I mentioned on Wednesday that our journey to Munich began on a rainy Sunday morning. We’ve never been to any other German state, so this was a big trip for us, especially considering how much we wanted to see Bavaria.

We’ve been told on many occasions, by both Germans and non-Germans, how incredibly different Bavaria is from the rest of Germany – so much so that they speak a completely different dialect of German there and have their own customs and laws. Maybe it’s because we convinced ourselves it would almost be like another country, but we didn’t find it so unfamiliar.

Sure, some little things jump out at you. To me, the most obvious was the sheer number of maypoles. We found one or more in every town or city, which isn’t something we’ve seen at all in our part of the woods.

In Bavaria, they greet you ‘Grüss Gott’, which literally translates to greet God, but means ‘God bless you’ in context. I’ve heard that they do this in Austria, but had no idea that the greeting would be used in Bavaria too. Driving into every town, there would be a ‘Grüss Gott in *insert town here*’ sign, as well as an ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ sign as you passed through. In North-Rhine Westphalia, especially where we live, we have so many towns/cities mashed together that there’s barely noticeable border anymore, nevermind a sign.

Jaywalking in our area isn’t a good idea. I hear you can actually be fined something like 5 Euro a shot if you’re caught. While it’s not unheard of where we live, it happens infrequently. Driving in Munich requires that you keep a lookout for pedestrians at all times. The walkers are everywhere.

Anyway, on to the vacation.

No snow was predicted for our stay. In fact, the weather was supposed to be warmer than what we experienced. On the first night, we had a surprise bout of snow. Not a lot, but still enough to make three Johannesburg-natives squeal with delight.

We woke up to lightly frosted forest-scapes the next morning, and went for a walk near the apartment.

As you can tell, the Kayla was out of her skin with excitement over this light frosting. We really don’t see a lot of snow in Mülheim an der Ruhr, so this was a solid bonus to our little getaway.

From there, we went on to Munich. With so many shops for tourists, with a special focus on lederhosen and dirndls, it’s clear that Munich is a tourist hotspot. We had no plan in the city, we just followed our noses and took pictures of everything that looked cool.

Cool. Ha. It was so cold, we had to stop after about half an hour to buy hats.

I found Munich to be a friendlier city than any of the other German cities I’ve been to. Maybe it’s because tourism is the focus, I don’t know. It was a lovely experience.

Our day in Munich didn’t end here, though. We asked Kayla what she wanted to do, since it was her vacation too. All her little heart wanted was to see animals. We couldn’t find any farm-type setups where the kids can feed domestic animals, like we have close to our home, but Munich has a zoo. So, in the frigid cold and fading light, we went on to yet another outdoor activity. It was a parenting win, OK? 🙂 I’ll share those photos on Monday.

This is it for me today. Hope you have a good weekend!

Yolandie.