Postcard: Munich, Germany

Last October, I got married to my wonderful husband, Davis. We knew we wanted to go on a honeymoon to Europe but decided to delay it to 2024 to ease the already hectic and stressful wedding planning process.

As the new year rolled around, we started brainstorming some of our top travel destinations within Europe and ultimately decided to book Trafalgar’s Imperial Europe tour — a 10-day journey to five countries, including Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. Since Davis had never been to Europe and I’d never been to these particular countries, we thought this would be a unique and special trip of firsts for both of us.

On June 5, we departed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu for Munich, Germany for the start of our tour. Two layovers (in San Francisco and London) and nearly 20 hours later, we finally arrived in Munich!

Upon arrival at the Munich International Airport, we had made it just in time for our travel director to meet us and board our coach to head to the hotel we’d be staying in — the Holiday Inn — which was about a 40-minute drive away.

As we nearly sprinted over to our meeting spot at the airport, our travel director, Arne, greeted us with his warm and friendly smile. Originally from Germany and now a resident of Prague, Czech Republic, Arne would be our go-to guy for the next 10 days.

On the way to our hotel, we passed by some notable landmarks, including the BMW headquarters and the Munich Olympic Stadium.

When we arrived at the hotel, Arne instructed us that we had about two hours before the tour officially started. Though that wasn’t a whole lot of time, after 20 hours of traveling, I’d take whatever I could get for a chance to shower and freshen up.

After our short break, we met the rest of our tour group, hopped on our coach and departed for our very first stop on the tour: Marienplatz, the center of the city of Munich.

Prior to this trip, I didn’t know all that much about Munich. What I did know, besides its strong beer culture, was Marienplatz. In fact, I had just watched an episode of Elizabeth Stanton’s “Great Big World,” and saw her marveling at the Glockenspiel. I wanted to do that, too!

After deboarding the coach, Arne led the tour group along a bustling street, down some narrower pedestrian walkways, and eventually to the New Town House (Neues Rathaus). There, he explained the Glockenspiel, shared a few other recommendations and gave us some free time to wander the area until meeting back at Neues Rathaus.

We got there just shy of 5 p.m., when the Glockenspiel was set to start. Perfect timing!

A crowd of tourists flocked to the front of the building and anxiously awaited the clock to strike 5 p.m. Right at 5 p.m., the Glockenspiel rang out and we all watched in awe the figures dancing around in a circle for roughly 10 minutes.

Following the excitement of the Glockenspiel, we walked down a pedestrian corridor lined with souvenir shops and other businesses. After perusing the souvenir shops, we made our way to a church called the Asamkirche, per Arne’s recommendation.

The Asamkirche, built in the 18th century, is said to be one of southern Germany’s most significant late Baroque buildings.

The interior was dark and gloomy but richly adorned with intricate details, including ornate statues carved with exquisite precision and elaborate murals on the ceiling depicting sacred stories. I later learned that the dark interior was an intentional design quality of the building to symbolize suffering, but the higher up you look, the brighter it becomes, symbolizing a closeness to heaven.

The quiet calm of this church put me in a state of reflection and gratitude that I was here in such a beautiful country.

Our first day in Munich ended with a welcome dinner at a restaurant near our hotel, where we feasted on schnitzels, met some of our fellow tour group members from Australia, David and Yvette, and toasted our time in Europe with — well, what else? German beer!