Navegante en el extranjero: Glückliches Neues Jahr! Bonne Année! Happy New Year!

Just a few days after Christmas, Herm and I made our way to Gatwick Airport for a flight out to Munich.

This was my second time visiting the city and I have to say that I am a fan. Last time I was in Munich was in 2010 with Bronwyn, whom I was living with at the time in Logroño, Spain.

Bronwyn and I visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Royal Castles outside the city in 2010.

We arrived and went straight to our AirBnb apartment. It was perfect accommodation, good location and cheap. Upon our arrival we were welcomed by marzipan on the pillows and various informative brochures on the city.

We spent our time touring all over the city. Doing the usual touristy stuff, eating some great food and tasting some amazing German beer.

Augustiner Weißbier

Nürnberger Rostbratwurst

Lowengarten, an amazing German restaurant close to our apartment.

For New Years, our friend Max, a native Bavarian, invited us to a New Year's party with friends of his in the city.

The party was a blast. As midnight neared we went outside to a nearby park (where the annual Oktoberfest celebrations take place). The tradition in Munich is to set off fireworks and so Max bought Herm and I a ton of them to set off in the park. It was a bit sketchy as there were groups of people every 10 feet setting off fireworks... despite the apparent danger, it was an awesome sight!

On New Year's Day we picked up our rental car and set out on the autobahn.

Not knowing what specific car we had reserved we were pretty psyched to find out it was a Mini Cooper.

For those who don't know, the autobahn is the German motorway that has virtually no speed limit...

We drove west, crossing into France, to Strasbourg. We stayed in an apart-hotel for 3 nights making various day trips.

On the first day we checked out Strasbourg for the morning and in the afternoon we drove down to the town of Colmar.

Herm and I in Strasbourg.

Eating tarte flambee, typical of Alsace,
and vin chaud in Colmar.

On our way back to Strasbourg we had a craving for fondue (yes, neither French nor German....) and so we found some in Obernai, France.

The next day we drove to Freiburg, where Herm's grandparents are from.

Herm eating some Curry Wurst in front of Freiburg's Cathedral.

Stopping in St. Peter, a small town Herm remembered visiting as a kid.

We also made the time to drive around the Black Forest and the Canadian in me was quite excited to see some snow.

Wurstsalat, a typical dish of southern Germany. Unfortunately I would not recommend it...

We drove back to Munich the day before our flight back to London. On our way we stopped in Karlsruhe to visit our friend Andy who had been living in Madrid not too long ago. He showed us around the city and his university campus.