Although it was Oktoberfest that led us to Munich, we also got to spend a lot time exploring the non-beer fest part of the city and surrounds. And not to worry, there are still plenty of biergartens and beer halls apart from Oktoberfest. Our host at our first AirBNB in a suburb of Munich showed us around the palace near their house (everywhere seems to have a local palace), and made a delicious Bavarian picnic of a mayonnaisey noodle salad, various sausages, salted radishes (that you make spirals out of using this awesome screw tool), and pretzels which we ate at the palace’s very own biergarten. 
Then, with a recent visit to Munich under his belt, Edgar showed us around Munich’s historic center. We
saw the town hall’s giant cuckoo clock with a 5 minute animated story, strolled
around the outdoor market, Viktualienmarkt, and complemented our visit to the world’s
largest beer festival with a visit to the Höfbrauhaus, one of the world’s
largest beer halls. The Höfbrauhaus is similar to Oktoberfest with bench
seating where you cram in with total strangers and couple masse of beer later
you’re Facebook friends for life. They serve the same beer, have the same menu,
and have the requisite oom-pah music of Oktoberfest, but it’s there year-round.
Despite the festival still going on a few miles away, the place was completely
packed.
After Edgar headed back to Vienna, the three days of Oktoberfest
and one day at Höfbrauhaus caught up with us.
We both had caught colds (Gesundheit). We hoped to get some good rest at
our new AirBNB home stay. Unfortunately our host wouldn’t allow it, cornering
us every morning and night with a repetitive hours-long list of suggested
itineraries that would eventually become her demonstrating how to use Google
maps (which we do know how to do).
As a result, we made efforts to spend a lot of time out of
the house, taking advantage of the last few days of Munich’s good weather. We
headed out for a nap at the English Garten, Munich’s Central Park. We’d
forgotten what we’d read and heard about Germans love of sunbathing in the
nude. So, on the warm October afternoon, we saw not just green, but also a lot
of pinks and tans dotting the scenery.
The park also has two nice biergartens that we visited despite being
under the weather, ordering ourselves a masse of apple juice instead of beer.
The next day we visited the Residenz, a palace in the city
center, christening our very exciting
Bavarian Castle Pass. Not many places
have enough castles to merit a castle pass, but Bavaria happens to be one of
those places. More on that later! The Residenz had a huge treasury, a hall of
ancestors (proving that the royalty in the palace were rightful heirs to the
throne), a manmade grotto complete with mermaid statues that originally poured
wine out of their nipples, and the chapel that held Prince Ludwig’s wedding in
1810, the reception of which was the first Oktoberfest. Outside, there were beautiful grounds called
Hofgarten. We followed the sounds of
music to the gazebo in the center, where dozens of people were swing dancing
with so much skill that we didn’t dare join in.
As our host let us know later that night, they have that weekly in the
park. 
Our last stop in Munich was to BMW World, pronounced BayEmVay
Velt in German. You know how Robin just
loves BMWs. They offer a comprehensive 3
hour walking tour through the factory. When we were purchasing our tickets,
they asked if we had our Student IDs, David handed over his drivers license, to
which the lady behind the counter said, “this is a drivers license not a
student ID” but offered us a student discount anyway. The tour was very
fascinating. We got to see the painting bay, where the cars are given a
negative charge, and they ionize the paint to be positive so there is very
little over spray. Most of the factory uses
robots instead of manpower, and the robotic arms work together when handing
over car parts and waiting their turn to spot weld. They seem very polite and very human.
With the clock ticking on our Bavarian Castle Pass, it was
time to hit the road. Stay tuned for the
very exciting Road Trip 2011 #2!!
Best eats:
Weissewurst at Hofbrauhaus: Two veal sausages served with
sweet mustard. The sausages are highly perishable and are primarily served at
breakfast along with a half liter of white beer. (More interesting than
delicious)
Radler: A half beer half lemonade/lemon soda mix. It’s sweet
and lighter in alcohol which is popular for when you’re biking or driving.
Best times:
Taking a sunny nap at the English Garten.
Watching the street acts (opera), street musicians (one
group somehow brought out a baby grand
piano) and dancers (it was like watching a 90’s GAP commercial) all around the
city
Best Laughs:
Watching the glockenspiel in the town center do its
painfully slow act
Making a delicious sandwich from bread samples,
truffle-infused salami and aged German cheese at the farmer’s market then not
being able to get rid of the foot/butt smell it left on our hands the entire
day.
Best tips:
On Sunday, the three contemporary art museums only charge 1
Euro for admission. A tip we could’ve utilized if our host hadn’t taken 2 hours
to let us and explain how to use the door locks and city map.
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