Munich (day 3.1)

Sorry. I didn't manage to finish day three of my Munich stay. Just did too much. And too many pub reports in a row get dull. Wouldn't want to start boring you.

Time was just a single pub graced the houses surrounding the Frauen Kirche. The oddly-named Nürnberger Bratwurstglöckl. But that's all changed. Augustiner have opened a pub right next door and Andechser one that is as good as. As neither was there on my last visit, Frauenplatz was next on my list.

Not being totally without time restraints, there was only time to go inside one. I'd two other Augustiner pubs on my itinerary. Andechser am Dom it was then. I threaded my way through the tables outside and entered.

It was positively cramped compared to most of the places I'd been to in Munich. Just a single square room filled with a jumble of unmatched tables. Panelling that looked remarkably like ecclesiastical salvage covered the walls. Fitting, I suppose, given the location opposite the cathedral and beer from a monastery. Adjacent was an arcade, separated from the main pub by windows and open to the street. I wondered what the hell the point was until I saw all the ashtrays. It's their way of getting a smokers' "room".

Not wanting to change the habit of a lifetime, I ordered a Dunkles. I hadn't looked at the menu. But a suitably mahogany coloured fluid was plonked in front of me. As soon as it touched my lips I knew what it was: Doppelbock. I've had this happen before. Be given a Doppelbock as a susbtitute for Dunkles. Normally, I wouldn't complain. But I was feeling fragile and I'd ordered a half litre. Just have to force it down.

By the time I left the Andechser boozer it was after midday. Time to eat. Not that I particularly felt like stuffing food into myself. But I remembered the events of the previous day. I'd like to remember at least a little of the day's crawl.

Spaten is oddly difficult to find in the central Munich. It can't help that what was their main town-centre beerhall got flattened during the war. It was never rebuilt. A shop stands on the spot today. Underneath it, in the basement, a modern pub cowers. Not exactly atmospheric and no windows. The entrance looks like a seedy nightclub (see photo below).

During the summer, at least, things aren't quite so bad. They've a beer garden on the street. And that's where i sat. Next to a group of teenage girls in Dirndls who were even more hungover than me. The beer garden is slap in the middle of Neuhauserstrasse, part of Munich's main shopping drag. Plenty of opportunities for people watching.

A waiter soon approached. I'm sure you can guess what I ordered. That's right, a Pils. No, that's not true. In reality, I went for a low-alcohol Doppelbock. Or Dunkles* as the ignorant insist on calling it. It was a pretty enough colour. And had a nice dense head. Unfortunately, a bit too fizzy for my taste. A bit of caramel, some nuts and loads of sherbert from the excess CO2. Food. I ordered some of that as well. Six pairs of Nürnberger Bratwurst with sauerkraut. A healthfood snack.

Food eaten and half way down my beer, I surveyed my surroundings. I'd been on the lookout for the big bookshop. I knew it was down here somewhere. The middle-aged woman on the next table had one of their bags. Where was the bloody shop and how had I managed to miss it? Find out tomorrow, in possibly the last installment. Promise. That it's the last installment.



* Turns out it was probably Dunkles Löwenbräu out of a bottle.


Andechser am Dom
Weinstrasse 7a
80333 München
Tel: 089 - 298 481
Fax: 089 - 295 442
Email: info@andechser-am-dom.de
http://www.andechser-am-dom.de/



Schnitzelwirt im Spatenhof
Neuhauser Straße 39,
80331 Mü̈nchen.
Tel.: 089 - 264010
Fax: 089 - 24 210
http://www.schnitzelwirt.de