Munchen: "I laave it"

I really don't know where to start this one - Munich (or Munchen in German) is so far the coolest place we've been to yet on this trip. It's not just the beer (although that certainly doesn't hurt), but the atmosphere as a whole that makes this place so unbelievable. The people are friendly and laid back, the food is amazing, the city itself is beautiful, the weather is great - this place really does seem like a much older version of Seattle.

We didn't actually do a whole lot of traditional sightseeing during our two days in Munchen - it does have some beautiful buildings, historic sites and all that other stuff, but the real experience of this place is interacting.

Before we even arrived, the waiters in the train's food car had given us suggestions of where to get the best beer. A few hours later, after checking into the hostel and orienting ourselves, we had a waiter at a local cafe (with AWESOME food and beer) give our tip back to us and made us promise we'd use it on his favorite beer at his favorite beer garden. That pretty much sums up the mood of our time in Munchen. The lady that served us lunch the next day (an amazing meal called a "Munchen Platter" consisting of pretzels, cheeses, and the best sausages, salami and other meat I think I've ever had) started writing down a list of places we had to go that day. After writing the names, she described them by pointing and saying "beer garden, beer garden, beer garden, place you make picture."

Our favorite line of hers, though what when she pointed to one type of food and said, with a true overflow of emotion, "this one...I laave it." 24 hours, three beer gardens, another late night chatting with other travelers at the hostel, and a ton of mouth-watering food later, that was the only way we could describe our time in this town - "Munich - I laave it."

It was one of the toughest places to leave, and within five minutes of getting on the train, we had already started plotting how quickly we could get back. So, if the 23rd comes and goes and you haven't heard from me - you can take one guess as to why we "missed" our flight home ;-)