Hello from Munich (Air France, Germania, beer halls)
Well I knew I’d be cold in Munich and I am. It’s probably similar or only a little colder than New York or Seoul but since I was outside pretty much all day I really feel it. I almost spent 100 euros on boots with hopefully fake fur lining inside (on sale from 200) but I don’t think I’ll get to use them much and don’t really want to carry them around…
By the way, typing on a German keyboard is an entirely different experience – several keys are different but the biggest difference is the y key down in the bottom left. It’s a QWERTZ keyboard instead of QWERTY… Anyway, please excuse any typos… And I can’t seem to link for some reason but I’ll do my best with these unfamiliar resources.
So far I can tell you a few interesting things:
Air France is fine. I’d put the service somewhere between the Asian airlines like Korean Air, Asiana, JAL, etc. and the American ones like Northwest and Spirit. This means that while the flight attendants were never rude or mean as American ones sometimes are, they were’t nearly as attentive as Asian flight attendants. It was pretty clear that they were as interested in talking to each other as they were in serving the passengers. Still much better than I’ve seen on many Northwest or American Airlines flights though.
I did hear one interesting story from the interpreter on board (since the flight had lots of Koreans on board but none of the French flight attendants spoke Korean they had a Korean – French translator who happened to be seated right next to us). She said that lots of Korean passengers complained about the service and the food. The service complaint will probably remain until they get a taste of American service; as long as they are execting Korean Air service they will be disappointed with any western airline. However Air France did solve the food complaints by serving kimchi with every meal.
Hotel Germania in Munich is fine. I can’t remember what I had to pay so I won’t talk about value but the hotel is in a great location – we haven’t used any public transportation yet because everything is within walking distance. The rooms are small and old but it’s not bad. The beds are too soft but most people complain about the hard beds I prefer. The room wasn’t warm enough for my wife (I thought it was good enough) but they gave us some extra blankets and we’re OK now. The taxi fare from Munich airport to the hotel is about 60 euros.
Munich has some beatiful architecture. It#s not spread out all over the city like in Rome but the New City Hall in Marienplatz was almost worth the trip all by itself. We’ve also seen some great churches, a former royal residence (I’m not sure why they don#t call it a palace) and other neat old buildings scattered around.
Munich’s Christmas market is great. It’s not real big but there are some stalls selling different kinds of food (we had some bread covered in salty cheese topped with bacon) and ghluwine. I haven’t tried it yet because it smells kind of sweet and I haven’t been in the mood for a warm, sweet, alcoholic beverage in the past couple of days. We also had some bratwurst from one of these vendors with Heinz mustard and ketchup. Others sell fruit, nuts, Santa things (I’m told that in southern Germany no one cares about the Santa myth so this is strictly for tourists from the north and from other countries), nativity sets, and other little craft-type things.
Munich beerhouses are great for dinner. They serve Bavarian food. It comes fast, portions are large, and prices are reasonable. The two I’ve tried so far had English menus available upon request. I also tried some local beer (apparently lots of breweries are or used to be run by monks). I don’t like beer but this seemed like good beer to me. I kind of liked it.
Well that’s about it for now. Tomorrow we take a day trip to Salzburg – I’ll let you know how it goes as soon as I get a chance.
Source: Hello from Munich (Air France, Germania, beer halls)
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