The first day of my European debut was quite the whirlwind.
It took 18 hours of travel by car, plane and train, but I finally arrived at my hostel in Munich, Germany around 7 p.m. local time last night. It’s a cute little place in the heart of Munich, just a couple blocks from the Hauptbahnhof (Munich’s main train station).
Once I got my backpack unloaded and locked away in the 12-bed co-ed dorm I’m staying in, I asked the front desk attendant for a restaurant recommendation. He directed me to Augustiener Keller-Biergarten, a traditional German beer house just a couple blocks from the hostel. I set off on my way, confident I knew where I was going.
I didn’t. I wandered around for 20 minutes trying to find this place. I had nearly given up and turned back when I finally found it, tucked away on a small hill. I wandered in and told the hostess I needed a table for one. I expected a small table in a corner somewhere but instead I was seated at one of at least six long tables in a huge room the size of an airplane hangar. Think Hogwarts’ Great Hall, only with horoscope signs on the ceiling instead of the night sky, large wreath chandelier things instead of floating candles, and lederhosen and dirndls instead of robes. And you can be sure it wasn’t butterbeer we were all drinking.
I sat down into my spot and settled in for a quiet meal alone. I ordered bread crumbed schnitzel of vealsaddle with roasted potatoes and a glass of Augustiner Edelsoff beer. Oh man was it good. All of it. And to top it off, a quartet of old, lederhosen-clad men played traditional German music while we all ate. I quite enjoyed the music, especially the flugelhorn. It sounded so pure and gorgeous over the loud din of tipsy Bavarians and tourists.
After I had finished my food, I sipped my beer and listened to the music. I asked for my check around 9:30, so I could walk home before it got too late. I was also going on 24 hours without sleep. Little did I know my first German beer house experience was far from over!
Three German men (probably in their 30s) were sitting to my right, enjoying some after-work beers. And when I say “some,” I mean a lot, because, well, it’s Germany. They gave me a shocked look when I asked for my check. One of the men (who looks like he could be the love child of Jack Nicolson and Philip Seymour Hoffman) had introduced himself to me a few minutes before, and asked why I was leaving so early.
“I don’t want to walk home by myself late at night. And I’ve finished my dinner,” I said.
“What, no, you can’t leave. You’ve only had one beer. You’re breaking the most important German rule: If you have one beer, you must then have two. If you have two beers, you must then have three. And so on. You can’t have just one beer.”
I laughed and struck up a conversation with all of them, covering everything from German history to global politics. They bought me two more beers and we talked until 11 p.m. They gave me ideas of places to visit in Germany, and guided me through German restaurant tipping procedure (never more than 8-10%, only tip as much as you think the waiter deserves). They asked me what the American people thought of President Barack Obama, and if people outside the country still only thought of the Holocaust in relation to Germany. I told them about my job at Washington State University and they told me about their growing real estate business and the huge real estate conference that’s going on in Munich this week. More than 16,000 people from all over the world are here for it.
They taught me how to do a German toast (raise your glass and say “Prost!” which means something like “may it be good for you”). I gave one of them a hard time for how many beers he had had. At least six… since I sat down. They guarded my phone and Kindle while I visited the restroom. And I didn’t even worry about theft because I just had a feeling they were good people. They tried to order me a fourth beer and I said nope, three was my cutoff for the night. Then they walked me back to my hostel, which was on the way to their hotel. We had to ask some local polizei (police) officers for directions because even with a map, we still got all turned around. Luckily, we found the place. They taught me a few common German phrases I might need for the rest of the trip. I insisted on a group hug, because that’s what Americans do haha. They obliged and then left. I went inside and that was that. It was a very fun and serendipitous evening with good food and good company. I just wish I would have taken a picture.
Not too shabby for my first day in Germany 🙂 Off to the next adventure!
Tschüs!
Meredith Metsker 