prost in Munich, Germany

 An escape to Munich for beer and sunshine

Germany was the first country I visited in Europe and I've been back a few times for work over the years (Frankfurt is the headquarters for Star Alliance, the airline alliance that both US Airways and United were/are a part of).  While I really enjoyed Frankfurt, I was itching to visit Munich and expand my knowledge of Deutschland.  Munich is the favorite European city of many of my coworkers, so when my friend Brian asked if I wanted to tag along with him and a few friends on a winter weekend, I quickly said yes, thank you!  

United has quite a few flights between the US and Germany, so we were were able to score business class seats for our red-eye from Chicago to Munich.  After a meal fit for a king, a couple glasses of wine and a movie, I was fast asleep, dreaming of our weekend in Munich!  A few hours later, the sun was shining and we were in Germany, ready to explore for the day.  We visited in early March so the sunshine and warm temps were a nice surprise compared to the dreary Chicago winter weather.  

We wandered all over the downtown area, taking pictures of stunning architecture and beautiful landscapes.  Whenever our jetlag got the best of us, we stopped in a beer garden for pints and pretzels.  What else would you do on a tourist jaunt to Germany?  

As the day wound down, we knew there was one more beer hall we HAD to check out before leaving the city.  A real tourist cannot travel to Munich and not stop for a drink at Hofbrauhaus!  It is one of the oldest beer halls in Germany, after all.  The atmosphere was the perfect amount of kitsch and the beer flowed freely.  I loved the décor and the fact that I needed two hands to lift my beer.  There is nothing I love more than being a tourist in a new city.  

 

I've checked off Frankfurt, Munich, and Heidelberg from my Germany bucket list.  What German cities should we visit next?