Munich? - Sure, I will pass by.

An accidental holiday

This one feels a bit gratuitous.

Our flight from Split to Dubai was routed through Munich, with a few hours to spare. We headed to Lufthansa’s Business Lounge—there’s also a Senator Lounge, but that’s invite-only and not something you can buy into. The Business Lounge access wasn’t cheap, but I figured it was worth it for some rest, a chance to catch the Brentford–Liverpool game, and perhaps a bite of Bavarian food (expectations appropriately low).

It turned out to be one of the better investments I’ve made.

About an hour in, an email landed: our flight was cancelled. Assuming it was an error, we immediately walked up to the lounge desk—being physically present turned out to matter. That alone likely helped us secure seats on the next day’s flight. The staff member handling this was visibly underprepared, oscillating between frustration and half-baked authority, and confidently cited Iranian airspace closures as the cause. A quick consultation with Dr. Google suggested otherwise.

Still, the idea of Iran airspace being shut was unsettling—less from an aviation-nerd angle and more from the possibility of being stranded indefinitely. Closer to home, I was annoyed at the thought of missing my dogs and cats for another day. The Indian part of my brain, however, found some amusement in the airline now being on the hook for a surprise Munich holiday.

We were issued hotel vouchers and told to make our way out. Munich Airport, despite Germany’s reputation for order, is impressively bad at guiding stranded passengers. There is, apparently, a shuttle to airport hotels that runs at a mystical frequency from somewhere outside a neighboring terminal—reachable only on foot. Lufthansa’s instructions were optimistic at best.

The Radisson Flygate Airport Hotel was fine. Overwhelmed, a bit frazzled, but functional. We slept. Breakfast the next morning was tight but effective, and spirits improved.

The practical challenges that I learnt you face when stranded in such situations are that

1. Try not to get stranded on a Sunday because all the stores aside from some grocery stores are closed.

2. Any duty-free liquids purchased need to be checked in so you would need to purchase a suitcase. Look for the sole Turkish checkout store who by chance holds 4 suitcases.

3. Pack a jacket just in case you are in for a surprise German winter. If you find yourself stranded on a Sunday like myself, be ready to brave the cold.

4. Airport hotels are just as far from the cities as are nuclear plants and although public transportation is great, it takes a lot of time so cab it to some place useful and attack the day.

As a cultured lot we first hit the museums, and these were far better organized compared to the ones we experienced in Berlin. When we stopped by Museum Brandhorst, there was an insane amount of Warhols we spent a couple of hours in the museum to work up a nice appetite that we satiated in the nearby Boulangerie Dompierre. Nothing fancy, just some nice coffees and pastries. Super busy, good quality bites and great vibes.

We headed onwards to Haus Der Kunst and there I watched an incredible 3D short film called “Retinal Rivalry”. Bleeding edge technology presents images like never before of cityscapes, forests and monuments in an exceptional trippy film that invoked all manner of emotion. Better than any 3D film I have ever seen.

We walked around Marienplatz which seemed positively festive. I had looked up Gasthaus Waltz from the Michelin guide. The working hours mentioned 12-3PM and we showed up around 1.30. When we showed up, they explained that their food service was over & they were serving only drinks. Made no sense how this works. Are people eating in the narrow window between noon and 1 and keep drinking for two hours? Then why call yourself a restaurant? What’s this nonsense Michelin? They were kind enough to highlight our next hunting field because I was too tired to argue.

We deposited ourselves in Wirtshaus Maximilian. It was like sitting in hooters for a family lunch. I still find the traditional Bavarian attire a bit strange an imposition on the staff. I read a bit about this and even in my basic research, it is akin to making serving staff wear outfits that put people to shame. That aside, the service & the food were awesome. The portion sizes were very monster sized & the highlights were the cheeses and the meat dishes. This was such an upgrade from our experiences in Berlin.

The most striking thing about Munich was the energy. Maybe Berlin is more multicultural but I couldn’t vouch for it. In Munich, you realized it every step of the way. People speaking in all manners of languages. There is a constant chatter of people. Wherever we went, it was incessant. It was happy chatter too. People just generally a lot more vibrant and chipper. I was a bit disappointed that in our first trip to Germany we couldn’t spend more time in Munich.

Ultimately, we packed ourselves and headed to the airport to roll the dice once more. As we waited near the gate, we spotted a restaurant called Sissi and Franz and decided to kill time there and charge our devices. The food was pretty good for an airport restaurant and the service even better. We had some fun with the staff, had some local bites and finished up with coffees.

I am grateful to Lufthansa for showing what I could have missed in Munich. They also comped all our expenses so that was neat too. Having whet my appetite with Munich, I am more amenable to doing a trip over sometime in the future and gives some options.

PS. The end of the trip marked another important personal milestone. We took in this beautiful idiot. Say hello to Vinnie (Vincent Van Gogh - look at where his right ear is supposed to be). The trip was about two months ago and we have had him for that time. In that time, he has ingested wires, bits of our chairs, a whole mango seed, been hospitalized twice, had surgery twice, subsequently vaccinated and is finally learning to masquerade as a dog. My mornings and evenings when I take our two morons around the neighbourhood are infinitely elevated.