Traffic was awful on the Autobahn near the big cities; it was the first we’ve encountered, and we had several major slowdowns.

But we finally made it to Munich, ~1.5 hours later than we had expected.

One of the things I really wanted to do in Germany was experience a real beer hall, and Munich has a couple of famous ones. We chose Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall, which can hold up to 3500 people!

The beer was great, and they had the biggest and best tasting pretzels ever; slightly crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.

As you can see, Glenn enjoyed his. We ordered several.

And Taylor was happy with his big beer.

We enjoyed some typical German food, and relaxed after the trying drive.

The beer hall was pretty close to what I had imagined, with lots of dark wood, and full of character. The ceilings were gorgeous!

The servers were dressed in traditional German clothing: dirndl for the women and lederhosen for the men.

Throughout our trip, we noticed locals wear them often. One of our guides explained they can be worn for many different types of occasions. They are considered appropriate for work, weddings, going out to dinner, even a job interview.

And you never have to wash them.

He lost me there. 😳

As with most of the European cities we’ve visited, there were plazas around every corner, with shops and cafes. The one below was just outside the beer hall.

We wandered a little on the way back to our car and found this:

It was gorgeous! It was too big to fit in one picture, so I took several.

Below is an arched tunnel that led to a beautiful courtyard, on the other side.

We were just blown away.

The last thing we passed was the Munich National Theater; another impressive building. \240

In case you’re wondering, the wires at the top of the picture are for the cable cars.

Munich was a much prettier city than I had expected; it was very clean and inviting. I would have loved a little more time to explore, but we needed to get back on the road so we would make Salzburg by nightfall.

Thankfully, traffic was better, and it was obvious when we were getting close to Austria. The landscape was beautiful!

The beautiful drive made up for the earlier traffic, and we were happy to find our hotel in Anif, just outside Salzburg.

We arrived a little after 8pm, and found a note to push the intercom button. A voice gave us directions on how to unlock our room keys from a small box, and let ourselves in. It was an amusing experience.

We then headed out in search of dinner. At one of the restaurants, there was a rowdy group, and when we passed, a gentleman insisted we join them. Many of them were dressed in traditional clothing, and there was even a small oom-pah band.

It was straight out of a movie.

We stuck out like a sort thumb, and weren’t sure what to do. We never found a server, and still are not sure whether it was a private party or wedding; we ended up sneaking out a side gate.

But it was another amusing experience.

I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings. 😊