Munich was booked as the destination for a concert. Amy had previously accompanied me to Paris and Warsaw for The War on Drugs and The National concerts, so it only felt fair that I accompanied her to Munich for Harry Styles (plus, truthfully, I must admit Harry’s music is actually great).
Whilst looking at things to do in Munich, I realised Bayern Munich were playing Schalke when we visited, and after loving my previous experiences at German football games, this felt like a must. The Bayern website stated the game was sold out, but I just e-mailed their ticket office and they were able to get me 2 tickets. We paid a bit more extra for more premium seats (3rd row pitchside), but that makes sense as the diehard fans with club memberships should get the more affordable ones. Not tourists.
Seems straightforward so far, right?
No.
We were scheduled to land a few hours before the game, and purchased early check in at our hotel so we could drop our bags off, quickly freshen up, and head towards the Allianz arena.
But there was fog in Dublin, ultimately delaying our departure by 2 hours. And when we finally got on the plane, the plane itself didn’t move for 45 minutes. I mentally begin switching between stages of panic and rage. When we finally landed in Munich I felt like Jack Bauer in 24, with a clock running down to kick off. Getting through passport control was rather tedious, and then it felt like a millennia until our baggage came. But alas, we eventually were able to leave.
We priced an Uber from the airport into the city, but it was just as timely as the train, and a lot more expensive than the match tickets. It wasn’t worth it.
We eventually got to Münich’s Hauptbanhof and frantically searched for the lockers to stow our luggage whilst we went to the game, but alas, the Polizei had cordoned off the area. I had started to think I was cursed.
I asked a kind police officer if there were alternative lockers we could use to stow our luggage, and they pointed me around the corner. We deposited the €2 for a few hours, and sought the correct metro line to take us to the Allianz arena and were finally en route.
On the train to the game, we got speaking to an elderly season ticket holder who was also running late, and he eased my fear – telling me he’d timed it to just miss kick off to evade the crowds, so I was content. After an impromptu photoshoot outside the arena (where our elderly friend demanded a photo with Amy), we checked into the grounds with only the first 7 minutes of action missed.
Our tickets were pitchside, so we made up for the lost action by getting right beside it.
I won’t bore you with the details of this 6-0 thriller, but it was cool seeing people like Thomas Müller, Leroy Sané, Thomas Tuchel, Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich in the flesh.
After the game, we made our way back to the Hauptbanhof, grabbed our luggage and hauled it to our hotel which was thankfully nearby in the Hackenviertel district. The area surrounding our hotel was quite international. A lot of Middle Eastern restaurants, and kebab shops – it was cool.
When we freshened up, we decided to seek somewhere to eat – I was recommended plenty of Brauhaus to eat in (a restaurant connected to a local brewery serving local food) and we opted for the Schneider Brauhaus close to Isartor, where I got the pork knuckle with a fluffy potato dumpling. It was a huge slab of tender meat on a knee joint, and it was great. The juice and potato was a perfect combination with it, and I had a trusty Weißbier to wash it down with.
We tried the Andecher Brauhaus for a night cap before venturing back to the hotel to catch some zzzs after a long day travelling.
The next morning’s itinerary was pretty much just sightseeing, we left our hotel, grabbed breakfast to go, and ventured to the Palace of Justice beside the Botanic Gardens; the large fountain in Munich’s Botanic Gardens was undergoing renovation and was covered by scaffolding, so it wasn’t available to view. But the Palace of Justice was an amazing building with such cool architecture.
After this we ventured to Karlstor and St. Michael’s Church, which was extremely ornate inside. Our trip only really had the Frauenkirche in the centre on our itinerary, but after checking out St. Michael’s I went on a church hunt, and could probably have spent a full day popping in and out of various churches around Munich… it’s always an excuse to return.
Next up was the Frauenkirche behind Marienplatz, with its domineering towers, and it was less ornate than expected inside, although it was still very impressive. Marienplatz and Munich’s Rathaus (city hall) were beside us, so this was our next stop.
The Frauenkirche was quite basic in comparison with St. Michael‘s and St. Peter‘s that we visited later that day, but the domineering building towering over Munich’s skyline was impressive nonetheless.
The Rathaus is an extravagant structure, a staggering structure. A striking example of Munich’s beautiful architecture.
After the Rathaus, we popped into the aforementioned St. Peter’s church, like I said, you could spend a full day just Churchgazing in Munich. There are some amazing churches there.
Next up on our sightseeing tour was the Hofbräuhaus. The most famous beer hall in the world, that’s also rather infamous. It is the location where Adolf Hitler gave many of his initial speeches, forming the Nazi party on the premises. But prior to this, it was a state owned brewery. Hofbräu was first established in 1589 by William V, a Bavarian Duke who found the beer in Munich so poor, that he imported beer from neighbouring kingdoms. After eventually boring of importing beer, he asked for a local brewery of quality to be formed, thus forever changing the trajectory of Bavarian and German beer culture. The beer hall (or perhaps the beer itself) was also said to have given Mozart the inspiration to write his opera “Idomeneo”, and Vladimir Lenin was said to have been a local when he briefly lived in Munich.
Like the Central Café in Vienna, it strikes me as so bizarre that Hitler and Lenin whilst being diametrically opposed politically, both frequented the same venue.
Enough of the history of this venue, more about the atmosphere! There was a large Bavarian band playing traditional Bavarian music in the middle of the beer hall, whilst numerous servers paraded the tables taking orders for beer and food, whilst pretzels were readily available. We remained here enjoying the atmosphere and watching a steady stream of tourists/locals pour in.
After refuelling, we decided to head to our next stop of sighting, the Feldhernnhalle, which was originally built to showcase the prowess of the Bavarian army. It is also the location where Hitler came face to face with the Bavarian State Police whilst trying to occupy the Bavarian Defence Ministry as part of the Beer Hall Putsch coup against the German government at the time. The Beer Hall Putsch started in the now demolished Burgerbräukeller on the opposite side of the river, not in the Hofbräuhaus.
Four Bavarian police, and fourteen Nazis were killed in the ensuing gun battle, and whilst many of the Nazi leadership were arrested, Hitler initially evaded arrest, but the law caught up with him 2 days later, and during his imprisonment, he wrote his anti-Semitic manifesto/memoir, Mein Kampf.
Whilst the hall was turned into a Nazi memorial during World War II, it has since been returned to its’ former glory. It bears a very striking dominant stance overlooking Ludwigstraße.
Ludwigstraße is a long, busy avenue running between the Feldhernnhalle to the Siegestor (an Arc De Triomphe like arch, dedicated to the victories of the Bavarian army). Whilst we visited, we were coincidentally there during the Streetlife festival, where many stalls/tents/activities were set up between Odeonplatz (where Feldhernnhalle is) and the Siegestor.
These included skateboarders, people doing the limbo on rollerskates, various food and music stalls, beer vans from local breweries, and stands selling cocktails.
We ventured along the whole way to see what food to opt for, and on our return leg it began raining and the crowd quickly thinned out. However, it was such an exciting event to just stumble across. And if you can get to Munich during Streetlife in the future, I’d wholly recommend it.
We ventured back towards the city centre to evade the rain, and stumbled across an Irish Pub that became a bit of a home away from home for us. Scholar’s Lounge is a real deal Irish pub (we sampled 3 during this trip, Killians Irish Pub, and The Dubliner should be avoided – they’re the bad type of Irish pub). We stayed here until it looked like it was drying up outside and fled back to our hotel.
Day 3 for us was rather restrained. We had planned on visiting Dachau Concentration Camp, but regional trains were on strike during our stay, so we stayed around the city and just kind of winged it, visiting Viktualienmarkt, which is essentially an outdoor beer hall. Which had a great vibe, but unfortunately, the rain seemed to follow us in Munich.
We sought refuge in a nearby bar Le Clou afterwards, Le Clou is a funky establishment, with laid back vibes, chill bar staff and just a generally good atmosphere. If I lived in Munich, I think it would be my date night bar.
With the rain limiting what outdoor exploring we could do, we returned to the Hofbräuhaus and Scholar’s Lounge, before taking a look around the scenic Gartnerplatz district and sampling Sushi Magie for dinner, which was delicious, deep fried sushi.
Day 4 was a little dryer for us, but still, not ideal, but we ventured out to the Olympiapark area (where we’d be returning for the Harry Styles concert the following day). We explored the area around the stadium to know where to travel the following day, and then paid to go up the Olympiaturm, which was underwhelming in comparison to the TV towers in Berlin/Düsseldorf.
The tower in Munich had no cafe/bar at the top to enjoy the views from, it was just bland (and the fact the weather was foggy, blocking our view into the distance didn’t help).
After the Olympic village, we decided to cross the Isar river for the first time, to see Candidplatz, an aptly named, colourful U-Bahn station. However repairs/general wear and tear made it a lot less candid to visit now, than when the embedded photo was taken. It could be skipped if you visit Munich (unless you hear it’s been repainted)
After Candidplatz, we visited nearby Giesing to check out the Giesinger Brauhaus. Giesinger had been shaking up the beer scene in Munich, gaining popularity and making waves amongst the traditional big 5 breweries (Hofbräu, Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Paulaner and Lowenbrau). The beer was nice, albeit not worth travelling out to Giesing unless you’re a beer nerd like me.
The last evening of our trip was occupied by the Harry Styles concert, however we tried to make the most of our day by ticking off outdoor activities we couldn’t avail of with the rain. So we ventured to the Englischer Garten to see the famous Eisbach river where many locals surf. It was such a cool experience as you don’t normally associate surfing with urban areas, unless it’s a beach off the coast of Miami or Sydney or somewhere.
You certainly don’t expect to see it in a city centre on a river. After maybe 20 minutes watching in awe of the surfers, we moved on through the Englischer Garten to the Chinesischen Turm, and the Monopteros.
The Garden is such a vast swathe of land, it would be so cool to have something like this on your doorstep to just chill in with friends (especially in a country where it’s legal to have a few beers in said park with friends).
After the garden, we made our way back to our hotel to get ready for the Harry Styles concert. We put on our extravagant outfits and made our way back to the Olympiastadion. (Get ready for me saying cool lots) The former Bayern Munich stadium, built for the 1972 Munich Olympics is a cool stadium. A unique rooftop adorning gives the stadium a cool vibe, it would have been cool to see Bayern, or 1860 play a match here.
Mr. Styles put on a phenomenal show, and Wet Leg were brilliant as the support act. I’d happily see either/both again.
And similarly, I’d happily return to Munich. Germany is probably my favourite country to visit, and Munich probably became my favourite German city, despite the poor weather, despite the trains being on strike… it just gives off great vibes. Plus, I’d like to see Neuschwanstein castle, and visit some of the nearby villages around Munich, and see the atrocities committed and Dachau to remind me in an era where fascism is seemingly rising again, that we most oppose it, to not allow people to repeat the horrors of the past.
