We had dinner at the Hofbräuhaus, which is one of Munich's premiere beer halls. It was exactly as we imagined. Beer steins bigger than my head, pretzels and wienerschnitzel. Mom orderred an unidentifiable item off the menu and then asked the boy next to us what it was. "Four hot dogs."
The waiters were all dressed in their traditional lederhosen and they had to be flagged down quick, otherwise it'd be 20 minutes later and his arms would be full of a dozen beer steins splashing everywhere. Large groups of friends gathered at tables and would periodically burst into song while chugging beer and slamming their fists on the tables. I couldn't help but think of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.
We each drank a liter of beer, ate a pretzel, some wieners, a little sauerkraut and then walked back through the streets of Munich to take the subway. We passed the Frauenkirche, Munich's oldest Church from the 15th Century. The architecture was amazing even in the rain and darkness.
In the short time we have been here, we realized it is our charge to make sure that citizens around the world like Americans. At least these two Americans. We watched a street performer who was dishing out jokes across all countries. He was hysterical. But he must have known we were good sports because all the jokes came back to us. Germans and Americans, Mexicans and Americans, Middle Easterners and Americans, Dutch and Americans. It was interesting to hear that most of the American stereotypes that we are aware of hold true in Europe. I was relieved that there were no surprises. It was however slightly embarrassing when we decided to break away from the crowd, he yelled, "Hey Americans! McDonald's doesn't close until 2 a.m.!"
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