Traveling to Germany for Pretzels and Beer

Traveling to Munich, Germany

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I have been thinking about international travel for a while but since having kids I did not take the time to go. Now that my sons are older I felt comfortable leaving the country without them and started to plan an international trip. What started out as a plan to visit Ireland this summer turned in to a trip to Germany, mainly due to award space availability.  When trying to book flights to Ireland using frequent flyer miles and credit card points, I was not able to find saver-level seats anywhere near the dates we wanted to travel.  In brainstorming other cities we wanted to visit, my oldest son reminded me about his fourth-grade school project where he had to do a report about a foreign country.  He selected Germany and the research he did all those years ago emphasized the big pretzels that were popular in Germany.  Ten years ago, when we was practicing his Germany presentation for his class, we said that someday we would travel to Germany and eat those big pretzels. Based on this conversation, I decided to see what was available for travel to Germany.  I was pleased to find that we could use our frequent flyer miles to book first class, life-flat seats for two to Munich, Germany! My husband and younger son were not able to travel with us so only my 20-year-old son joined me on this adventure and we had a great time together. Since he started college, my son has not traveled with us much so it was a nice time to reconnect, one-on-one.  Bittersweet because I knew it was most likely one of the last trips we would take together for a while as he will be finishing school, working an internship, and starting a career over the next couple of years.

Our vacation started with a 6 am flight to Atlanta, Georgia. There was a different flight which left later in the day but only allowed for two hours to make the connection.  With recent airline delays on several domestic trips I have taken, I was concerned that if we had any delay in getting out of Phoenix we might miss our connection so I opted for the earliest flight out. When my alarm went off at 3:00 am on departure day, I was regretting the decision to take the earliest flight but it all worked out in the end.

Our international flight to Germany was on Delta in First Class so we were able to access the Delta Sky Club in Atlanta while we waited for our connecting flight. We had a four-hour layover so we had plenty of time to relax and enjoy some light refreshments.

We boarded the plane for our 9 hour 15 minute hour flight to Munich, Germany. Our seats in were in Delta One, Delta’s first class section, so we were able to board early and start our trip in style. The amount of food served helped to pass the time.  It seems like the first few hours of the flight was a continual stream of various courses of food!

After several courses of meal service, including the items pictured above then a main course and dessert, they dimmed the cabin lights and most passengers put their seats into “lie-flat” mode, donned the eye masks and earplugs that were provided in the amenity kit and went to sleep.  Delta also provides a Westin “Heavenly In-flight Bed” comforter and pillow so we snuggled in to our beds and hoped to fall asleep.  Unfortunately for me, sleep would not come.  I passed the time watching movies on the in-flight entertainment system and wishing for sleep. I guess I was too excited about the upcoming adventure, I never was able to sleep.  Eventually, they were turning on the lights and serving breakfast (note to self: do not order the goat cheese omelette again). A little while later, we were landing in Munich.

After we deplaned, we made our way to passport control and got in the line for non-EU passport holders; after a few quick questions, we were on our way out the green lane (since we had nothing to declare to Customs).  As I had been unable to sleep on the flight, I was pretty exhausted when we landed at 8:30 am local time.  For this reason, I  was very happy that we had decided to reserve and pre-pay for a private car and driver to take us to our hotel. I had arranged this through Viator and paid online before leaving home. With my sleep-deprived mind, figuring out the German train system might have been challenging first thing in the morning.  Our very polite driver was waiting for us, as promised, with my name typed on an iPad. Since we had traveled with only carry-on luggage we did not need to wait for baggage so we were in his Mercedes and on our way to our hotel less than 20 minutes after the flight landed.

Exploring Munich

We arrived at the Munich Marriott and unfortunately, they did not have a room ready for us yet (not surprising as we were there at 9:30 am and the stated check-in time is 3:00 pm) but they kindly gave us keys for the locker room/spa area so we could freshen up before we had the bellman store our luggage for us. A quick stop at the concierge and we had a map with some local attractions circled. We were pleased to learn that our hotel was a short walk from the Nordfriedhof Underground station.  This made getting around the city very easy and convenient for the duration of our stay in Munich.  A block from the hotel we found a bank where I stopped to make a quick ATM withdrawal so we would have some Euros in case we needed them.  Before leaving home I made sure I had an ATM card that did not add any foreign transaction fees.

We decided on a walk to the North end of the English Garden (Englisher Garten). The English Garden in a very large, lovely park with walking paths, mature shade trees and lakes and canals.  The park stretches from the center of Munich to its Northeastern city limits.

It was nice to stretch our legs and wander around the shady paths enjoying the beautiful weather.  After a walk around the lake, we decided to head back to a little outdoor café we had passed on our walk to the garden.  The Osterwaldgarten Wirsthaus was just opening up for the day so we chose a table outside and settled in for some refreshments.

We Found Pretzels and Beer!

It was only 10:30 am local time but we ordered our first authentic German beers. Our server explained the different varieties and we chose the helles. We were not the only patrons having a beer with breakfast.

Delicious, jumbo-sized soft pretzels were in a basket at the table. Our first meal in Germany and we had accomplished our goal of finding the jumbo, German pretzels!  Success!  We were very excited. We mistakenly thought these pretzels were like chips at a Mexican restaurant back home, free with unlimited refills, we ate quite a few big pretzels.  When we were presented with the bill we quickly learned that these pretzels at most beer gardens and cafes are priced per pretzel and however many you eat will be added to your bill at a cost somewhere around €1 – €1.25 per pretzel!  It was still worth it.  The pretzels and beer were delicious.

Unfortunately, I do not speak German,  I tried to learn a few key phrases before we took this trip, however, we were pleased to find that everyone we encountered in Munich spoke English. The Wirsthaus did not have a breakfast menu written in English but our server was kind enough to read us the basic menu items.  We ordered sunny side up eggs, potatoes, and bacon.  As you can see in the photo, it came with very fresh eggs with brilliant orange yolks.

After breakfast, and our fill of the soft pretzels, we walked back to our hotel and were delighted to learn that our room was ready. Up to the room and into bed for a short nap. The “short” nap turned into two hours of sleep but we needed it after the sleepless night in flight! A couple of hours later we were still tired but thought that we should make ourselves wake up or we would never adjust to the time difference. In hindsight, the long walk in the fresh air and sunshine, the 2-hour afternoon nap, and then up and out of the room before the evening allowed us to adjust to the 9 hour time difference with very little jet lag.

On this trip, we had made plans to meet up with my brother, sister-in-law and nephews. They arrived while we were napping so we met with them and we decided a light dinner at the hotel fit our current energy level perfectly.  As this Marriott does not have an executive lounge, a great perk of having Marriott Gold or better status is that there is a complimentary dinner buffet each evening from 5:00 – 10:00 pm. The best part was the open taps of beer, I was too excited to be pouring my own beers to think to take a photo of the taps! The beers were local German beers, Augistiner Helles and Franziskiner Weissbeer.

After a satisfying meal and some good conversation, we all decided we should get to bed early that first night so that we would be up and ready for our trip to Neuschwanstein Castle.

Do you have any tried and true tips for dealing with jet lag on international trips?

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