The “Englischer Garten”
We knew we were going to be up late for New Years Eve (more on that later), so we took it easy during New Years Eve day. Munich has an English Garden that’s good for roaming around in. We grabbed hot drinks from a little shop there and spent some time wandering.
A fun fact about Munich: public transit there is all on the honor system. You pay your fare with an app, or by purchasing a ticket… but nobody actually collects anything from you. If you use the app, it autocalculates your fares based on where you get on transit and where you get off. If you forget to click the button that says your trip is over, you’ll eventually get a notification asking if you’re done traveling (it’s all GPS-based). At 6am, the system adds up all of your trips and charges your card up to the daily maximum. Just like the London Underground, you don’t have to guess about purchasing a daily pass vs going a la carte. Just keep riding until you hit the cap, and then it’s free. The app also lets you specify how many people are traveling with you, so Kristian was able to manage all of our tickets on his phone.
Public transport in Europe is generally fantastic and Munich was no exception. We rode regional trains, metro trains, trams and buses. They were all super clean and well-maintained. We sat in an older metro car on New Years Eve that would have passed for brand-new if it wasn’t for its retro styling.
Of course, Munich doesn’t just say “ok everybody, feel free to ride the trains for free.” I looked it up and there are ticket inspectors who perform random spot checks. If they catch you without a valid ticket, you get fined about 60 euros (more than you would pay for a monthly pass). It doesn’t make sense to cheat the system, because the risk is so much greater than any potential reward.
Plus, you know, that whole thing about not stealing.
You know what else was on the honor system?
Germans, man. They’re just made different.
The English Garden has a stream running through it that has a couple of standing waves. People surf them (aha! that’s why there was that surf shop!) all the time. Instead of trying to keep people out, the local government put up signs warning them that they’re for experts only. There are also throw bags and throw rings in strategic locations that can be used to help anyone who gets themselves into trouble.
We were hoping to see someone surfing, and we were in luck! At the 2nd surf spot, there was a guy who was German enough to brave the elements. Lilian pulled out her camera and took some really nice photos.
It must be weird to practice your hobby with a bunch of lookie-loos on the riverbank watching you.
Max’s Beef Noodles
For lunch, our friends suggested a ramen place near their hotel. They said they’d walked past at all times of the day and there was always a long line out front. That’s pretty much always a good sign, so we made our way over there.
It’s a small shop, so there were actually multiple stages of waiting. First, they asked how many of us there were (seven!) and rolled their eyes at us a bit. Then, they brought us over a paper slip for us to tick our orders off on. Eventually, we were brought inside, walked to the back… and told to wait in a second line in the stairway.
While everyone was waiting, they brought us hot cups of jasmine tea. The restaurant was nice and warm (it was downright steamy) and smelled amazing. It felt a little bit like being in a theme park, where the wait is part of the attraction.
As people finished up their food, the waitstaff did a bit of a “shoo! get out of here!” and consolidated groups and tables. Two seats opened up first, so we let the youngest kids start eating. They got to make a few new friends (and have their seats shuffled around a couple more times).
After the rigamarole over getting seated, we were just a wee apprehensive about it being worth the wait. Fortune favors those willing to stand in multiple lines, because the soups were all delicious. I had the classic max, but Kristian (as usual) was more daring. As we ate, we looked up and realized that Max himself was making all of the noodles. I somehow ended up with Lilian’s Fanta sitting in front of me. I did not walk it back to her (Mother of the Year, over here).
Not-so-fun fact about Fanta: It was created by Coca-Cola Germany during WWII in response to the embargo on sending goods to Nazi Germany. They used ingredients that they had on hand. Coca-Cola brought Fanta back into the fold after the war (and felt free to keep all of those profits).
Which just makes this “Fantifa” sticker even better…
In the 1950s, Bavarian pubs started mixing orange soda and cola together in a mixture that they called “spezi” (a nod to hanging out with your buddies). Nowadays, you can buy an array of premade spezis in German-speaking countries (the Fanta version is called Mezzo Mix). Our friends’ oldest son ordered a Coke and I ended up with that Fanta, so we made our own spezi by drinking half and then combining the two. It sounds like it would be disgusting, but it’s actually quite tasty.
After lunch, we all headed back to our hotels to rest up for the evenings festivities. More on that later!
