When many Americans think of Germany, they think of some stereotypes which come from Bavaria; lederhosen, beer, and sausage. The first of our 2 stops in German was to Munich, the largest city and capital of the state of Bavaria. Before the trip, we didn’t know if the stereotype was just something they put on for tourists or if it was more than that. Spoiler alert: it’s more than that.
Lederhosen
Lederhosen is reserved for the oompah band during Oktoberfest, right? Wrong. We first noticed that all of the waiters at the beer gardens wear lederhosen. But then we started noticing men and women wearing traditional Bavarian attire around the city. I thought they must work at a beer garden and were on the way to or from work. Then I noticed people wearing it at the park, then customers at cafes and restaurants. There are stores all over the city that sell it. I asked the bartender at the hotel about it, and he thought it was strange also, and said people must be getting excited for Oktoberfest already. He also mentioned that people wear lederhosen when a carnival comes around so maybe one of them was in town?
Beer
Walking distance from where we stayed was the Augustiner Keller beer garden, which can accommodate 5000 people. We were there on a Monday evening, and it seemed to be about half full. Some were tourists, but the majority were not. OK, the beer gardens are not a myth or tourist trap. At the beer garden, they serve 2 sizes of beer; a liter or half liter (a liter is more than 2 pints and almost equal to 3, 12 oz. bottles). The liters are served in heavy glass mugs which make the beers look even bigger because they have extra space for the head. So, big beers are not a myth or a tourist thing either. After coming from Norway, we were also happy to see that a liter of beer was only about $8.
We learned of the Augustiner brewery for the first time. It is over 500 years old and has traditionally only sold beer in Munich, but has more recently started shipping to other areas such as Berlin. You find this beer everywhere in Munich. According to our tour guide (I wasn’t able to verify this), they spend $0 on advertising and give half their profits to charities in Munich.
Sausage
Yes, there is a lot of delicious sausage of various types. What is not as traditional is currywurst, which is everywhere. On paper, it is brilliant: take one delicious thing (sausage) and combine it with another delicious thing (curry). However, I think the execution is lacking. It is basically a sausage with “curry” sauce and typically also some type of curry powder. The first “curry” is in quotes because the sauce we’ve had tasted pretty much like barbecue sauce. It’s fine, but not my favorite.
After the beer and sausage, the best part of Munich for me was the English Garden. It is a park in the city with a river running through it. The river is basically a free water park. It is fairly shallow and has a decent current. People swim and let the current take them downstream. They jump off the low bridges, they sit under waterfalls, and even surf in one area. Clothes are optional, but the completely nude dudes are expected to stay in a specific section of the park. Jesslyn and I did a double take when we saw this 50 something guy with beer belly and all just standing there, letting it all hang out. Jesslyn might have actually done a triple take.
- Jake