Taste of Excellent Beer in Munich, Germany. Oct 18 and Oct 20

Amazing Race in Tokyo, Japan

Underground River Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

Island Hopping, Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines

Manila, Philippines

Salzburg, Austria

Mercedes, BMW and Nazis

On 17 Oct, I left Manila, Philippines and connected at Narita, Japan. From Narita, I flew to Toronto and had a 4 hour lay over enroute to Munich, Germany.  During the 4 hour lay over in Toronto, I dropped off my luggage from my Asian trip, picked up another piece of luggage with fresh clothes and met up with Amit.  In one (1) day and due to time zones, I crossed through 4 countries and was in 3 different planes for 25 hours.

Amit and I arrived in Munich, Germany on October 18.  From the airport, we took the Munich train to Central Station on our way to Winter's Hotel.  The 1 way fare from the airport to Central Station was EUR 9.60 and the hotel was 1 block away from the Central Station.  The hotel's location was very convenient because it was just a walk away from the central tourist area which was in the perimeter of Marienplatz.  Though Winter's Hotel was centrally located, we got a good deal through GTAHotels and only paid US$80/night.

As soon as we settled at the hotel, Amit and I walked our way to the tourist center at Marienplatz.  Within the perimeter were Frauenkirche and the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall of Munich).  Within that area was an open square with some restaurants and a lot of store boutiques.  With the usual tourist map as our guide, Amit and I went to Theatinerkirche (Theatine Church) and beside it was the Max-Josepgh-Platz.  One block away was the Royal Residence but Amit and I did not go inside because we had to pay!

We just explored the area and by 600pm, we spotted the famous Hofbrauhaus.  At that time, it was already packed with both locals and tourists yet it was a very large beer hall/restaurant.  At first we thought we had to wait to be seated but we were told to look for a table for ourselves which was the norm.  We roamed for about 10 minutes and finally a couple finished their drinks and we just grabbed their table as soon as they left.

Germans loved pork as they used almost all parts of a pig - from the intestine for the sausages to pork knuckles.  Amit, being a typical North American was not daring enough to try German dish and just settled for chicken!

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From the restaurant, Amit and I went to Maximilaneum, the Bavarian Parliament.  Was not able to go inside because it was not open to the public.

From the parliament, we headed back to the hotel and I had my much needed rest and prepared myself for the 220 km/hour autobahn adventure the following day en route to Salzburg, Austria.