Munich Again

As soon as we arrived back at Munich Hauptbahnhof, we went right back to Pension Central and checked in. Then we dropped our bags and headed to the Karlsplatz/Marienplatz pedestrian shopping area. It was the evening so we only had a little bit of time before the shops started closing. One of our stops was at a Cuckoo clock store, where we got enlightened and educated on different kinds of cuckoo clocks. There are pretty much two different kinds-mechanical and electric. The mechanical ones are the traditional ones with the weights you pull after an elapsed time and all the moving parts inside. There are generally two kinds of mechanical clocks-one day and eight day. That refers to how often you have to pull the chain on the clock, eight day is much more convenient, but is also harder to find and more expensive. As for the electric clocks, they are cheaper but not as good of quality and are battery operated instead of manually. By the time we left the shop we were brimming with information, so we decided to give our minds a rest by going to the outdoors store. It was huge but there weren't any really good deals, so we moved on. We ate a tasty bratwurst with sauerkraut in a bun for dinner at a little beer garden type thing. After looking in the windows of some closed cuckoo clock shops, we bared them in mind for the following day and headed back to the hotel. 

The next day was Sunday. Okay at home some stores are closed on Sundays but not many. This wasn't the case for Munich. We walked out on the street and everything was closed! Restaurants were the only things open, with the exception of the stores in the train station. Even the Apple store and grocery stores were closed. So we pretty much had to scratch the souvenir shopping on Sunday. We did find a couple stores though, the gift shops in Hard Rock Cafe and Hofbrauhaus were open, so it gave us a bit too look at. Window shopping was a widely popular Sunday activity, in the main pedestrian area, there were people peering into windows at every second or third store. We ate some really good food a Hofbrauhaus for lunch. I had  two Bavarian weißwurst sausages with sweet mustard, sauerkraut and some German soft pretzel. I really like German food, but by now I have figured out that eating veggies isn't high up on their list of priorities. 

The best part of the day was definitely the evening, we  went to a castle called Schoß Nymphenburg. It was really big and the garden was gorgeous. There was a nice big pond where all the geese hung out right in front. We wandered around the splendid courtyard area for a little while before getting back on the tram to the hotel. 

The next morning was literally a power shop. Unfortunately the stores didn't open until about 9 or 10, so our shopping was stuck really last minute. We had to head to the airport a bit before noon. My parents bought lots of souvenirs, but I just stuck to one. A cuckoo clock, oh it was so pretty! It was really expensive and I was broke when I got home, but I think it was worth every penny. I got one that was a little white chalet, with chickens decorating the balcony and of course a little cuckoo bird that pops out on every hour and half hour. I got the traditional mechanical style with one day weights. My parents also got a clock except a bit bigger and with eight day weights, mechanical as well. They also got some beer glasses and mugs and steins. We left the hotel weighed down by massive souvenir bags and headed to the airport by S-Bahn.
After a slightly less than desirable Munich Airport experience we were on our Lufthansa plane back home. It has been an absolutely amazing trip full of life long memories. And I definitely owe it to my parents, thanks mom and dad! I'm super exciting to be coming back home though!