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Imperial stair
Paulaner Bräuhaus
If you'd prefer to sit down
Front entry viewGo to a beer garden if the...
Go to a beer garden if the weather is nice, you will perhaps get more insight into the Bavarian culture than by doing anything else. It was New Year’s Day and I was a bit dejected. I had returned to Munich the day after Christmas, just six weeks after completing a marathon tour of Europe, to see just how well I would get on in “real” life with Hanna. I had grown very close to her in Munich in September and on a rendezvous in Prague. We had already begun planning a trip to Cambodia and Vietnam for the spring but having only spent a combined ten days together, much of it under the influence of the world renowned Pilsner Urquell, it seemed a good idea to see how compatible we were. It became apparent after five days that we really were a bad match and though could be great friends, there was no way we’d ever be a couple. I still stayed with her as I had nowhere else to go and my discount plane ticket carried big penalties for changing dates. New Years Eve had been fun if not what I had hoped for. Having spent five of the previous six Eves alone, I envisioned a cozy romantic night but since we broke up the night before, it turned out more as a bacchanal sort of outing. We partied till seven thirty in the morning and I was surprised and hurt when she decided to stay out rather than return home to her apartment with me. After sleeping a few hours, I woke up and logged onto VT in hopes of some companionship and was happy to see Andreas online. He suggested coming over and meeting his new housemate and I happily walked over to his place through the familiar cemetery that separated my two friend’s flats. It was nice to see Andreas and Silvia again whom I had stayed with in September in the beginning of my fall odyssey. The warm welcome I got was a real cure for the blues I was feeling and the new addition to the house, Doreen, took my breath away on first glance. I spoke with Silvia about my recent plights but Doreen was next to her and I used our established ease to parlay one between the enchanting stranger and myself. We found our eyes meeting on more then one occasion and when we sat down for coffee, Andreas insisted on a photo of us together. He cajoled us into sitting very close together and when our heads touched, there was a definite electrical spark between us. The day went by so fast and when it was time for me to leave, they suggested I come back on Friday night for dinner.
I told Andreas that I would bring a Malbec wine from Argentina but he said that would not be necessary, that I should bring the biggest bottle of the cheapest red wine I could find along with a big bottle of rum. I was a bit confused but more then intrigued to see just what he had planned. I arrived that night full of anticipation. Doreen and I had e-mailed a lot in the 48 hours that had passed and it seemed much to my surprise that she was as taken with me as I was with her. Andreas explained that he would make a traditional winter punch and pulled out all the paraphernalia that went along with it. The wine was heated on the stove with some orange juice and spices and then moved over to a large silver pot that was heated more gently by a flame from underneath. There was a cylinder of sugar resting on a small platform above it. He poured the rum over it and lit it on fire, turning the lights out in the room for dramatic effect. It was quite romantic and the warm nectar was intoxicating and all too easy to drink. We soon found ourselves aglow in not only the fire of the cauldron but in the merry laughter that so easily was flowing. The whole batch was gone in no time and a second one more sloppily readied. Midway through it, Doreen and I found our faces growing closer, and soon our lips met in a longing and lasting kiss. I had come looking for love and though things had not gone according to plan, there was little doubt that said discovery was right around the corner now.
