August 2015 – FamilyOnAFurlough

Two nights in Munich- Day Zwi

Began the day…passing this Mercedes Benz ? Headquarters…Definitely felt like Germany!

Our plans for this day was to visit Viktualienmarkt, akin to a farmer’s market, a foodie’s delight!

Enroute we stopped at Marienplatz for the Glockenspiel. The clocktower has a twin-level moving (puppet like) figures, with a king and queen, musicians, courtiers etc. Nice for a short stop, but not with rain! I forgot to mention that the second day had rain all the time, and we had reason to thank our hotel staff for sending us of with umbrellas.

Once inside the market, we first entered a cheese and wine shop, tasted and bought a truffle cheese (melt in the mouth stuffed brie with the aroma and taste of truffle cutting through) and rosemary cheese. There were many charcuteries, but with four vegetarians there wasn’t much point…

We then went to a wine shop and bought two German wines, troken (dry) white Riesling and robust red Spätburgunder. Rieslings in US etc are commonly sweet wines, but here, dry tasty Rieslings are the norm. The Spätburgunder (pronounced Shpæt Boorgoonda) is German for Pinot Noir, and is called so, as it’s late ripening compared to Burgundy Pinots. Delish wine anyway…This buy started our wine bottle counter. W2, meaning two bottles.

The next shop we went to was Honighaus, where everything was about honey including beeswax candles, organic honey and… Mead which is an alcoholic drink made from fermented honey and water, best drunk warm.

We tasted a glass of Mead, bought a bottle of Honigwein aka Mead and also bought some liqueurs. W3.5

Next we moved onto some gift shops, some fruit shops, more cheese and more wine shops.

We thankfully didn’t buy more wine bottles, but we stumbled on a delightful shop “Chocolates & more!” that hubby had researched about before.

The shop had the usual run of nougats, flavored chocolates, chocolates with rum, with nuts, orange peel etc, but it was when we asked for dark chocolates, single origin, that the young lady got animated, and started bringing the most exotic chocolates, including an Amadei couverture dark chocolate drops (pistole) Venezuelan raw cocoa bar, different types of cocoa beans, (African, South american, Sri Lankan) roasted and unprocessed (yummy Cocoa tasting!!). While the ladies and the baby were getting raptures sipping on the delicious hot chocolate; DH and dad tried out different bars of Ecuadorian and Madagascar chocolates (bean to bar) and some Criollo chocolates from Venezuela.

After this heavenly experience we sauntered through the market, buying some fresh fruits, some more beer tasting, ogled at some beautiful crafts works and then decided to eat some more!

We reached the same alley with Andechser am Dom and decided to try Augustiner today. We had a tasty tomato soup, some Ravioli like German dish, Sauerkraut and Nuremberg sausages along with a wheat beer.

The one notable point was our server, a tall Valkyrie in a “Lederhosen”. I researched it later and found that there is a recent fashion of girls dressing up in these leather short pants; you only look good in them if you are fit!

After miscellaneous shopping and eats, we headed back. Dinner that night was at an Italian place called Mozamo, close to our hotel, with super thin crust wood fired oven baked Pizza with some good Chardonnay!

Gute Nacht!

Two nights in Munich- Part Ein!

Ah, Munich! Aptly described as the city of Beer & good cheer!

Day1- Delhi to Munich (june 2015)

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Munich at 6:00am, nearly 7 hours before the usual check-in time. Since we had only 2 nights to make the most of Munchen, we decided to power through the day, after dropping the luggage at our hotel-Laimer Hof.

Being a sweetheart, I decided to take some load of my hubby and In-laws and tried to lug more luggage than my slender shoulders could carry and ended up getting a back sprain and losing my sunglasses in the process!..I know..already!

Our hotel Laimer Hof is in a residential neighborhood, close to the Nymphenberg palace and within walking distance to metro and bus stops. Nice place with helpful staff.

After dropping off luggage we took the tram to Karlplatz, then the train to Münchner Freiheit (Freedom of Munich- World War II name coming from anti Nazi radio station broadcasting from here) this is in Schwabing, and a really pleasant walk towards our goal Englisischer Garten.. You walk past the most delectable cafes bakery’s wine bars and what not..I planned on walking though half of this garden ( which happens to be larger than Central park!)

We first stopped at Seehaus, by the lakeside which is a Paulaner bier garden, where the vegetarians enjoyed their first ever, Obatzda (a cheesy savoury dish), Pomme frites (French fries) & a kirschkuchen (cherry cake). I had a currywurst, a Movenpick ice cream for the little one couple of Pils and wheat beer to drink, where the wheat beer won hands down, as everyone’s favorite! Oh…and forgot to mention the Pretzel!

Next we strolled on along the lake towards the Chinese tower, or Chinesischer Türm, another beer garden, only to have “German beer, in a Chinese Tower, in an English garden in Bavaria”!!

There were plenty of fun rides for the little one as well as the oldest carousel in town! It was pleasing to see carefree children enjoying the mud and puddles without over –protective hovering parents.

We appreciated the Pfand system. You pay a deposit for the Stein, and after you finish, you go back with the empty mug and Pfandmarke (token) to get back 2€ per mug!!

From here, we got a little lost, wandered a little and eventually reached the Eisbach welle, after following some soaking wet students on the bus.

The Eisbach is a man made standing wave, that all young surfers come to practice and show off. The vicarious exhilaration of watching black clad surfers taking up the challenge of surf’s up was just awesome!!

Another short bus-ride brought us back to Karlplatz, from where we walked through Viktualienmarkt- a food market which was closed on Sunday, to Marienplatz, where luckily the breweries weren’t.

At Andechser am Dom, we sampled (probieren) some of their monastery beers, had a Käse Spätzle (another vegetarian dish- just like Gnocchi, but smaller and made of cheese), Butter and Spargel (asparagus) and Nuremberg sausages. The food was one amongst the best on the trip.

We then walked to Chocolaterie Beluga (used a Munich map app) and had their chocolate sticks dipped into hot milk.. The orange and cinnamon chocolate was good, but the rum and chocolate was under-whelming.

Finally on a loaded tummy, waves of somnolence washed over us and with aching limbs, we trudged back to our beds, tucking in early!

Summer of 2015- The Plan!

So the travel pangs began…it had been 9 months since the last big holiday and the urge of being in a different land, amidst foreign folks, breathing a lungful of exotic aromas was too overpowering! So hubby and I started casual chit-chat about which continent, which country. what sites we would love to see and capture. Since, I was dying to see Munich, one place that DH had been to, without me 😉 and since DH was trifling through Beer at present, we decided on Bavaria!!

Usually during the planning stage, I just sip coffee and DH burns the midnight oil. And usually I rise, just near full term to say ‘why not this and why not there’, completely baffling my sweet husband! So for last couple of trips he has started to bombard me with links and itineraries so that I’m part of “The Plan” right from the word go.
One such link took me to a Rick Steve’s Itinerary which included Bavaria, The Black forest, Berchtesgaden, and Lauterbrunnen with the most beautiful, and tantalizing photos. Just looking at those pictures of Lauterbrunnen gave me goosebumps! That’s how we added Switzerland to the trip which expanded to Montreux (as some of you know by now, a trip to a wine region on a holiday is sort of mandatory), Cochem- the German Wine region on the Mosel river, to Bamberg- home to the Smokey Rausch Beer and added some short trips to Neuschwanstein Castle, Berchtesgaden and R’o’d’t (will expand later).

This is how we eventually did it! In and out of germany, Skirting through Austria, through peak commute in Switzerland and detour through French-Alsace & lorraine!

Along the way, my In-laws joined the bandwagon and we were set to go in the month of June, far from the maddening heat in Delhi.

DH, during the trip had the mammoth task of balancing the needs and demands of the baby, the grand-babies, the whimsical wife and the Taciturn Sister; some of them being Teetotalers, vegetarians, nature lovers, shopping addicts and foodies..Ha!!

Hi there,

We recently came across the german word ‘Gemütlich’ – translated as feeling of warmth and amiability to all, which usually describes my state of mind as I publish a much pondered post.

We are a Generation X couple, living a Uber cool life in a hot city where we expertly juggle our jobs, an increasingly demanding adolescent and managing a nuclear household in New Delhi, all without any screaming or meltdowns! While last bit may not be true… what’s a fact is that we preserve our sanity and live day to day, always dreaming and planning our next get-away! Pretty early on, in our married life, we discovered each other’s passion for travelling and live to explore the world and its bounty! Passionate nature lovers, and wine enthusiasts, most of our trips involve some hiking, biking, lush wine countries and gorgeous pictures on the way!

So all you genial folks out there, flip through the pages, walk with us and enjoy some amateur photography. These trips may not be path breaking, but everytrip is special, planned meticulously by dear darling, and always a bit off-the beaten path!

Bonne journée!