When life gives you lemons, make Radler

It’s officially day one of our trip and as Peter left for the “BigOnlineBookseller”.de office, he assured me that everyone in Munich speaks English so I shouldn’t have a problem communicating. I begged to differ. Housekeeping didn’t speak English (this did not shatter any expectations), nor did the man who brought Peter’s luggage to the room (yay, Lufthansa!), nor did the servers at the little pasta bar where I ate lunch.

Through pointing and a variety of hand gestures, I was able to successfully get two fresh bath towels, two soft pillows, and a bowl of penne arrabbiata. It was a lazy day for me. I slept until 11am, ate lunch, and then surfed the web. The hotel we were staying at was in a business park in the outskirts of Munich, so there wasn’t much for me to do with my half-day. Peter had put in a full day’s work and was back at the hotel before I knew it.

For dinner, we went to Brunnwart (broon-in-vart) with three of Peter’s colleagues and some additional friends-of-colleagues including two blokes from Slough (five miles from Maidenhead). It’s a small world.

While at Brunnwart, I was introduced to Radler which is beer with lemonade. I’m familiar with this beer + lemonade nectar of the gods but was unaware of its official name. First, there is Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy and second, there is a drink called “Strip and Go Naked” which is what I consumed in excess the night I broke my ankle dancing in my living room several years back. I decided it was in the best interest of my health and those around me to stay away from Radler and stick to weißbier (weissbier) – wheat beer. Yum!

I ate and drank several weissbiers. I could have consumed several more but Peter was a party pooper and wanted to get back to the hotel. Apparently, he didn’t sleep all day in preparation for this steak + weissbier dinner like I did.

At the end of day one, I’m digging Germany even though I’ve consumed no German food and have not left the hotel room except for lunch and dinner. Tomorrow, we are checking out of the hotel and checking into the Hilton Munich City which is located in the heart of Munich with excellent access to public transportation and biergartens.