Our good friend, Pete, (far right in the picture above) wanted to celebrate his 60th birthday with close friends and family in Bavaria, Germany. We flew to Munich and stayed just outside the city in a town called Gilchirn. We also went to a town right near the Alps called Murnau.
Fifteen of us stayed in a rental apartment setting called the Schloegel-hof (8 English, 1 Irish, 2 Americans, 1 Italian, and 3 Germans), and there were 2 others from the Munich area. A truly international birthday bash!
The first night we met for a “traditional” German Mexican Halloween dinner in Gilching where we got to know one another and kick off the festivities.
The next day we went into Munich for pretzel making! The event was hosted by Claudia at Esskultour.com. Highly recommended! Left to right below are Claudia, birthday boy Pete, and Claire, his fiancé and Deb’s good friend from University in Edinburgh.
After making them into the shapes they go into a soda bath to help them get brown when baking.
In honor of Halloween Deb decided to make an alien with pumpkin seed teeth! This is before baking…..
and after baking!
Next we were off to the Hofbrauhaus, a Munich landmark, for dinner and bier (not a typo)!
The angel hanging from the ceiling is Aloisius, the “oldest regular”. He was the protagonist of the 1911 short story “A Munich Man in Heaven.” You can read more about him at the link above.
It’s both a tourist spot and a place for locals. If you live there, for a fee, you can have your own beer stein. They lock them up and the owner has the key!
Pretzels are everywhere in Bavaria!
Beer here comes in two sizes, 1/2 liter and a full liter. A great time was had by all!
Given enough beer, you end up teaching the youngsters how to flip bar mats as a trick!
And we met a new friend in his traditional attire!
The next day we went to Murnau, a small town on the edge of the Alps. There we went to a chocolate making demonstration and a brewery tour.
Translation: All bad ideas start with” “hold my beer” (it is right above the fire extinguisher!)
Munich is an historic city and we saw a lot of it: 4 days, 47,720 step, and 17 miles on foot! We saw many historic buildings, including the Glockenspiel.
And many other sites as well!
What a great Birthday Bash for our friend Pete!
Sounds like you all had a great time………if you ever want a new career looks like pretzel making might be in the running. Glad you are having a great time, and not just staying in Durham 24/7. Mom
Safe to say we are traveling every chance that we get – and we have found an excellent cat sitter (a Durham Uni student) who clearly likes cats more than people. She spoils the cats so I know they are well looked after while we are gallivanting!
Does every activity start with beer (except fire extinguishing, of.course)?
Looks like an awesome time!
Pretty much, yes. And no matter what you order for food there are no vegetables. If you want those we think you have to order them separately. Very weird.
We’ve had salad every day since returning!!!
Looks like everyone enjoyed themselves! Ok, you two, you will hold a pretzel making party when you return!
THAT would be fantastic!
Awesome sights! Looks like a great time was had by all!
It was really good — everyone was so different and friendly — a great way to learn about Europe!
Wow-“the places you go” “the people you meet”
Looks like you had a great time. I love your Halloween pretzel🥨! Beer with every meal and no veggies? No wonder you’re eating salads now that you’re back in Durham.
Thanks for the wonderful pics-love to see and hear all about your adventures. How nice that you made new friends too!!