Eli, an exchange student staying for a year with my friend Inka, visited me for a weekend. We started with a relaxing massage in a hotel spa across from the central railway station in Munich.
After tea and cake at my place, we headed back to the city center and had dinner at the famous Hofbräuhaus. Pork roast with potato dumplings- a Bavarian classic.
Crunchy Pork Roast
At 8 pm the Long Night of Music started, so we bought our tickets and started with the first stop:
Alter Hof: Six Across
The coverband played songs from the sixties to today and animated the audience to dance. We really liked it. To see and hear more we headed out 40 min after the start.
Six Across
Stadtsparkasse München: Munich Symphonic Orchestra
The bank opened its doors for the first time to festival and staged the Symphonic Orchestra that they also sponsor. Great architecture, great musicians. We listened till the end of their set and walked to Marienplatz.
Stadtsparkasse
Café Rischart: The Jokers Band
The upstairs café was packed with people and it was really hard to find a place to stand. The structure did not really allow for a good spread of the people, so we remained at a corner at the entrance and danced there to the rock sounds of the band. The metro carried us to the next point on our list.
Café Rischart
The Jokers Band
Roy: The Chartbreakers
In the small celeb bar we arrived at the end of the set and so got easily two bar stools for the next round. The bar features a lot of flowery kitsch and usually Schlager singers are regular performers here. That night the vocal band The Chartbreakers sang for us songs from ABBA and across all decades.
Roy
The Chartbreakers
25 hours hotel: Tanya Naughton & Band
Another metro stop and we were stepping into the 25 hours hotel across from the train station. The location is nicely decorated and invites you with a sitting room feeling to stay. We listened for some handful of songs till a guitar string broke and continued to the next hotel.
Tanya Naughton & Band at 25hours hotel
Sophia’s Bar in The Charles Hotel: Butch Kellem & Band
We arrived in the middle of a break and gave our feet a rest enjoying the atmosphere of this serene bar. An American, an Italian and a German form the trio that played jazz and evergreens for us.
Butch Kellem & Band
Park Café: Orange Fizz
Some meters down the road was the next location with local Munich band Orange Fizz - Front singer Matthäa and 8 guys made funk soul sound for this party. We walked back into the inner city center to one of Munich’s top hotels.
Orange Fizz at Park Café
Without Tonic, Gin-Less (senseless)
Bayrischer Hof: Dynamite Tonite
In the big atrium the band played hits of different decades and people enjoyed the beats on the dance floor. Unfortunately, the set ended shortly after our arrival. So we took a look around the atrium and bar that are also featured in the movie “Mein Blind Date mit dem Leben” (My blind date with life).
Dance floor at Bayrischer Hof
Bar at Bayrischer Hof
Around the block we did a quick stop at The Lovelace Hotel. The live bands had already finished as it was past midnights and we did not really like the DJ areas. So we returned home for some sleep.
The Lovelace Hotel
The next morning after breakfast, we drove to the Castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. I have never seen so long queues there, so we made an outside tour only. There was also a queue for Mary’s Bridge that gives you a fantastic view.
Castle Hohenschwangau
Castle Neuschwanstein
In the afternoon, we witnessed a baptismizing at the Wieskirche and later enjoyed coffee and cake at the Monastery of Andechs. There Eli found a reasonable priced souvenir - a mini beer mug.
Wieskirche
Cake and rhubarb fizzy for me
