We arrived in Munich yesterday to discover what cold really is… okay, well, I know that we could experience a lot colder in Alaska next month, but it has been in the mid 20s, which is cold for our little California butts! It really hasn’t been that bad and the chill in the air adds to the holiday spirit that we love so much.
Last night, we had a bit of a mixed bag arriving from London…the Marienplatz Christmas market was jam packed – I mean really jam packed – so we made our way out to the Augustiner Braustubl, which was also jam packed with private Christmas parties! So, a bit frustrated, but undeterred, we ended up in an old favorite…the Wirsthaus Ayinger near the Hofbrauhaus. We got in no problem and had some beer and food and then we were well on our way to getting acclimated to Germany! Chris especially enjoyed the doppelbock as well the helles from the wood cask. I enjoyed my beloved helles.. the regular kind though.
And Chris got to ice skate too.
Today started with a return to the Christmas market which was much more manageable and a visit to another one of our Munich favorites; Weisses Brauhaus. We arrived at 11:30 (on Sunday) and the party had already started!! Chris, to ward of the cold, had Aventinus, an 8% wheat beer that is made just for these occasions.
The major highlight of today was going to Aying to visit the Ayinger brewery. It turns out one of Chris’ clients is friends with the owners Angela and Franz and he was nice enough to set up a time for us to meet Angela (thanks David!) so we could get to meet her and learn more about the brewery. Not only did we get a great meal and drink the amazing Ayinger beer, but we got to learn the brewery lore from one of the owners. On top of that, we got a mini private tour of the brewery.
Located only a half hour outside of Munich, Aying is a beautiful Bavarian town that is well worth a visit. And the brewery has rooms too!
Since it was so packed last night, we finished off the day by going back to the Augustiner Braustubl. We accidentally went the wrong direction and discovered an odd fact. If you get off at the Hackerbrücke S-Bahn stop… Go either right or left from the station. When you reach a ‘T’ intersection, go right. No matter which way you went leaving the S-Bahn stop, there will be a Augustiner beer hall a few blocks down on the left. Really weird huh.
No matter what Augustiner beer hall you end up at, you will get great beer… I recommend the helles (go figure) and Chris says try the dunkel… or all of them.
Tomorrow we head deeper into Bavaria… the Bavarian Alps to be exact and we’ll have more beer adventures to talk about.
Click here for all our Munich pictures.
I am so excited about writing this post as this means that our trip to Europe in December is a done deal and planning is almost finished. The weather aside, Europe is a special place during the holiday season and we are very pleased to be going back.