Munich day 1: walking tour, river surfing and Party Munich style.

I saw the craziest thing today in Munich. River surfing! Ok but before that let me tell you about the rest of my day. 

So to start off the day I wanted to check to see if there are free walking tours offered.  So as usual I walked towards my hostel as they usually have information on this type of stuff.  I headed out around 8am and the streets were deserted -  probably because today is a national holiday on account of Easter.  Munich as a whole has a very clean and rich feel to it.  The buildings look brand new but are built in a pre 21st century style.  The reason is that during the war the Germans were losing and the base of Nazism started in Munich actually.  So they knew their city was not going to survive at the end of the war.  So they actually took arrival photographs of all the buildings and after the bombing they rebuilt what they could to have it look exactly the same as before.

I passed by Wombats hostel on the way to mine.  And my previous experience with Wombats in Vienna was amazing so I thought I try my luck.  And it was another home run for Wombats.  I cannot say enough good things about this chain hostel.  The staff was super friendly and gave me tips about where I should go even though she knew I didn't stay at the hostel.  So the walking tour started later and I checked out a palace by myself on her recommendation.

The palace was huge including the garden.  I didn't go inside as I didn't have enough time and barely explored 10% of the grounds. 

After the palace I went back to the hostel and started the walking tour.  I met up with Phillip,  Megan,  Pierre,  Valérie and we decided to check out the famous Hofbrahaus beer Hall in the evening together.  This beer Hall is famous for their role in WWII as the place where Hitler wrote many of his speeches and conducted his meetings.  Today it is known for its Bavarian food and amazing beer. 

Meanwhile before the dinner Pierre, Megan and I checked out the English garden where we saw Germans surfing on the river drain duct system!  It was too amazing to describe in words so I am just going to link you to the video

And the explanation of why this thing occurs and the nuances are explained here.  I goggled it cause it was really interesting.  Yea I am pretty much the coolest guy you will ever meet ☺

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/noah-lederman/munich-surfing

For dinner Stella, Pierre, Val, Megan, Phillip, Jean, Nick and I headed out to Hofbrahhaus - the famous beer hall in Munich. We all stuffed our faces with coma inducing German fare. I got the knuckle of lamb it was such a big portion and so meaty! Of course the big draw of the place is the beer and it is true what they say German beer really is the best! I usually don't like beer but their local brew had no bitter taste and was actually kind of sweet. We each chugged 0.8L mugs. And the long tables of the hall ensured us great conversation with strangers around us who quickly became new friends. I met a Lebanon couple, 3 Israel girls and a German at my table and we all got along smashingly - even the Arab vs Israle history didn't stop the common language of beer and good times!

Stella (Australian), Phillip (English), Pierre & Val (Montreal Canada), Megan (USA), Nick (Korean) and me!

Me and Jean (French)

Nick & Phil 

Preparing to high 5

Beer hall, upper flow used for concerts in the evening and drinking 

After the Hofbrauhaus, Jean who lives in Munich invited us to his place for more partying. He had these Game of Thrones type of chairs in his common room and we all took turns posing around on them getting more smashed on the delicious German brew and teaching each other drinking games form our own countries.

Finally I headed back to Sascha's place around 3am.

Great first day in Munich!

Peace from Munich.