As mentioned, after our early 3.00 a.m. start we had a recovery period and decided to explore. Now the #Hotel #Europaischer #Hof is opposite the main railway station which has over 20 platforms to give you a bearing and from here it was just a 5 minute walk to #Karlsplatz. I would say underground but it is so much more and serves underground lines on several levels along with trams. There is a simple procedure of buying a ticket then having it validated in a blue stamping machine to indicate the time before you travel. But apart from the travel there are several subways all of which have several shops and I am not talking kiosks I'm talking fairly large retailers, restaurants and other shops. Most subways have escalators some have two sets of up and down escalators. We got out at the main high street to be meet by music and a large stage, After passing #MacDonald's on the right we went through a large stone arch to be confronted by hundreds of shops which must run for at least half a mile and each side road is either a mall or another string of shops. All the surrounding area was paved so no cars and I estimate about 500 shops+. Obviously I could not name all the shops but there were no charity shops, pound type shops or tacky restaurant. Familiar shops were #UrbanOutfitters but no #Next, £M&S, #Boots or general UK shops the majority were German and higher class I especially like the sports shops that could be on at least three floors but they were also very spacious and not crammed on the rails with cheap gear or worse items on the floor. If you ventured further down towards #Marienplatz you would come to the even higher class shops of #Boss, #Armani etc along with the jewellery shops. Finally, regarding shops, for the older person that remembers #C&A before it closed their UK branches it is alive and kicking with several stores in the centre. I did walk around for nostalgia reason but wished I hadn't. So for great retail therapy head for this area.
Now as you walk down this main stretch you will come around many lovely buildings and extremely large churches but perhaps the greatest site is where the #Ratskeller is and the main square because if you look up you will see #Glockenspiel tower which has amazing characters that operate but now sadly only on a Sunday at 11.00 and one other day. It is a sight not to be missed and is a fantastic engineering feat. Now to the right of the tower is Ratskeller and we were lucky to have visited on the right day as this was the day of the festival and everybody was dressed up and going into the keller. We moved on towards the market area and again there were hundreds of people in their costume's mainly wearing fun characters #Minnie Mouse, #M&Ms, Red Indians, Flowers and several more film characters too many to mention but a few have been capture with my camera.
