Carrying on from Berlin (The Orient Nerds’ Summer Holiday Part 1: Ein Euro-Fußball-Abenteuer in Deutschland- Berlin) Part 2 of our Euro 2024 adventure saw us head down south to the Bavarian City of Munich.

Sunday morning and it was up and out early for us as we wanted to make sure we got to the station to find out how to get our train without a mad panic. As it turned out we arrived with an hour and a half to kill, so we found a bar/restaurant in which to have a refreshing beer before stocking up on supplies for the train: fresh bread rolls, ham, cheese, beer and wine-all very civilised I am sure you will agree!

Getting the train was (un?)surprisingly efficient. However when we were boarding our carriage there seemed to be plentiful police officers preventing anyone entering the next carriage along. After inventing all sorts of spurious reasons for why this might be between ourselves, we then found out that one of the teams involved in the Euros was travelling in it. They got off at Leipzig, although I couldn’t quite make out who it was, and everything went back to normal on the train.

We arrived on time (although from what I have heard we were lucky with our train) and set about finding our hotel. Either by excellent planning or sheer good fortune we discovered that it was a mere couple of minutes stroll away. Located in an old telegraph office it is an incredibly quirky place, the bar is almost like something out of Babylon Berlin- the television series set between the wars.

While the bar is an excellent place to have a drink, they were rather unsurprisingly, given the bohemian nature of the place, not showing the England match later that evening or indeed any football, however the barman did recommend another bar just round the corner.  When we arrived at the recommended bar it came as no shock whatsoever to discover that there was already a group of Scottish lads in situ, chatting away to the locals. Apparently they had been there (in Munich not this particular bar we were assured!) since the previous Wednesday but were off to Cologne the following day.

Despite playing pretty dreadfully England secured a 1-0 win thanks to an early Jude Bellingham header.  Although I did spend most of the match trying to peer round our exuberant new Scottish mates!

On Monday morning ahead of our second live match between Romania and Ukraine, we thought we would wander down to Munich’s main square, Marienplatz, via a spot of breakfast to see if we could see the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel which twice a day re-enacts scenes from Munich’s history. To our utter amazement not only did we make it in time, but it seemed that most of the Romanian fans had had the same idea and cheered every time the clock struck. Either it is a really really good clock, or there wasn’t a lot else to see in the centre of town.

Marienplatz and the Rathaus-Glockenspiel clock- quite an attraction for football fans!

We had a bit more of a wander around the town, it looked and felt noticeably more traditionally German than Berlin, largely due to the latter’s seemingly never-ending refurbishment, renovation and urban development. After a quick pre-match beer at a traditional Bavarian brauhaus, it was easy enough to get the U-Bahn up to the ground, and even though the vast majority of fans would be leaving from the same place, it wasn’t too busy. The Romanian fans kept us entertained all the way there, and there was a significant amount of solidarity on display given what Ukraine are continuing to deal with in their country.

When we arrived, being in the last carriage we made for the exit at that end of the platform rather than following everyone else the other way. As soon as we exited the station we happened upon a café/ bar that was serving beer, wurst and just about anything else you could think you might need at a station.

It takes about a quarter of an hour or so to walk up to the ground, and even though there isn’t very much en route it is pleasant enough. Unlike in Berlin, entry to the stadium was much more organised and as soon as you are through you arrive in a kind of impromptu biergarten. Given the for once warm and sunny weather it seemed like the perfect place to carry on our pre-match preparations, despite the relatively long queues at the refreshment stalls. 

Not wanting to face another long wait in a queue for a second drink, we decided to head in through the second set of turnstiles and see what was available inside the ground. As completely expected from one of the modern mega stadiums there were kiosks serving every other block with minimal queues as a result, so we stocked up on beer complete with a handy carrying tray and a pretzel the side of the missus’ head.

Now, that’s a Pretzel!

Normally I would rail against a modern soulless concrete bowl of a stadium such as the Allianz, but the facilities were very welcome after Berlin. The view from our seats was excellent and it just felt as if the whole place was more used to dealing with big football events.

We’ve definitely had worse Monday afternoons!

As for the match itself it was a fairly even affair for the opening 20 minutes or so, with Ukraine’s pressing dictating that the game was played largely in Romania’s half. That was until Nicolae Stanciu’s rasping drive from the edge of the penalty area gave Romania the lead. It was one of those goals where even as a neutral you simply had to stand and applaud.

Romania put the game to bed with two goals in 12 minutes at the start of the second half from Razvan Marin and Denis Dragus to complete something of a surprise but thoroughly deserved win.

After the match we headed back into town for a quick pit stop back at the hotel, although we’d tried to be clever and get off at a stop closer to our hotel we ended up much further away. We managed to jump in a cab just before the heavens opened and the driver gave us something of an unexpected tour of the sites of downtown Munich.

We then headed into town in search of dinner only to find as we completely expected that the bars and restaurants were packed out. We settled for a stop at McDonald’s which is based in a very grand building and then headed back to the bar round the corner from our hotel to watch France just about beat Austria.

The next morning we checked out, loaded up on supplies for the train and in the absence of a bar at the station we found a rather grand hotel restaurant in which to have a quick drink before heading back to Berlin. We spent our last evening watching the cracking match between Turkey and major tournament debutants Georgia, and then Portugal against Czechia in the bar of our last hotel. I of course used the opportunity to have one final currywurst.

I think we always thought Germany would prove to be the perfect tournament hosts and they certainly lived up to our expectations, the only sad part was that we weren’t staying for another week…or two…or indeed right up to the end of the tournament. Although there was important Orient business to be taken care of in the form of a trip to Edinburgh. That trip will of course be fully detailed in Part 3 on Monday, until then…

Up the O’s!