What we miss most of our expat life is all the traveling – and we have tried to keep the adventures going as much as possible. A couple of years ago, we took a 3 day stop-over in Amsterdam on our way to India – and it worked out so great, that this year we booked our tickets through Munich. As always, we had our tickets almost a year in advance – and the airline changed the flights so many times – that we almost didn’t go at all – but after several long, long phone calls – the plan was on – except that our stopover was now reduced to just 2 days. Still, 2 days in Germany – I’ll take it!!

We had to make most of our time – but also had to account for jet-lag – so a after a super-expensive ride from the airport to our hotel, we rested a couple of hours before heading straight to the City Centre. The public transport – as in most European cities – is awesome, and between the S-Bahn (suburban trains), U-Bahn (underground trains), trams and buses – the city is very well-connected. A daily ticket is less than 5 euro per person, and works for all the modes of transportation! Our hotel was less than 5 minutes away from an U-Bahn station, and once we had dropped off our bags, we were free to explore!!

The City Centre of Munich is home to many historical buildings, as well some of the most exclusive luxury brand name outlets in the world. Dazzling Christmas lights, cobblestone streets, vendors selling souvenirs and munchies – never mind the cold, this is Europe absolutely at its best!! We snacked our way to Mariensplatz – french fries, roasted hazelnuts, a glass of delicately spiced mulled wine, and of course a ginormous pretzel. Outside the Neues Rathaus – the New City Hall – was a complete street market, with throngs of tourists taking pictures of the brightly-lit Christmas tree. A beautiful evening in Munich!

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Wandering along the winding streets and alleys of the old city, we were soon in front of the imposing National Theatre – home to many of Richard Wagner’s famous operas. A show was just about to start – and it was so much fun to watch the people arrive – tuxedoes and formal dresses, this was serious theatre, of course!! Next, the number 1 on the list for all tourists – a visit to the Hofbrauhaus – I’m sure this is the most well-known breweries in the world! The outside is a little deceptive – the inside, oh the inside – way beyond what you would expect in a brewery. From the frescoed ceilings, ornate pillars, the live music, and the huge, huge space with long, wooden benches, and the charming hostesses with baskets of pretzels – the atmosphere was electric!

We weren’t really sure what to do – and we stood around for a while, waiting for someone to show us to a table. Soon realized that there weren’t any tables assigned individually, you could ask people to scoot and make room on the benches. The crowd was constant – and so was the background noise! Ajey, of course, got the Hofbrau Original – a whopping 1 liter of beer!! We also sampled some of the food – Bavarian food is heavy on the meat, especially pork – but there were a couple of options for us vegetarians. Kasespaetzle – egg noodles with cheese, topped with fried onions – and dessert, apple strudel with Bavarian cream and vanilla sauce. Apple strudel is just so Sound of Music, isn’t it?

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Next morning, we were off on an impromptu trip to Salzburg. Well, not completely impromptu – we did have to buy the tickets the night before. The idea came from a chat with our concierge – he mentioned that Salzburg was only 2 hours away by train – and the whole concept was so irresistible – that we could take a train and simply go visit a different country. We planned to take a morning train, and then return after lunch in Salzburg. The Hauptbahhof at Munich was so thrilling – all the information boards showing trains bound for Vienna, Prague, Paris, Dusseldorf, Berlin – oh the possibilities!! Munich to Salzburg is heading to the Alps – and it was so good to see our old friends withe the snow-capped peaks from the train windows. Picturesque little towns flashed by – sometimes no more than a church and few houses, surrounded by pastoral lands – the landscape straight out of a painting!

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From the Salzburg station, we took a bus to the city center. Salzburg’s riverfront certainly brought back strong memories of Grenoble – the wide river with manicured banks and wide walkways, the citadel on top of the hill, the cobblestone streets with the little cafes and shops – all that was missing was the ropeway to the Bastille! There really was no time to climb up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress – but we did visit Mozart’s birthplace and the place he lived in for many years. And of course, how could we miss the love locks on the Makartsteg – the pedestrian bridge spanning the river Salzach? A curious way to declare one’s love, don’t you think?

Back at the Salzburg station, we had 2 trains to choose from – a blue Meridian, like the one we came on, at 12:15, and a red IC, at noon. We obviously wanted to try the new train. So, a little background here – the train ticket we had bought online was valid for a day’s travel – here’s the catch – only on some trains, namely the Meridians. Confusingly, the ticket was all in German, with no mention of train names – all we could make out was the DB logo on the ticket – which, ironically, was on the IC train but not on the Meridians. You see where this is going, right? 5 minutes away from the Munich East station, the ticket collector stopped by – oops, we were on the wrong train, and we had been traveling without a ticket. Now, the way we saw it – this was a honest mistake, and the TC could have given us the benefit of doubt as tourists – but he didn’t, and we had to pay the full fare from Salzburg to Munich – despite having a full day’s ticket already. Not the best experience on German trains here.

We felt like now we had to take a train to somewhere – anywhere – to get the full benefit of our train ticket – but to restore our faith in humanity, a super-friendly agent at the ‘Help’ booth directed us to the Olympic Garden instead. Bonus? The BMW Museum was right there as well! So that’s where we headed. We didn’t spend too much time at the BMW museum, only stopping for a few pictures – and then walked to the Olympic Park. After Beijing, this was our 2nd Olympic park – and I don’t know what it is – but the magic still lingers in these places after so many years!

Our day was far from over – our friendly guide had recommended we go to Theresenwiese – which is where Munich’s famous Okoberfest is located. She had promised that although it was not October, the place still had a lot to offer – and she was right!! It felt like one of the high beer gardens we had seen earlier, with food stalls and souvenirs. At the back, however, were a couple of tents – one was kind of like an exhibition hall, with a lot of different things on sale. I have to confess, I went to a similar exhibition a week later in Pune, and I’m having a hard time differentiating between the two – similar layouts and booths with vendors from all over. Let’s just head to the food tent, shall we? This was certainly beyond what we were expecting – food stalls offering a variety of cuisines – we started with Nepalese momos, moving on to Thai noodles – and how could we skip the beer!! Perfect end to salvage our train debacle!

And just like that our Munich vacation was over. We felt confident enough to take the public transport to the airport – and we successfully navigated through the U-Bahn and S-Bahn stations with all our unwieldy luggage! Quite happy with ourselves, we checked in at the airport, only to be told that we were on stand-by for the flight to Mumbai. What?!! How is this possible?!! An anxious, nail-biting wait at the counter – until we were assigned seats. So they didn’t give us boarding passes updated with seat numbers – as we scanned our boarding passes at the gate, the scanner spit out a little piece of paper with a seat number on it. A strange kind of lottery! Oh well, as long as we had seats together! India – next!!