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Munich, Germany

Summer has arrived in Europe, 30 degrees today and set to rise up to 35 for the remaining days we have here. We were not quite prepared for that heat, but there are places to see and things to do so we will push on.

Before setting out today we packed up and changed rooms – the double bed we were given initially is just too small for us – sad but true. We can of course fit in it, but it really is not comfortable when you are used to sprawling in a king size bed. Queen we can do, but double is for teenagers or singles! It has nothing whatsoever to do with the food we have been consuming over the past two months.

The hotel was very accommodating and gave us a room change to two twin beds together as soon as they could but it is Munchen’s 855th anniversary this weekend and they were too busy to do it right away. We briefly went to Marien Platz – the old town square and hot spot last night and it was mega crowded with shoulder to shoulder people, live music and stalls so we scrapped that idea quickly and meandered with our google map back towards home in the hope of finding somewhere quiet and tasty to eat.

Clearly food is important to me; I like it, in fact I like it very much. I like to eat it and I like to cook it. I view cooking as something you can take as far as an art form or you can ruin food and so the scale has many places in between. I also believe you can taste the difference of food prepared with love and care no matter how simple the dish.

When planning this trip I had fantasies of eating my way around Europe and have overall had a reasonable reality – some very good super NOM’s to a couple of blahs and blands. With regards to Germany I have fond memories of my Grandmothers and Mothers cooking (German) and this is where I learnt my skills and love of food from, accordingly I had high expectations for the mother land.

A week in I have had from terrible to ok, and I think the ok has only achieved the ok as the terrible is so disappointing. First observation – beer garden = salt garden. Does the Germany of today know no other seasoning? It is so salty we cannot manage a whole dish – our arteries are cringing.

Second observation, “German cooking rule 101, if you think the food is ready – cook for a further hour until it barely holds its original form”. I am on multivitamins as nutrition has long left the food here.

Third observation, “Steer clear from any new ideas unless it comes out of the freezer, food from the 80’s is hip”. Pork schnitzel with a pineapple ring and cheese melted on top, garnished with a grape add to that some freezer pomme frittes? How about some fries for a change from the boiled salty potatoes on the menu? Vege menu is either salad, red cabbage (well it was red once), sauerkraut (canned of course) or maybe if you are lucky some things that are grey and round and resemble a pea in a former life.

So now I have got that off my chest, my dear husband requested for his birthday a dispensation from our eat local rule in order to have something ‘healthy and not salty”. Of course dear – perhaps some healthy asian if we can? We didn’t have to wander too far when we came across a sushi train all you can eat for 16.50 euro. About middle of the road price for a meal, and it looked pretty good so we went in and had a very good meal – lots and lots of it.

It was a treat to have sashimi, crunchy vege, fish, meats with juice still in them, nice fruit salad and asian sago dessert. Washed down by a good beer of course.

After room changes we caught up on next stage planning for Austria and Vern did washing so it was lunch time by the time we headed off to do the ‘hop on hop off’ bus tour. As it was so warm instead of walking to the main station where they start, we got the underground just down the road in the park which is where the big Octoberfest is held. It is only one stop to the Hauptbahnhof from there. Its a big station and whilst nice inside with shops and eateries, outside is a bit dodgy with lots of homeless and drunks, pee smell and a few beggars.

We got a nice doner pita pocket filled to the brim for 3 euro each and took the grand circuit bus loop to get an overview of the city. We did not intend hopping off, but used it as a guide of where to go back to and the lay of the land.

Munich is a very nice city overall. It has a lot of older style 5 storey apartment buildings a little like Amsterdam but German style, loads of parks, tree lined streets, statues, water fountains, a lovely river where people can surf (yes), some grand old buildings and massive museums. On a sunny day – and Sunday people are out biking on the bike tracks, sunning themselves around the fountains or in the parks or enjoying festivities. It is pretty clean and has limited graffiti in the main areas. Public transportation is cheap and effective yet if you need to walk around like we did last night – it feels quite safe. In all there would be lots to see and do – and as usual we will not have the time to do half of it.

The top story of the bus was stinking hot and despite our hats (we were the only ones with them) it was still a bit unpleasant. They had glass sides up that limited the air flow a lot and stopped me taking any good pictures so for Munich pics I will have to do them by foot another day.

After touring all afternoon we came back to the hotel to freshen and then find a supermarket to get some supplies – toothpaste etc. Google mapped to see a few close by were shut, so we asked the receptionist for help. Apparently no supermarkets are open on Sundays – gosh that is strange to a 7 day a week shopper! No worries we can survive a day so we went to a very popular Beer Garden up the street which we could not get into the first night.

No more beer gardens! The meal was limited in choice – typical Bavarian, with spatzle and klose options and cabbage salad or potato salad and roast pork or knuckles, chicken or boiled beef with horseradish. Now cooked nicely any of these could have been nice, but over cooked meat and klose so bouncy and tough they could be used for tennis balls all swimming in packet style gravy was too much for me to be silent anymore.

I said to Vernon – sorry but this is rubbish (or something like that) – I can’t understand how someone can serve such food, and how others can eat it and think its nice. These places thrive and get good reviews – yet in NZ they wouldn’t last two months- or Australia come to think of it. I decided to put aside my Kiwi politeness and be German frank and honest when the waiter came to get the plates.

Prepared to complain, I explained that I had been brought up with German cooking and only been here a week and it was nothing like I experienced at home, and I wondered if Germans have forgotten how to cook, as the food was very disappointing and poor. I added that I did not enjoy my meal. His response was a shrug of the shoulders together with a ‘whatever’ look and off he went with the plates.

I saw him talk to the chefs – in full view of the tables and they all had a little laugh. Clearly they thought it funny. So I pulled out the IPAD and reviewed them on Tripadvisor accordingly and hopefully others will avoid a poor night out. The look on his face changed a bit then. He did come back a bit sheepishly and ask if I wanted dessert and I gave him the filthiest “are you serious” glare I could muster as Vern said “I don’t think so”.

So, I live in hope that we may find a good German place to eat this week, and am thankful we have an apartment booked for Berlin so I can cook our own food with German ingredients …

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