosts an event called Bearpit Karaoke.  It takes place in the park’s amphitheater, and it is basically just a big, public karaoke session with all sorts of random people. 

The next day, Nils headed back to Switzerland and Roland and I were off to Denmark.  I look forward to visiting Germany again someday.  The people are welcoming and friendly, the nature and architecture is stunning and picturesque, and there is no shortage of things to do.  And if one gets bored, there is always a beer garden nearby!