Update: We’re happy to announce that next year’s #EuroMeetup2024 is now planned for Manchester, UK! Do check out the announcement post here! And also, please note that details are all tentative for now. We hope to confirm dates/plans/etc towards the end of year, if not, early next year!
Hey peeps! So you may have seen the recaps from these folks:
- [RECAP] EuroMeetup 2023 Munich (22-25 June 2023)by @JanVanHaver
- Munich loves the hearts of Local Guides #EuroMeetup2023by @LuigiZ
- Culture and community [RECAP] #EuroMeetup2023by @MortenCopenhagen
- [RECAP] Munich morning photo walkby @LudwigGermany
- Eh Up, All Our Kids, It Were A Gradely Do! - EuroMeetUp Munich 2023 RECAP by @PeteMHW
And they are certainly excellent, as expected, at capturing the amazingly awesome #EuroMeetup2023 event (for info on this community led meet-up organised by @TorM and assisted by Jan, you can check outthis post). If you haven’t read them yet, I highly recommend that you do!
Anyway, I’ll try my best to match them and I hope that my recap will further add to the layers of stories and experiences that were had in Munich, Germany! Obviously, this is from my perspective which is slightly different from the rest.In the words of Fraulein Maria (from the Sound of Music movie), let’s start at the very beginning! This will help give you some context to my #EuroMeetup2023 experience. 
When it was announced, I was super excited and keen to attend because I had such an amazing time in Ghent, Belgium (see my recap here). As I am currently on a career break, I took the opportunity to add extra days before and after the event to allow me to travel and explore more of Europe; this was the best opportunity for me to do some solo backpacking and I wasn’t going to miss it!
I made some plans (see this post) and in the excitement of it all, I also ended up creating some graphics for the event; a couple of t-shirt designs that participants could use to order printed t-shirts to wear in Munich! Luckily it was well received but I also had a little surprise of my own; I wanted to print out some vinyl stickers that I could give away to participants as a souvenir. So, here it is, in all its amateurish glory!
Eventually, I was off to The Hague, Netherlands to start on my mini backpacking trip, followed by Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and then to Munich, Germany. To keep it brief, solo travelling is so amazing and I had an amazing time but that story is for another post, on another day! My trip to Munich started with a 2.30am bus journey from Luxembourg City and I eventually made it to Munich on the 22 June, around noon…but minus one luggage! 
Yup, I lost a bag which had all my clothes, my toiletries and medication and some electronics/gadget accessories (selfie stick, tripod, laptop charger etc). It wasn’t devastating 
(I still had all my important stuff with me) but I did lose three Google/Local Guides t-shirts which, unfortunately, are irreplaceable. Thankfully, Pete was helping to carry my #EuroMeetup2023 t-shirt, stickers and items for the Munich Pride Parade so those were safe!
Alas, my first day in Munich, before the start of the event, was spent visiting a local police station to file a missing luggage report (for my travel insurance claim), a mad rush to a pharmacy to pick up some hay fever medication, and then to the shops to try and get some clothes for the coming days!
And at the end of it all, I was running late for the 7pm start at Hofbrauhaus, and in my haste, I got lost on the underground train system (going the wrong way and also missing my stop), got caught in the rain and then couldn’t find everybody (it turned out that they were on a private tour of the place!). It was certainly comical when I look back at it and I actually have a video of myself, in the rain no less, lamenting my situation! I’ll share that video someday soon on my YouTube channel.
So, I do have to apologise to the rest of the participants if I was a little bit off and subdued! Huge thanks to Ludwig and Zdenek for offering their Local Guides t-shirt (I politely declined because they are too precious to simply give away) and to Gigi for his t-shirt which I did accept. Besides Gigi, I also got to meet Keith, @StefanTrauth , Sasha and his family (apologies if I don’t have your Connect usernames), who are local Local Guides that had made the effort to turn up for the first event!
And, another round of apologies as well to the newcomers/first timers if I wasn’t welcoming/sociable enough. There were Local Guides there that I have known for many years and have met in person before so it was very easy for me to gravitate towards them and engage with them constantly. I was off my game a bit and could have done better in engaging with everyone equally! I really do hope that you don’t feel apprehensive about joining future events or to speak to me; I do sometimes take a while to shift from introvert to extrovert!
Day 1 stops:
- Hofbrauhaus München (welcome reception)
It wasn’t the best of starts for Day 1 but the buoyant Local Guides spirit, youthful enthusiasm and exuberance soon won me over (and boy, did I need it) as we went into Day 2, which was a full day of exploration, joyful chatter, trigger happy photography, making of blue lines (Zdenek doing his 360 videos for StreetView), and lots of poses for Luigi’s many group photos!
Check out the photo collage of the various places that we visited:
Day 2 stops:
- Nymphenburg Palace
- REWE supermarket (for lunch)
- Theatine Church
- Munich Residenz (includes Residenz Museum and the Cuvilliés Theatre)
- Lush Vegan Cafe (for snacks)
- Augustiner Stammhaus (for dinner)
- La Fiesta Muenchen Cantina y Bar Mexicano (for a night cap)
Munich’s glorious weather came into full force on Day 3 which certainly helped us to continue enjoying the many amazing sights, sounds and tastes. We started out on a solemn note as we visited the National Documentation Centre to learn about how the Nazi party came to be. It was certainly very educational as I didn’t realise that Munich was the starting point of it all (I was never good at history!!). It is also a very sober reminder that we all need to be vigilant in defending and protecting basic human rights of everyone as we could certainly see parallels in things currently happening all over the world!
From there we moved through the city, passing through festival areas (see the photos below), to grab some lunch from the local market stalls next to the Heilig Geist church. And then moving over to a spot along Thomas-Wimmer-Ring road to catch the Pride Parade which turned out to be a first for many attendees and I’m glad that everyone enjoyed the positive and fun atmosphere that the Parade brought with it.
Day 3 stops:
- NS-Dokumentationszentrum München
- Pride Festival Area (Odeonsplatz)
- Near the Victuals Market (for lunch)
- Near Isar Gate (stood on the road side to watch the Pride Parade)
- University of Munich (for the live stream)
- On the banks of Isar River, near Wittelsbacherbrücke (for BBQ dinner)
- Bierkiste (for a night cap)
And I reckon that many folks will echo my sentiment that the evening picnic by the Isar river was loads of fun; it was certainly a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city plus the festivities of the Pride Parade to the quiet, calm and relaxing environment of the Fruhlingsanlagen park.
And I don’t think everybody was ready to see the end of Day 3 (for some of us, it was our final day as we would be travelling out early on Day 4) as we managed to drag the evening out to a visit to yet another local bar.
My Day 4 recap will be a departure from the rest as I was one of the few who were leaving Munich in the morning and so, could not join in the events organised. I was hoping to check out early and meet up with Shreeya who was only able to join us on Day 4 itself but alas, luck was not with me and I had to rush to catch my bus instead. Nonetheless, I think these are some of the stops that the folks did.
Day 4 stops:
To end my recap, I thought I would do a simple Q&A with myself. Perhaps, it would be more succinct than my rambling post above!
What was my most favourite #EuroMeetup2023 moment?
Ah… there are so many moments that were fun and memorable but I think the various dancing that we did throughout the event were just hilarious! We danced at the Pride festival area as well as down at the picnic area.
What was my most favourite dish that I ate?
I had the roast suckling pig with dumplings and white cabbage at Hofbrauhaus and that was lovely! I’ve had dumplings before and wasn’t blown away but I really enjoyed the dumplings in Munich. Maybe it’s just my tired body needing all the carbs I could get!
What was my most favourite cafe/bar/restaurant?
It would have to be Hofbrauhaus! It’s such a huge beer hall with beautiful interior decoration plus the atmosphere was very lively with the live band! It certainly draws in the tourists but this is a must visit for me! Video to come soon!
Which tourist POI would I most likely recommend to those visiting Munich?
The Munich Residence is a former royal palace that is an easy recommendation because there’s so much to see and some of the rooms are really stunning! You can easily spend a full day just absorbing and reading everything here. There are two other attractions called the Treasury and Theatre which are smaller but still worth the visit. If you’re thinking of going to 2 of the 3 places, you should opt for the combo ticket (covers all 3 locations) as it’s the most cost efficient!
Anyway, that’s all for now! I hope you’ve enjoyed this recap post! It’s a bit rushed through but I hope it goes down well with everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments below! Thanks 
looking forward to meeting up again soon!
. It was indeed a fantastic meetup, memories over memories, lot of fun, lot of history and lot of dancing this time yeah 
! Looking forward to the next one