Munich December 2024

We flew from Toronto to Munich overnight on Air Canada, and while the flight was fine, the Air Canada employees - both at the airport and on the plane - were less than stellar. I get that they were probably not happy having to work on Christmas, but their customer service left a lot to be desired. Hopefully the crew on our flight home will be better! The lounge at the airport was all right, and we were just happy to have comfortable seats because the available seating in the gate areas is pretty abysmal. I will say that security at the Toronto airport was very simple and straightforward, so kudos to them for that (especially when compared with airports like Reagan National and Orlando, both of which are atrocious). Before we could leave, they had to de-ice the plane, which I always find fascinating, and then it was about a seven-hour-and-fifteen-minute flight. We landed at 9:30 am local time, and quickly got through immigration and picked up our bags. Unfortunately, the signage is pretty terrible and we wasted a good chunk of time trying to find the pick-up location for an uber, despite asking for help (which proved to be not helpful whatsoever). We ended up just taking a taxi, which cost way more than the uber we were trying to select (and if I haven't shared this before, I am NOT a fan of taxis and I avoid them whenever possible), so I was highly annoyed about being ripped off as part of our first experience here. We chalked it up to one of those irritating inconveniences that sometimes come with being in a foreign county and we were just happy to finally get to our hotel. Fortunately, our room was ready and we were able to get settled and take a nap after a long night of travel!

Given that we arrived on December 26, most places were closed for Boxing Day (or "Second Christmas Day") since it's a holiday. In light of this, we didn't do very much that day, but then on the 27th and 28th, we did some sightseeing, wandered around the city, ate at a couple of local places, and took the subway out to BMW Welt, which is a plant, showroom, and museum and was a pretty cool place to visit.

To be perfectly honest, I don't have a ton of pics to share because in terms of architecture and beauty, Munich is not particularly awe-inspiring. However, what it may lack in terms of personality, it makes up for in other areas; most notably, it's super dog friendly - dogs seem to be welcome absolutely everywhere - shops, cafes, public transportation, etc., which is awesome. But given that the first ever mascot of the Summer Olympic Games was Waldi, a Dachshund from the 1972 Munich Olympics, I am sad to report that among the many, many, MANY dogs we've seen, only five of them have been Dachshunds! Unfortunately, smoking is rampant here, which I find disgusting, but on the upside, I have felt very safe walking around the city. 

we stayed at the Sofitel
right next to the Munich train station

this is the stuffed Waldi I have at home

Yesterday, we rented a car and took a little road trip! The destination was Neuschwanstein Castle, which is not only magnificent in its own right, but is thought to be the inspiration for King Stefan's castle in the movie Sleeping Beauty. We tried for months and months to get tickets, but to no avail, but we decided to go anyway because there is a bridge that offers pretty spectacular views. Well, the bridge was closed! As disappointed as we were, that did not deter us because we were still able to admire the castle during our drive and hope we can return for an actual visit someday soon! Overall, the day was amazing with incredible views of the Alps in both Germany and Austria (we saw the Alps in Switzerland last year and in Italy earlier this year, too!) and gorgeous snowy landscapes.

renting a car in Europe is so much easier
than renting a car in America

sometimes there was a speed limit

sometimes there wasn't

spotted some hot air balloons

some of the pics were taken through the
windshield that was constantly covered in
road spray, so the quality is not ideal,
but hopefully they still capture some
of the magic we saw today!

this was an insane pedestrian bridge
#nothankyou

Germany is definitely a place we'd like to return to because we know we haven't even scratched the surface of this country (we did drive through a small section of it back in 2019 when we visited Belgium and drove to Luxembourg) and today's road trip reinforced the belief that we need to spend much more time exploring Germany!

Today we're taking the train from Munich to Vienna and I could not be more excited because it has long been on my bucket list. From my very first introduction to the brilliance of Mozart, I have wanted to visit Austria and I have no doubt Vienna is going to be a beautiful city!

Happy Tails to you!