Day 21 - Nuremburg and an 8 course dinner (Munich)

Alright, after 3 weeks of traveling around the countryside, today was the last official day in Germany.

It still hasn’t hit me that I’ll be starting my journey home tomorrow and arriving back home the following day.

Well, nothing else to do but go out with a bang…

Mission: Pancakes

Now, I’ve had a mission for gluten free pancakes for awhile.

There are two different cafés that offer them here in Munich but I haven’t given myself enough time to get there in the mornings before I had to go someplace else.

That would end today!

I was determined to wake up early enough to give me enough time to eat those damn pancakes before we had to catch a 10:30 train.

I woke up at 8:00, got ready, packed everything, and headed out the door at 8:45.

There was some delicate timing when it came to getting these pancakes.

First, I needed time to take the bus to the train station and store my backpack in a locker.

Then I had to time the SBahn to and from the café and, finally, I actually needed time to eat the pancakes.

In the end, I squeezed out enough time and managed to enjoy some nice fluffy apple cinnamon pancakes and a tall glass of fresh squeezed OJ.

An excellent way to start the day.

Nuremburg Day Trip

After breakfast, I met Shawn at the train station and we soon boarded a train heading 170km north to Nuremburg.

Thanks to the high speed ICE train, the trip only took an hour and we arrived in town at 11:30.

Shawn wanted to go see the courthouse where the Nuremburg trials happened and I opted to go see the castle and gardens on the edge of town instead.

So, we each went our own way with plans to meet up again for lunch in about an hour.

I had looked up the weather forecast for Nuremburg before we left and while it did forecast rain in the morning, it was all clear after noon.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t noon yet and I exited the train station to rain coming down on me.

At least it was a light rain but stupid me decided to not bring my umbrella or jacket today so I toughed it up and just started walking towards town.

Thankfully, the rain let up about 10 minutes into my walk and the rest of the afternoon in Munich was clear skies.

To get to the castle and gardens, I walked through the old town.

I gotta be honest, Nuremburg is a really nice town.

For some reason I thought it’d be another big industrial city like Frankfurt but it was a small little town with cobblestone streets, a market square and tiny bridges crossing the river.

I decided not to go in the castle and just admire from the outside before walking through the garden next to it.

Just a nice peaceful walk through the town and gardens.

I nice way to spend my last day in Germany.

Soon afterwards I met Shawn for lunch at a little German restaurant near the town square.

I went out of my way to get a light lunch today because I knew I had an epic multi course dinner waiting for me when I got back to Munich this evening.

So, I chose something from their list of Gudzerlas which are basically small plates.

There were options for schnitzel and sausages but I went with the cured char tartar.

Like I said, something nice and light.

After lunch we took local transit out to where the Nazi rallies took place here in Nuremburg and then headed back to the train station.

Parting ways

This was the end of our joined journey together.

Shawn was catching a bus to Prague to continue his trip and I was heading back to Munich for one more night before leaving the next morning.

We said our goodbyes and, just like that, I was on my own again.

At 4pm I arrived back into Munich, grabbed my stored backpack, and did the 5 minute walk to my new hostel for this one night.

I swear it was not even 10 minutes later that the skies opened up and a torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightening rang down on us.

Thank God my train arrived when it did.

I splurged on a private room in the hostel for myself tonight because I wanted to make sure I got a good night’s sleep before my very early checkout at 6:30am tomorrow morning.

Once I was all settled, there was only one last thing to do in Germany…

An 8 course dinner

Yup, as has been a little tradition I do on my travels, I like to have an extravagant dinner to end my trips.

Way back in February, a full 3 months ago, I booked a reservation at Restaurant & Weinhandel Broeding.

It’s a fine dining restaurant offered either a 5 course or 6 course meal for €119 ($175) or €129 ($190).

With the addition of some wine, this would definitely be the most expensive meal I’ve ever had.

I made my way through the torrential downpour to the metro and then to the restaurant as it opened at 6pm.

I was the first one inside and they knew immediately who I was. They showed me to my reserved table which had a menu board on it describing the tasting menu and a selection of wine choices.

How did they know who I was?

Well, turns out there were only three tables booked tonight.

Myself, a table of two beside me, and a party of 20 in the next room.

I opted for the 6 course meal which, turned out to be 8 courses because of an amuse bouche and a pre-dessert.

The dinner was paced slowly with ample time between courses and lasted over 2 hours.

It was kind of awkward just sitting at a table by myself twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next course but I did my best and just fiddled on my phone while I was waiting.

After wine and tip, the bill was €175 ($260).

Yup, definately my most expensive meal ever…