Venice - Munich (543km)

We decided to take the daytime train from Venice Mestre through Austria and into Munich as we had read that the view was simply stunning. We were not disappointed!
The 6.5 hour journey provided the most gorgeous scenery of any train trip we have taken thus far. The view was like something straight out of 'The Sound of Music' with green hills, pine forests and snow capped peaks.
It could not have been a more perfect introduction to Germany.

We arrived in Munich Hauptbahnhof at around 8pm and made our way out to our Airbnb accommodation via the tram which was a great way to see the city and surrounding suburbs. The house was only a short walk from the tram stop and we were met by our host Vincent. We rented a room in Vincent's house for a very reasonable price and we were very happy to have private access to the upstairs bathroom as well, meaning we only shared the kitchen downstairs.

Our first day in Munich was fairly quiet as we stayed in to sort out the issues with my visa vignette. I had been hoping to schedule a visa interview in Munich or Berlin but found that I would have to wait at least a week just to get an interview, then it would be another week or more wait to get my passport back. As such I booked in for the next available appointment which was in Dusseldorf on 21/07/16.
This meant we needed to cut our stay in Munich short by a few days.

That night we went to a local pub in the suburbs of Munich for some traditional German fare and beer. It was a great little old pub but we did struggle to order food as the entire menu was in German and the staff spoke very little English (once again Google Translate saved the day). In the end we both managed to order some delicious food and beer.

On our second day in Munich we went out into the city for some sightseeing. We took the tram right into the centre of town and had a walk around taking in the architecture and browsing the shops. We made our way to the Viktualienmarkt which is a large daily food market and beer garden in the centre of Munich. It was a beautiful day and perfect for us to enjoy our German sausages with sauerkraut and steins of beer in the sunshine of the beer garden.

(Photos: Town Hall building in the Marienplatz square; around the Viktualienmarkt; the Biergarten).

Our third and final day in Munich we visited the Lowenbrau Brewery beer garden for some beer, smoked ribs and pretzels, then did a little more sightseeing before heading home for an early night in preparation for our early train to Dusseldorf.

(Photos: around Munich; Lowenbrau beer garden).