Once Upon a Five Day Weekend

I had a five day weekend.  It was nice.  It was like an inverted normal week, which consisted of doing the paltry amount of stuff I do on a Monday and Tuesday and then having Wednesday off (as is usual), Thursday off (as is unusual - it was a bank Holiday) and Friday off (as is usual) in addition to the real weekend (which, for those of you who like complete lists or are unsure how Germany works, is Saturday and Sunday, and I normally have off).


It wasn't what you might call a well prepared trip: we started planning on Tuesday at lunchtime, had it all booked by 8pm and were on the Bus the next morning.  It was, however, a good trip.  Therefore I'll take the liberty (it's not taking a Liberty, you chose to read this thing) of sharing my tips with you, which helpfully includes an overview of what we did.

• Take a good book for the bus, in this case "D!rty German" by Daniel Chaffey, which will both entertain, and ruin Disney films for you.  
• Give up all efforts to avoid being clichéd - sitting in a beer garden within an hour of arriving is really pretty nice.

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• Scrounge for tips and advice (like these, but more useful) eg. that Türkenstraße is a good place for food.
• When travelling with a certain Canadian, keep an eye out for places to eat - they will be constantly in demand.
• When travelling with the same certain Canadian, learn to be not only ruthless in waking him up but also prepared to leave later than planned, despite your ruthlessness. 
• If its a bank holiday, research what will be open beforehand, in this case the Olympic Park (which is always open - it's a park) and BMW Welt (including its Museum, which are neither always open or a park).  Both are well worth visiting.




• Eat again, by now your Canadian will be hungry.  
• Head into town and just enjoy it, climb a tower to get some views and soak up the Gemütlichkeit. 
  
  
•  Retire to a beer hall (in our case the classic Hoffbräu) to:
• a) Feed your hungry Canadian
• b) Drink some very good beer
• c) Soak up the atmosphere
• d) Perhaps make some friends.
• In all seriousness, if you can't go to the Oktoberfest (which you should) then the beer halls (at the very least the Hofbräu) will give you a taste, it has many of the same magic ingredients:
• Beer by the Maß
• Noise - mainly of people enjoying themselves.
• Crowdedness - if you see a gap that will fit your party (or your party -2) then grab it, you will not get a table to yourselves.
• Food for Canadians
• Expensiveness (but to a lesser degree)
• Gemütlichkeit - this is really the crux of it, even if you just exchange pleasantries, talk to the people on your table, it may lead to an interesting conversation and a memorable night. 
• Deploy all your cajoaling, persauding threatening and dragging skills on your Canadian in order to get him to his bus.  
• Go for a further drink to get over the stress of moving said Canadian and to celebrate no longer having to feed him. 
• Take a coat, it may rain.  A lot.
• If it is raining, note that it is a long way from the U-Bahn stop to the Allianz Arena, which is very large and can get very busy.
  
  
•  Note that things close, and the fact that if all the people around one of the largest and best Museums in Germany are going in the opposite direction, this may be one of these times.  
• Some things do not open, for example the Bavarian Landtag. 
• Even if it is raining,it can still be a beautiful city:
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•  Go to the Englischer Garten... I'm told (it was raining, we didn't go)
• Return home and still have Saturday and Sunday free.  

There you have it, my tips for Munich.  I hope you enjoyed them and fingers crossed I may be able to provide you with some further gems about other cities soon.

Bis Bald!