Holidays are over!

I always find the last day of the holidays to be depressing and we had a long day to put in our last day as our flight wasn't until 10pm. 

We were a bit like bewildered tourists when we realised no shops were open for the Bank Holiday Monday in Berlin...

Still that wasn't an issue. We had a wander around the Potsdamer Platz Arkade (the shops werent open but the food places were) They currently have an exhibition celebrating 25 years since the Berlin Wall came down. This is well worth a visit. 

 

A watchtower that was on Potsdamer Platz... 

1961 construction of the wall

The original signs that were around Checkpoint Charlie

Just grabbed a quick ice cream at Caffe & Gelato. This was ok. 

Then we went for lunch at a beer hall. I tried the Nuremburg sausages and a pretzel. You get six of them and they're served with sauerkraut and mashed potato. Also tried a bit of Sean's schnitzel... That was huge! 

After that we went back to Fassbender & Rausch for dessert and hot chocolate. 

The view from our seat was pretty impressive... 

This time I got the mini chocolate mousse tort and a mocha with half dark / half milk hot chocolate. Sean had amaretto hot chocolate and his brother tried the irish hot chocolate. Sean chose the vanilla torte and his brother had the mini blueberry cheesecake. 

After we finished we headed back towards the hotel via Checkpoint Charlie. 

Picked up our cases & then went to the airport... Sad times as our Berlin adventure is over but glad to get home. After all Nil Aon Tintean mar a Thintean fein!!

Munich adventure continued...

Third day in Munich...

Up early again and off we went to Olympia Park..

Took a trip up Olympic Tower. The views over Munich from here are amazing and on a good day you can see all the way to the Alps!!

We then went to Der Verruckte Eismacher which is an Alice in Wonderland themed ice-cream parlour near Universistat. 

This place is well known for unusual ice-cream flavours but it is just ice-cream heaven! I chose two scoops and got   chocolate / cherry and cookies. 

They then give you a free sample and you can choose another flavour. I chose Asparagus ice-cream. The flavour was so strange because you don't think you should be eating asparagus that way but I have to say it was really really good.

The girl behind the counter was really nice and also gave us another free sample but she picked for us. She picked a champagne flavour and omg wow!

We took a seat around a mushroom table ... 

 I ended up going for a second helping and chose the champagne one for my second round. 

I'd say the queues are crazy when the weather is anyway good but you should definitely visit here!!!

After here we took a visit to English Garden and had a nice long walk... 

Watched the surfers for a bit!

Went for some beer at the beer hall / restaurant beside Chinese Tum. I chanced a Radler (beer with lemon) and it was ok.

After that we got the ubahn and tried to go to an Oktoberfest museum but it was closed. 

Back to the hotel for a bit and then out for dinner. We took in the Glockenspiel before getting a bus to Wirsthaus in Der Au.

This place is another beer hall / restaurant situated near Museum Island. 

We couldn't choose what to have for dinner so the waiter suggested a Bavarian platter to try a bit of everything. OMG this thing was huge and a meat lover's dream! 

Food included duck, pork, sausage, fried pork, potato dumplings, bread dumplings , sauerkraut and red cabbage. 

There wasn't much left by the time we were done but left room for dessert. I chose strawberry & pistachio sweet dumplings and they had apple pancakes. Utterly stodgy and bloody delicious. 

Braved the weather again and headed to Tap House - a craft beer bar! They have over 200 beers to choose from and its a very nice setting! 

Luckily for me they had a nice Framboise in the fridge and this was a really nice way to finish off our last night in Munchen!! 

Munich day one

On holidays this week in Munich & Berlin..

No time for airport pints in Dublin after bag drop & security! Plane food was Cadbury's Mint Puddles & tangy Haribo Minions jellies - great breakfast! 

 

Arrived to our hotel too early so the rooms weren't ready (Hotel Bavaria - ideal location for Oktoberfest!) we were able to leave our luggage there & then we headed out to explore. 

Took the ubahn to Odeonsplatz and then had a wander towards the Glockenspiel.

From Marienplatz we walked to Hofbrauhaus Munchen. This beer hall is huge!! We managed to find some seats on our second walk around and grabbed some menus. Traditional German food served with litres (or half) of beer. I chose Broitzeller (veal sausage) and Breze (pretzel) and a white wine cooler. Great intro to the city! 

That evening we had planned to go for pizza but when it came to looking for the restaurant we couldn't find it walking in the rain so our second restaurant choice was Piccola Osteria on Amalienstr.. Lovely quirky little Italian restaurant serving good fresh pasta dishes. You can watch the chef at work.. Oh and Ferrari wine anyone??

I chose white wine and they had more beer. 

We had an antipasti plate to start and then I chose the fresh ravioli with sage butter. This was rich and buttery and covered with Parmesan and the pasta was cooked really well. 

For dessert I chose tiramisu (had to try it!) and it was served with a lovely cherry coulis and fresh apple slices. 

Back to the hotel then for one last drink before bed. I chose Caiprinha - bloody gorgeous way to finish off a great first day!!