Munich: Isar River and World Cup Champs

The first day in Europe is always a doozy.  After an 8+ hour flight from Atlanta (during which I tried to sleep) we landed in Munich around 8 a.m.  Shuttled off to our hotel (in a residential area of town about 10 minutes from the center by train) we were exhausted zombies.  Since we had a group dinner to attend, we opted to spend the afternoon acclimating.  As part of this, I went for a four-mile run along the Isar River, along the edge of the Englischer Garten.

Isar River

Running along the river on trails reminded me a bit of Snow White for some reason... the amount of green space was like a fairy tale!  Munich is pretty flat, so it was decent course for running.  That said, I cut my run shorter than I planned because my feet and legs were still swollen from the plane.  There were tons of runners and cyclists out, especially since the weather was nice and there are so bike lanes literally everywhere.  I found myself jealous of the flatness and the accessibility!

Such a pretty run!

After our first group dinner (I had some spaetzle and strudel and whatnot) we headed into the city center to watch the World Cup final game... and GERMANY WON!  There was a great energy about the city, but I've got to say, everyone was much more reserved during the game than I expected.  The beer was flowing, but it seemed like everyone was more likely to hold their breath than to get rowdy.  The rowdiest people I saw were drunk Americans, until after the win was official.  THEN the Germans let loose.  We could hear cars honking their horns all night, people were singing, and even on a Sunday night there was tons of great noise.  I'm glad that Sissy forced us out to watch and experience it while we were here.

Entrance to our hotel day of World Cup final

Watching the game with Marienplatz Glockenspiel in the background

Overall, it was  great first night in Munich!
P.S.  Congrats to the winner of my Cupcake Cookbook giveaway, Katherine!
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