Beer gardens

We're walking through the Englisher Garten in Munich to visit some beer gardens and I know what you are thinking- we've seen some of these before! True, but this was our first visit to Munich back in 2003.
Tomorrow, in the story, we will pick up our new car and until we return to Munich 5 days later we will be visiting places I haven't shown you before.

On our map we saw something that translated means Chinese Tower and had a beer garden marked there. This would be our first beer garden experience in Germany even though we had already visited Bayreuth (1999) and Berlin (spring 2002). We didn't know what to expect.

Here's the Chinese Tower...

Yes there is a German Brass band playing on the first level-jolly oompah music.

If I step back a little you can get an idea of the scale of the crowd filling the tables nearby....

There's seating for 7,000 happy beer drinkers but we wouldn't be two of them. Why? Because the map showed another beer garden further into the park and it had a lake beside it. As we like to be near water and beer at the same time we decided to move along. We follow the stream...

Don't follow the geese as they are going the wrong way

The stream leads to the lake

We're getting closer

We can see people up ahead sitting by the water

We find a bench by the water and I go grab some beers. You get an empty glass and get in line and tell the man behind the counter what kind you want-for me it is usually lager (ein Helles) but it could be a Dunkel (dark beer) or a Weissbier (cloudy malted wheat beer). If, like Carol, you like to dilute your beer with Sprite or such you can ask for a Radler.

The birds gather around as there may be food on each table and so people give them some pretzel bites. Pretzels are huge and the most popular snack with beer. If you want meat and potatoes it's back at the counter where you got your beer. Roast chicken, giant pork knuckles, schnitzels and of course varieties of sausage. Add some mashed potato or fries and you have a great al fresco lunch!
The large beers (ein Mass) cost about 9 Euro and that's the highest price of all the Munich Beer gardens. MunichBeerGardens.com lists and maps all the sites for visitors.

View from the table

Even though there can be 2500 people here in this beer garden, known as the Seehaus, (See is German for Lake) you can have a conversation thanks to there being no ceiling or walls or band playing. People may be smoking at your table as this is Germany and most outdoor tables will have ashtrays. You may find a table for yourself away from the lake under the shade trees which are found in each beer garden.

People bring their kids here. I have never seen rowdiness or drunkeness. People are here to relax and enjoy each other's company while enjoying good beer and food on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. You'll likely be sharing a table with some friendly Germans, most of whom can speak English.

We whiled away a couple of hours or more at the Seehaus before making the long leisurely walk back towards Marienplatz to have dinner at a restaurant called the Spatenhaus. Spaten was the name of my favorite German beer at the time, bought in Chicago, so it made sense to visit a restaurant serving it.
It sits opposite the Bavarian State Opera house too, so within an easy walk from our hotel.

It was dark by the time we finished a nice German dinner and walked through the streets to our hotel.
We were tired and jet-lagged and had to pack in the morning so we went to bed at 10 pm.

Next morning we would have to get a taxi to BMW to pick up the car and begin our scenic road trip adventure....