Munich and Beer

Started out in Munich and stayed there for a couple of days. This is the home of Octoberfest where you can still find a few beer gardens and brew houses outside the festival dates. I got an introduction of the city through a bike tour. Afterwards was a horrible pub crawl that took you to everthing (American bar, Irish pub, hostel bar) but german brew houses. Fortunately, met some cool people through the tour including an Australian and some planners from Waterloo who had just finished at Oxford! Petite Monde!

Munich really mixes things up. There are a couple grand boulevards, churches, palaces, and squares built by the former bavarian kings. More modern buildings can be found outside the city walls. Bike paths weave through the city and along the streets. The transit system includes trains, subways, street cars, and buses. There is a large park sytems which includes the English Gardens.

The English Gardens is supposed to be bigger than Central Park and has lots of character. There is this canal that goes through the park and creates a strong enough current in one section that people surf on it! In the centre is a large beer garden. And best (or worst of all, depending on who you see) there are areas where running around nude is considered fine.

While Munich was nice the level of tourist activity was ridiculous. I could not believe how many Americans there were! You just could not get away from them!