Day 67-68: Munich, Erding

Wednesday morning was our break from running. After breakfast I headed to the post office to pick up a shipping box while Jackie planned some of our trip into Italy. Unfortunately, the post office only had small international boxes that were not going to suit our needs. I made my way back to the apartment and Jackie and I headed into Munich's old town. 

We went first to the Viktualienmarkt and after shopping for a bit we stopped for soup. One of the main stands at the market sells a daily soup that is highly recommended by our guide book. The soup of the day (that's the 'soup du jour' for my sister) was a cabbage and mushroom. It was delicious. For documentation purposes, Jackie captured this photo:

We then headed back to the popular 'Meat-on-a-bun shack' we had visited on Monday. We really wanted a slice of what looked like meatloaf on a bun, but the last time we tried to order it we ended up with three mini sausages. We deliberated and decided to order the most expensive thing on the menu, the 'Hax'n', figuring this had to be it. The result was disastrous, at least for Jackie. Please see below:

For those who know Jackie's dietary aversion to pork or meat that is difficult to eat/fatty, this was quite repulsive. To her credit, she did pull off a few pieces to try before giving up on it. I found it to be quite tasty (Hax'n has now entered our trip Lexicon). We (I) enjoyed the Hax'n in the beer section with another  couple of Hofbrau's. Nearby, we spotted a guy in a fedora that looked a lot like Jackie's Grandpa Chandler (see picture).

After lunch we decided to walk around the city looking for souvenirs and shopping opportunities, with mixed success. Later in the afternoon we stopped into the Schneider Weisse Brauhaus for a couple more pints before deciding what to do for dinner.  

The plan we decided on: 1) head back to the apartment, 2) Jackie would cut my hair, 3) we'd look up the address of a department store we had read about and look there for a particular souvenir (no more details forthcoming), and 4) head to one of the bigger beer halls in Munich, the Der Pschorr. 

Everything went to plan and we ended up eating a delicious meal of cheese filled steak and venison (all organic) complimented by a couple more oak barrel beers. This truly is the life. Also, Jackie apologizes for the poor picture quality below.

The next day we arose early to get some more shopping in before we needed to catch the train to Erdinger. Yes, today we were going to the world's largest wheat beer brewery. We started again with the Viktualienmarkt, but unfortunately the shop we wanted to visit was still closed. We did take the opportunity though to visit the soup shop again. The soup of the day was chicken and veggies:

We also stopped for a carrot-orange juice at a nearby stall:

We took an S-Bahn train (a commuter rail) to the town of Erding to catch the 14:00 tour at the Erdinger brewery. Erding is a town on the outskirts of Munich. In fact, on the ride up, we passed the fairgrounds which hold Munich's world famous Oktoberfest. 

When we arrived in town, we had 50min to work our way through twisty/turny directions to reach the brewery. Eventually we did, but not before getting these photos:

*Very close to the brewery now. A view through the fence

The tour was to be all in German. It began with a 15 min video about the history of the brewery and the beer making process. We got there 20min early so we could watch it in English before the German showing.

*Bar and welcome centre

*Bar set up before the tour

*Kettles

*Could this be Australia?

The tour was hard to follow (being in German), but I think we managed alright. The bottling plant was down for maintenance, but the storage warehouse (which is fully automated) was running so we did get to see some robotic automation. 

*Bottling factory at a standstill

*Automated storage facility

*Robot taking a pallet of beer from storage to shipping

After the tour was the best part, an hour and a half with full access to the taps and unlimited sausages and pretzels. While we got to try a few different beers the language barrier between us and the bartenders was difficult (and at times embarrassing). All in all we had a great time.

After the tour we walked the 2km back to the train station and made for home, where we are settling in for the evening (without dinner, most likely, since we are still stuffed). I have to say that today has been a great day.