What’s it like to travel now?

We just spent four nights in Munich; how was it?

Munich’s new town hall, which opened in 1909. The large tower contains the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, which is a tourist attraction clock. Several times a day it runs a 10~ish minute show dedicated to the marriage of a local duke in 1568. Our guide described this show as “the second-most overrated tourist attraction in Europe.” After watching the show, we agreed. But the building is fabulous.

Travel restrictions were eased for traveling within Germany, so we booked four nights in Munich. Curious about how traveling on public transportation would be, we made our trip by bus and train. Here’s how it went.

The new “normal”

Traveling by bus to the train station

Normally, you get on the bus through the door at the front, the one by the driver. That way you can pay or scan your bus card so the driver knows you’re not freeloading. In this new normal, the front door is blocked and everyone enters through the door in the middle. This keeps the driver safer from accidental exposure, but it means there’s no way to pay. We couldn’t figure out how to pay, so we rode for free like everyone else.

And everyone was wearing a mask.

Traveling by train

We do love traveling by train in Germany. There’s less stress and the train always ends up in the city center, which is where we usually want to be. Although the train can take a bit longer than traveling by car, there’s no need for parking. For this trip, the cost of parking would’ve been almost as much as the train tickets.

In the train station, some people wore masks, some did not. I guess because the station was such a large space, some people felt safe without masks. On the train, however, everyone wore masks.

Well, not everyone wore a mask. Humans aren’t the only ones allowed to travel by train. This handsome dog was so quiet we didn’t realize he was there until they got up to disembark.

Checking into the hotel

Our hotel was conveniently located next to the Hauptbahnhof, another good reason to travel by train. To check-in, we and the hotel clerk had to wear masks. For additional protection, there was a plexiglass barrier on the desk between us and the clerk.

The elevators were restricted to two persons per trip. This was never an issue because the only time we saw other guests was at breakfast. Our room had been thoroughly cleaned, we were assured, but there wasn’t a “sanitation banner” or some such across the door to our room to ensure us that it was still clean. We didn’t mind.

Speaking of breakfast, that was the biggest change to staying in a hotel. In the Before Days (I think that’s what we’re calling the pre-COVID time), breakfast was a buffet. Sometimes with the option of freshly-cooked dishes, depending on the hotel. In the new normal, we had to order breakfast the night before. The next morning, our breakfast would be waiting for us on a cling wrap-covered tray.

Breakfast in the new normal. It wasn’t as convenient as a buffet, but it still worked reasonably well. The only issue was that for the first morning I made the mistake of ordering toast. By the time we picked up our food, the toast was a cold cracker.

Museums have changed, too

Munich has several wonderful museums and we visited (only) three: the Alte Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne and the Lenbachhaus. We chose these three because combined they have a wonderful collection of Western European paintings from the 15th century to the 20th century. You can see the museums’ collections online but I wanted to share this one ~ The Great Last Judgement by Peter Paul Rubens ~ with you because it is extraordinary.

This painting is **almost 20 ft. tall and just over 15 ft. wide** in real life. The average height of a room, at least in most U.S. homes, is about 10 ft., so this painting is taller than two rooms. Continue reading for more about this painting.

This painting, The Great Last Judgement by Peter Paul Rubens, is of course a painting of the Last Judgement. Rubens’ composition and technique are extraordinary, but the thing that really gets me is the size of the painting. It’s HUGE. It’s nice to be able to see this painting online or in a book, but it’s impossible to get the full impact of the work unless you see it in person. Actually, I think almost all works of art are best seen in-person. Image credits (1) at the end.

The new normal for museums

The museums in Munich did a couple of things differently. They limited the number of people that were allowed into the building at any one time. Also, the number of people entering the gift shop was limited. And, touch screen displays were disabled.

Since there weren’t very many other visitors, to us the most notable change was the addition of directional signage on the floors. Arrows directing the flow of traffic into a gallery, up and down the stairs, and even into the bathrooms. Some museums even went a step farther and had an alarm set to go off if someone entered/left a gallery in the wrong direction. I know because I set one off. Oops!

The (perhaps) surprising thing about museums

We’ve found that many museums have really good restaurants. This surprised us ~ maybe it doesn’t surprise you ~ but we’ve begun to plan our museum visits so that we can enjoy lunch there.

This risotto was my lunch at the Lenbauchhaus. The chef put blueberries on it. They rocked! Blueberries ~ whodda thunk?

Another day at another museum, we finished off lunch with this piece of lavender cake. The filling had a slight hint of lavender and the frosting was delightfully lavender flavored. Delicious.

We were in Munich, so beer

When I think of Munich, the first thing I think of is beer: Oktoberfest, Hofbrauhaus, etc. We took a food tour the first day of our visit and learned a few things about beer in Munich.

Fun fact: Oktoberfest is held during the last half of September and ends on the first Sunday in October.

Reinheitsgebot (beer purity order)

Only beer that is made with Munich city water and observes the Reinheitsgebot (“purity order”) can be served at Oktoberfest. According to our guide, this has meant two things: first, that there are a limited number of breweries in Munich (there are only six) and, second, that because the Reinheitsgebot allows only four ingredients (water, barley hops and yeast), the beers all taste very similar. The Reinheitsgebot’s strict rules have also prevented experimentation, preventing the development of any kind of craft beer culture in the Munich area. At least according to our guide.

Beer is part of a good breakfast in Bavaria. The traditional breakfast in Bavaria is two Munich-style sausages (boiled, not fried) plus a pretzel, washed down with 1/2 liter of beer. The potatoes are extra. This photo was actually taken at lunch so no, I wasn’t having beer for breakfast.

Beer is also for dessert. The little bit of off-white ice cream on my cup is the beer ice cream. The off-white bit that Rosemary is holding is döner flavor. Read on for the scoop about the “special” flavors.

At the Crazy Ice Cream Maker (Der verrückte Eismacher), beer is also a flavor of ice cream.

Here’s insider secret #1:

The technique is to order a “regular flavor” of ice cream and then ask for a sample of one of the “special” flavors. For our “regular” flavors, I chose chocolate and Rosemary chose black forest pie. For our “special” flavors, I chose beer and Rosemary chose döner (which is basically meat flavor, named after kebabs).

Here’s insider secret #2:

If the “special” flavor isn’t too bad, the server will put the sample on the edge of the “regular” ice cream. If the server doesn’t put the “special” flavor on the “regular” flavor but instead hands it to you, then you can be sure that the “special” flavor isn’t too tasty.

The server wouldn’t put the döner flavor on Rosemary’s regular ice cream.

I’ve never had meat-flavored ice cream. When I tasted the döner ice cream, I had to spit it out. So the server was right.

I’ve never eaten that, either

As we were walking along, our tour guide suddenly said, “Oh, good, it’s open!” and diverted us to the Pferdemetzgerei shop.

Pferdemetzgerei means “horse butcher.”

Sausages made from horses are as normal in Munich as sausages made from pork. The sausages were slightly spicier than pork sausages but not as gamey as moose or deer.

I would have this “noodle” again

Our guide took us for a Schmaltznudel. We’d never heard of that kind of noodle. We were initially dubious until a little old lady, barely 5 ft. tall and thin as a rail, elbowed past us so that she could order first. That’s when we knew it was going to be good.

This is a Schmaltznudel. It’s not a noodle at all, it’s a deep-fried pastry topped with a light dusting of sugar. Noodle or not, it is yummy.

Strolling around

Munich’s old town is compact and picturesque, making it a pleasure to stroll around. Unfortunately, it was rainy during our visit, so we spent a lot of time indoors. In addition to museums and shops, we peeked into a couple of the more famous churches.

One of the green domes of the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Dear Lady a.k.a. “Münchner Dom”) is just visible behind this statue. The Frauenkirche is a symbol of Munich. It’s very difficult to photograph due to its height.

The Frauenkirche’s interior is large and spacious, demonstrating the volume that I love about Gothic cathedrals. The church is designed so that when entering the pews, the windows are hidden behind the columns. This makes the church seem to shine from light radiating from within.

While the Frauenkirche was built by and for the people of Munich in the 15th century, this church, the Asam Church (full name is St. Johann Nepomuk), was built by the brothers Asam in the first half of the 18th century. It was built as their private chapel, sandwiched in-between their respective houses.

Detail in the foyer, Asam Church. Because it was their private chapel, the two brothers ~ one a sculptor, the other a painter ~ could decorate it as they wished.

Parting Thought

The new normal of travel ~ masks, plexiglass barriers, lack of breakfast buffets, directional signage in museums, etc. ~ wasn’t onerous. True, it’s a drag to have to wear a mask for a four-hour train trip, but we’re happy to do so if it means we can travel again.

Munich is beautiful and easy to walk around. There are many things to do when the weather is nice or even when it rains a lot. Bring an umbrella, bring your appetite and bring good walking shoes ~ you’ll have fun.

Parting Shot

As we were searching for the Crazy Ice Cream Maker, we found this bit of advice that we embrace wholeheartedly:

Credits

(1) The Great Last Judgement by Peter Paul Rubens. Image retrieved from https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artist/peter-paul-rubens/das-grosse-juengste-gericht and used by permission of https://creativecom mons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/.