Welcome back to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast. And today I have an exciting gift, an exciting guest here. She is a gift.

Keltie Maguire (00:09.14)
yeah yeah totally yeah

Keltie Maguire (00:23.158)
I'm a gift.

Paula Barnes (00:26.563)
Kelty Maguire is a Canadian living in Munich and she has a really interesting story. So I'd like to introduce her and she can actually, you know what, I was going to talk to you and tell you a little bit about her, but I'll get her to introduce herself and tell us who she is and how she got to Munich and what's her podcast all about.

Keltie Maguire (00:47.918)
Yeah, thank you so much, Paula. I'm super happy to be here. And this is, you know, a change from the topics I usually talk about and I love travel. I love where I live. Um, so I'm super excited to share a bit about my city and my journey. Um, I have been living here for eight years. We just celebrated our eight years living in Munich anniversary, which thank you. Yeah. It feels like a pretty substantial amount of time, I guess, at this point. Um, my husband is German and we met in Vancouver, Canada in 2009, which

Paula Barnes (01:05.474)
Wow, congratulations.

Keltie Maguire (01:17.57)
I haven't shared this part of my story yet, but I had actually just recently returned from living in Sydney, Australia. Yeah. I was living in beautiful Potts Point. I had the most magnificent apartment with a view of Rush Cutters Bay, which, you know, I don't want to sell my future self short, but I'm like, I'm not sure I'll ever have a view like that again overlooking the ocean. Yeah. Just magical. And so, yeah, I had returned. We met shortly after I returned to Canada in 2009 and

Paula Barnes (01:23.86)
wow, okay.

Yeah.

That is a pretty part of it.

Keltie Maguire (01:44.398)
When we met, my husband had recently moved to Vancouver with the idea of it being a sort of year long experience of getting professional expertise or experience speaking English. He had done some additional language studies in English and he thought, know, a lot of, as you probably appreciate having lived many countries, like brushing up on your English and being able to use it professionally is a great skill for a professional to have. So anyways, that was his story when we met and

He said to me like very early days, I'm going to want to go back to Germany at some point. Would you be open to coming with me? And, or like that's sort of what we probably want. That's what the future might look like or entail. And it was very, very easy for me to say like, yeah, absolutely. I would totally move to Europe with you. I, and I center Europe in the sense that I'd never been to Germany before, but I knew that I would just have this like world at my door.

Paula Barnes (02:38.198)
you

Keltie Maguire (02:41.656)
doorstep if we were to do that. So I credit the move to Sydney with probably creating this sort of openness that I'm not sure how it's been for you, but for me, I feel like once you relocate yourself so far from everything you know, once it becomes easier to do it again. And of course, know, Sydney and Australia, Commonwealth country, they speak English. There are some differences with Germany, but yeah, I was open for the adventure. So

Paula Barnes (03:01.379)
Mm.

Keltie Maguire (03:10.45)
We thought that might happen within a year or two years, a few years, but actually we had been together almost nine years by the time we did decide to make the move to Germany. And I would say in terms of the sort of precipitating events or timing, my husband when he left had been in his mid twenties and had different probably concerns or considerations. For example, in those nine years, his parents had

had aged as we all had, but they were starting to have some health issues, which made him feel like it would be important to go spend some time living in Germany again. There was also an opportunity with a job for him the year prior to when we moved. And although that particular job didn't end up being the right fit and it also wasn't the right timing for us for personal reasons to make the move, it did get the wheels turning. And then that following autumn, I guess, in 2017, we said like, OK,

let's consider a move to Germany, which then of course we had to ask where in Germany are we going? And so Munich, I kind of like this part of the story in the sense that like, you know, there's nothing wrong with moving for love. One can say it's very romantic, but this notion as we hear with, I think a lot of expat immigrants in countries of like, you move for a man, you move for love. Well, I consider it more like we made this move together as a couple and we actually chose a city that neither of us had lived in. And so we were

Paula Barnes (04:35.767)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (04:36.258)
you know, setting down new roots as a couple. My husband had grown up near Stuttgart and spent his, you know, sort of early adulthood in Stuttgart in Germany, which is a lovely city. But we settled on Munich both for its proximity to his family, which is spread sort of throughout the south of Germany, as well as his dad actually now lives in Austria, which is where he's originally from. And we also wanted to be close to the mountains. So.

Paula Barnes (05:01.901)
Keltie Maguire (05:02.158)
That was a big driver. And Munich's also incredibly central in Europe. So I have to say it's like really a fantastic place to live. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (05:08.887)
That sounds really exciting. We will talk a little bit more about Munich, which is the subject, but I want to hear about your podcast. Just let's talk a little bit about your podcast first before we go into it.

Keltie Maguire (05:13.28)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. and I realized, I know there was like a few questions there and I, with my in-depth storytelling, it's, it always takes time to arrive back at the, where were we going with this? Yeah. So, you know, my podcast, it's called the kids are child free podcast. It's available where you can find your podcasts, Spotify, Apple, YouTube. the

Paula Barnes (05:21.443)
No.

Paula Barnes (05:27.875)
Hehehehe

Keltie Maguire (05:38.06)
The driver behind that is, mean, in effect, when I moved to Germany, I would have been, I guess about 35, I'm 43 now. And the big pressing question on my mind was, was I going to have children or not? And I think like a lot of women, I had the assumption that probably someday I would. And yet I never really had like a huge desire or drive for that experience. And on the flip side, I also felt like I did not want kids.

I first of all was very unacquainted with anyone who had deliberately chosen the child free path or lifestyle, if you will. But the people I did sort of hear about anecdotally or that I saw, you know, I started discovering there's this whole world of people who've made this choice. I didn't identify with the very definitive. I've never wanted this. I absolutely don't want kids sometimes even kind of disparaging negative attitudes towards like parents and children. That was something I didn't identify with.

And I also didn't identify with so many of the women I knew who really had a longstanding dream of parenthood. And so I went through a real, you know, sort of personal upheaval and journey, which was sort of alongside also a big career change for me. I actually was designing jewelry when I moved to Germany after a career in sales. I had a career in sales. I was designing jewelry. I had my own jewelry brand. Ultimately decided to move into a service based business where I was coaching people and helping them find

clarity around profession and career. And so through this career transition and questioning, do I want to have kids or not, was asking myself also, and let's also say the move to Germany, asking myself a lot of big questions like, what do I want my life to look like? I've got all these people back in Canada who are having children and they're moving to the suburbs. And that's of course like a very valid life path, but it sort of was a chance for me to reflect on like, what do I want? Am I being deliberate in my choices? And also for us as a couple.

So I did eventually come to the decision and we came to the decision not to have children, but I really found that period of indecision and ambivalence very lonely, very difficult. And so over a period of a couple of years, I started moving my business towards helping people with this decision and helping them figure out what ultimately feels right for them, whether that's to have kids or to stay child free. There's a lot of pressures. I think women in particular.

Keltie Maguire (08:02.534)
I know women in particular feel around this choice and what it means to be a good woman and to reproduce. And it's not necessarily, though, the right path for everyone. And so I started professionally exploring this arena. And I'd always had this idea that I should have a podcast around this topic. Because one of the big questions for me as I was navigating this and even afterwards was, how do people actually make this decision? Like, know, Paula, you mentioned you have grown children now. And there is

as we've also talked about, I think the assumption for many people and it's still the case is like, well, that's just what you do. But there's still even for people who desire that, like what signals the readiness, what allows someone to feel confident enough to make this big life choice or conversely to close the door on kids if they decide to stay child free. So I had this idea for a podcast where I would sort of in alternating episodes, interview people about their decision to either have children or the decision to remain child free.

Paula Barnes (08:42.103)
Mm.

Keltie Maguire (08:59.398)
and it's predominantly women featured on the podcast, although I have had some couples and some men as well. I'm trying to share, you know, diverse stories from people of different backgrounds and really looking at how different considerations are figured into this. So for some people, you know, we might talk a little bit more about how their own upbringing and let's say having been parentified at a young age and having had to take on that role of mothering or caregiving, how that's maybe lent itself to either reluctance to become a parent or maybe the decision.

to do things differently. I've had a world-class philosopher on to talk about this through like a philosophical lens. I find we just published our 101st, 100th and then this week, episode, 101, 101st episode. Yeah, and so, yeah, thank you so much. And it's like, I feel like if anything, there's just more and more that we can really mine and explore. So yeah, that's the podcast.

Paula Barnes (09:36.321)
Well.

Paula Barnes (09:46.264)
wow, congratulations.

Paula Barnes (09:56.299)
Awesome, I'm really looking for it. I'll put the link in the show notes so people can have a listen themselves as well. So let's get started. Munich, so now I know how you got there and why you got there. So tell me a little bit about the city itself. What is it known for? What is it famous for? What do people go to Munich for?

Keltie Maguire (10:01.388)
Yeah, thank you Paula.

Keltie Maguire (10:07.96)
Yeah. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (10:13.431)
Yeah.

Yeah. so, you know, Munich, we're about an hour from the Alps or what we'll call like, they call them the four Alpens. So it's basically like the before the Alps or the Alps, the mountains before the mountains. and so, you know, a lot of people love the area because it's very close to nature. have a lot of beautiful lakes. Munich itself is a flat city, however, which I love about it because it means it's really easy to get around by foot or by bike. it's known.

Paula Barnes (10:28.755)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (10:44.174)
probably as we can say it's like very much the quintessential German city when you think of Germany or when people think of Germany because a lot of times people think about things like Lederhosen and pretzels and Oktoberfest and those are all things that come from Munich specifically and like Bavarian culture broadly which is the know, province or state that Munich is located in. We have the English gardens which is a you know,

Gardens doesn't really like, it's not an app description in my mind. It's like a big, beautiful park, something like, you know, it's not going to be as sizable as something like Central Park, but like this, you know, the kind of the big city park we see in many beautiful, world-class cities with walking paths and lakes and beer gardens. And, know, people hang out there in the summer. It's like a really nice vibe. a lot of tourists enjoy, you know, in our Altstadt, the old, the old city, have what's called the Victor Allian Mark, which is an outdoor market with, you know,

food stalls, fresh vegetables, coffee, flowers. We've got beer gardens. When think about what beer garden culture and being outside. So it's, there's a lot of history here as well. Although, and you know, having spent time in Berlin, there was like, of course, this is the country's capital and with specifically World War II, this is where, you know, the Nazi movement really sort of had its foothold. But actually much of that came up

in Munich and so without being a historical expert like here for example just a few blocks from where I live is what's called Königsplatz, the king's square which actually I believe was built by I think it was like King Leopold too and it's funny because it looks like old sort of Grecian or Roman like a square with the pillars and everything like it looks older and of a different culture than what it is but that was actually where Hitler used to have a lot of his like marches and rallies when he was like coming into

Paula Barnes (12:37.187)
Bye.

Keltie Maguire (12:38.178)
to power, it's where the, the putsch happened, which I think is like the, is it a coup where, there was the uprising, and, and some of the, the, the, the Nazis, they were, murdered. And then it was like, they were revered. They created this Memorial, which has since been taken down, of course, because, know, was celebrating the Nazis. but, yeah, there's like very rich history here, which is really interesting. And it's something specifically in the neighborhood that I live in called Max Forstadt.

Paula Barnes (12:57.153)
Yeah. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (13:07.551)
that there's like a lot of richness there in terms of like what happened in that era if that's something of interest to people.

Paula Barnes (13:14.901)
And then what season do you think would be the best season to come to Munich?

Keltie Maguire (13:19.84)
Yeah, yeah, I would personally say anytime from about like we're recording this in April. So anytime from like spring, April through to probably October. If you like Christmas markets, you could come in the wintertime. But to me, Munich is at its most beautiful. The vibe feels like most Munich to me in the spring and summer months. And it's quite nice into autumn. The only kind of caveat I'm going to give with that is unless you're planning to come for Oktoberfest, the big

Paula Barnes (13:41.773)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (13:48.93)
beer festival party carnival, which does not just happen in October. It actually starts at the end of September. I would avoid end of September and early October. Yeah, it runs for two weeks with over three weekends. we've got the weekdays in between. We've got three weekends. very funny, a couple of times now my mom said, I think I'm going to come for kind of like a spontaneous visit next month. I'm thinking end of September. I'm like, you are going to be paying.

Paula Barnes (13:56.361)
okay.

Keltie Maguire (14:16.204)
hundreds of euros for the most small and substantial like bare basics hotel rooms. So, and you know, we can perhaps talk about Oktoberfest, but like unless that's on your agenda where you're like, I want to come for Oktoberfest, I would personally avoid those weeks because it's just, you know, it's going to be a zoo and it's going to be very expensive to visit the city unless you have accommodation with like, you know, someone like me. If you're my friend. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (14:22.883)
you

Paula Barnes (14:39.873)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, unless it's free. exactly. And so what about souvenirs? I'm not talking magnets. I'm talking stuff that you can take away with you that's a little unique that most tourists don't grab.

Keltie Maguire (14:47.49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (14:52.982)
Yeah. Yeah. So we have, for people who are sports fans or soccer fans here, we call it foosball or football. we have the Bayern München team, as our city team, which is, you know, consistently one of the top teams in Germany and, and Europe. so somebody might want to get like an FC Bayern, Jersey or t-shirt. There's for example, even downtown like shops or even at the airport, there's actually a dedicated store that you can pick up, a t-shirt for the, for the Bayern München soccer team. another thing, which it's,

It's like a little bit kitschy, which I guess a lot of times souvenirs are, but it's something very quintessentially Munich. And they sell them at Oktoberfest and a lot of the other like festivals, but you can also just buy them in shops. So it's Lebkuchen, is similar to a gingerbread, but it's different. It's not quite as sweet and flavor, but it's a kind of cookie basically. And it's a...

It's quite, they're not my thing. I've never wanted one, but a lot of people go wild for them, especially the girls at Oktoberfest. They like getting them. A lot of people get them from like their boyfriend or their partner and it's basically a giant heart. So I'm trying to think like size wise, like the face of a soccer ball. If we're talking about soccer, not quite that big, but it's big and they're decorated with icing and whatnot. They're wrapped in like cellophane or plastic. You're probably not going to want to eat it. It's honestly not going to taste great. They are edible, but like I probably wouldn't.

Paula Barnes (15:47.969)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (15:54.307)
Paula Barnes (16:01.485)
Yep.

Keltie Maguire (16:12.964)
it comes on a ribbon, which you can put around your neck and you can wear this label and what it says on the front is different kinds of things, but it might say something like Schatz, which Schatz is treasure. And it's a pet name in German. Schatz is like a diminutive and sort of a cute little name, like sweetie or something like that. Or it might say, mouse, which is, mouse is a mouse, but like, these are like little kind of pet names or it might say my libe, my love. So, and sometimes you can get them actually written on like something a little bit personalized, but.

That would be something that's like very quintessentially Munich that's relatively inexpensive that you could bring back for people from the city.

Paula Barnes (16:49.603)
Now that you've talked about food let's get into what the best food is to try. Like what do you think? What food to try? drink to try?

Keltie Maguire (16:51.479)
Yeah

Ugh. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So I'm going to caveat this by saying some of my recommendations, I eat a predominantly plant-based diet and I do not eat meat. That being said, German is really known for meat and that heavy sort of meat culture. So for example, schnitzel, which, know, Wiener schnitzel actually comes from Wien, which is Venice in Austria, but we do have it here and it's traditionally calf meat. it kinda, it pains my heart because it's like calf meat consumption is huge, which

I mean, that's a whole other conversation. If we're eating a baby animal versus a grown animal, can say it's a gal as the Germans say it's one one or the other. But in any case, for people who love that, it's like very delicious, tender. It's usually it might be served with like a cold potato salad, which is done a little bit differently than what we might see in like Canada or the States. I'm not sure how it is in Australia. So it's typically not with mayonnaise, but it's usually they they boil and then peel the potatoes afterwards. They slice them thin. They serve them with

Paula Barnes (17:28.619)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Keltie Maguire (17:56.224)
They mix it all together with like some vinegar and some seasoning and some usually onions. So that's something that's often served with a schnitzel. so I remember myself wanting to get when I used to eat meat, like, loving, versed or sausage. So there's lots of great sausages that you can have here and you can have them served on a bun, similar to a hot dog. Although usually the sausages are much longer and larger than you'd see with it. You know, again, a North American hot dog. but you can also have it served on the plate with,

Paula Barnes (18:04.109)
Mm-hmm.

Paula Barnes (18:14.594)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (18:24.652)
other manner of sides. There's, think, I think it would be, it's so funny because a lot of times the, so it's like, I think it's like a brat schwein or something, but it's like pork crackling. So it's like, if you like pork, so there's, there's like, if you like meat, you're going to be in paradise. There are so many incredible options. I think a lot of them are pork based or like I say, it's going to be the calf meat for people who are vegetarians or vegans like myself, Kasey Spätzle or cheese Spätzle, which is

Paula Barnes (18:37.174)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (18:53.902)
kind of Germany's answer to macaroni and cheese, but like way better. So good. like, so it's basically little kind of, we can call them noodles, but they're kind of like an odd little shape, Spätzle, which perhaps people have had elsewhere. And then it's like basically a creamy cheesy sauce with like a mountain cheese. And then it's usually put in this pan under the broiler with like cheese and onions and everything like.

Paula Barnes (18:57.589)
okay.

Keltie Maguire (19:18.958)
Lots of times it's like caramelized onions or not caramelized, but what's it called when they're almost like toasted or dried? don't know. Yeah, like sprinkled on top. Super rich, super delicious. I can definitely recommend Kaysish, but I will say that it doesn't actually hail from Munich itself. It actually comes from another state or province called Baden-Württemberg, but it's still very much a German specialty you'll find in many of the restaurants.

Paula Barnes (19:25.508)
yeah, yeah, like dried onions, yep.

Keltie Maguire (19:46.306)
For somebody who is vegan, could have like a Linzen top, which is a lentil bowl. So like a really nice rich soup with lots of lentils and vegetables. And I would say for virtually anyone, unless you're maybe have gluten intolerance or celiacs, a pretzel, a German pretzel. It's like a soft pretzel. You can get them at any bakery. They're all pretty good. would say something that a lot of people like having it with at a beer garden is called Obazda, which is

Paula Barnes (20:01.419)
Okay, yeah.

Keltie Maguire (20:15.136)
It's like a cream cheese, but it actually, looks bright orange. I think it's mixed with like paprika or spices that make it that color. it's, it's more like a, a fresh sort of cheese and you like, it's basically a spread or a dip that you have with a, pretzel or pretzel, which is delicious.

Paula Barnes (20:22.495)
Paula Barnes (20:29.399)
And so in terms of drink, would you say, guess, Besides... Yeah, yeah.

Keltie Maguire (20:35.502)
Yeah, I didn't get to drink yet. And let me say there's one more meal that I have to say that would be like, if you want to have one German meal, that's kind of the quintessential, especially Munich and Bavarian meal, it's Weißwurst Fruschtuch. So it's the white sausage breakfast, which most people don't think about sausage for breakfast. Historically and traditionally, this is made also with calf meat. It is a very pale white sausage. And rather than being cooked on a grill or in an oven or however people do sausages on the barbecue,

Paula Barnes (20:50.051)
Okay. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (21:04.607)
It's actually only heated up. It shouldn't be heated to boiling. It's in a pot of warm water. And when you order it, however many vice versa sausage you order, and usually I believe they come in pairs, it'll come in like a traditional ceramic sort of claystone pot on the table in hot water. So it shouldn't be so hot that the casing on the sausage bursts. There's like kind of rules about this.

Paula Barnes (21:29.696)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (21:31.842)
Generally it has not been served after 11 a.m. although, you for tourists and a lot of restaurants will serve it. And the reason is, is usually it would have spoiled by then back before refrigeration and everything like that. So the sausage is very, it's a very delicate, light, nice taste. has nice herbs and seasoning. And there are a couple of places in Munich that you can search. It's constantly becoming more. will say the vegan and vegetarian scene here has really exploded in the last eight years that I've been here, but there are vegan options that I can say tastes

Paula Barnes (21:42.623)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (22:01.688)
Having tasted both tastes fairly similar in texture and in taste, surprisingly. Now the sausage comes with, and what you need to do is you need to take the casing off. You're gonna look like a real tourist if you leave the casing on and you basically would like slip the sausage vertically and gently peel that casing off. You can eat it, but you're not supposed to. It's eaten with sweet mustard. And this is another potential souvenir. You could buy a little jar of sweet mustard like they serve with vice versa and you could eat it with all manner of different things.

Paula Barnes (22:04.406)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (22:19.456)
Yeah, okay.

Okay.

Keltie Maguire (22:30.368)
And it's sweet mustard, white sausage, a pretzel, and vice beer. You need to have your wheat beer with your sausage. Again, this is a brunch thing. This is like, you're going to be really German and really Bavarian and a true mentioning if you eat this. You can also get quite good alcohol-free beer. It's become prolific everywhere, just like it is in many places. yeah, for people who want to like, OK, maybe I don't need a beer at 10 in the morning or 11.

Paula Barnes (22:40.226)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (22:52.546)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (22:57.686)
And where you're going to eat this is in either like a gasthaus, which is like a traditional sort of German restaurant, or you can have it in a beer garden, sitting under a nice leafy tree and enjoy a really nice breakfast.

Paula Barnes (23:04.874)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (23:08.675)
And is that all through the year? Not just like when the sun's out? Okay.

Keltie Maguire (23:12.14)
All the time. Yeah. Yeah. And definitely beer. Beer is the German drink for sure. You might, if you're not a beer fan, you could have a Weisswein Schorle. It's really nice in the spring. And what it is is it's white wine with sparkling water. So it makes it a little bit lighter, which is nice if you don't want heavy drinks. And any, if any drink that has the word Schorle on the end implies that it's mixed with sparkling water. So another non-alcoholic drink, and I love this and people who have lived here in expats and immigrants, like,

Paula Barnes (23:26.658)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (23:41.278)
we rave about the simplicity and beauty of this simple drink is an apple saff chourolet, an apple juice chourolet. So it's apple juice with sparkling water. Or you could do Rabaab saff chourolet, which is rhubarb juice, really good with sparkling water, also popular. Or Yohannes beer saff chourolet, which is red currant and water. So sparkling water. So yeah, those are some drinks for you. Can you tell him a foodie?

Paula Barnes (23:49.727)
on us.

Paula Barnes (23:54.711)
Huh.

Never heard of that.

Yeah, yeah. wow. Okay. I'm happy. get excited because I'm a big foodie as well. So you mentioned it's a walkable city. It's a flat city. So do you need to hire a car or you can get around by public transport or what's

Keltie Maguire (24:14.914)
Yeah. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (24:22.476)
Yeah, I would recommend not hiring a car personally. you know, for someone who's here, let's say for an extended period who, perhaps does want to zip around, have a share now cars, which, you know, this one of these like car rentals where you can just like for a short period of time, enter with your phone, et cetera, but honestly, you really don't need it. we have a car because my husband gets a work vehicle and we enjoy it for our travels and going to the mountains, but I almost never take the car anywhere.

during my day-to-day life here in Munich. We have fantastic public transport. We have trams, buses, and what's called the U-Bahn, which is U for underground train. Easy to get around. You can walk many places. I would say you could walk even to the far-reaching side of the city within like an hour if you wanted. I mean, I'm being, it depends obviously, but as far as the central kind of neighborhoods you wanna check out.

for, for me personally, like I can be in the old shot downtown, if you will, the old town in about 20 minutes walking. So, and the other really great way to get around, which I love doing this with visitors and would recommend is biking around the city. you could hire a bike. Yeah. Through one of these like bike rental companies, there's a few different ones. off the top of my head, I don't have a name I can share, but with a Google search bike share bike rental Munich.

Paula Barnes (25:27.223)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (25:33.852)
because it's flat.

Paula Barnes (25:42.605)
That's right.

Keltie Maguire (25:45.388)
That can be really nice because you can usually pick up and drop it off, you know, at different spots, depending what you end up doing. And it's such a nice thing to go into the English gardens on the bike paths, to be able to check out other neighborhoods. for me, when I'm traveling, I feel like I get sort of like this interesting elevated perspective where I just see things a bit more openly when I'm on a bike. So if, if people like riding a bike, if you ride a bike, I can highly recommend doing that.

Paula Barnes (25:50.871)
Mm.

Paula Barnes (25:55.072)
And us.

Paula Barnes (26:06.368)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (26:10.851)
And to get from the airport, how would you get from the airport into the city?

Keltie Maguire (26:13.004)
Yeah.

Yeah, I'd recommend jumping on the one of the S-Bahn trains. So from the airport, first you have to take an S train and these are the only ones who arrive that arrive there. Literally when you get off your plane, you will see signs for an S. It's quite clear when pictures of like the train, you're going to take either the S1 or the S8 or again, you know, go in your Google maps, find out where you want to go. But that train will take you directly to the Hauptbahnhof, which is the central train station.

Paula Barnes (26:29.325)
Mm-hmm.

Keltie Maguire (26:44.064)
It probably takes about 40, 45 minutes. Part of it will be underground, but you'll actually, for the start, get to see a little bit of the surrounds of Munich and maybe some nice farmer fields and that sort of thing. So that would be my top recommendation. As a secondary option, there is a bus from Lufthansa, the airline, that also takes you right into the city. I'm not sure about the costing on that. My guess is it's probably gonna be a little bit more.

Paula Barnes (27:05.538)
Mm-hmm.

Keltie Maguire (27:11.384)
I would say you're looking at, I don't know the most recent price, but probably about 10 to 15 euros to get into the city with the S-Bahn with the train.

Paula Barnes (27:21.675)
And the thing that scares me the most, especially when I'm traveling on my own as a solo traveler, is it a tipping culture? That scares me. Ever since I went to the US on my own, it absolutely terrifies me every time I go to a country on my own. is it a tipping culture? Do I need to have a lot of loose change in my pocket?

Keltie Maguire (27:25.345)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (27:40.526)
It's a little bit tipping. let me explain. And actually, when you talk about change in your pocket, will say Germany and Munich has historically been very cash-based. However, that has changed a lot. I'm curious how it's been for other cities and countries, but specifically with COVID, there's been a big movement to cashless payments. I would say it's good to have a bit of cash with you, but if you had call it like 50 to 100 euros for a few days, I feel like that would be enough.

Paula Barnes (27:42.229)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (27:52.856)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (28:09.58)
depending on where you're going. Most places that take cash only will post a sign outside or you can check online if they take card or not. There are increasingly newer kind of like, you know, I'm gonna call them kind of like the hip cool businesses that I enjoy frequenting that only take card, which is also kind of a contentious thing for Germans. It's like, should we move to a economy where we're only doing digital payments?

Paula Barnes (28:09.953)
Okay. Okay.

Keltie Maguire (28:35.598)
But again, that's usually going to be stated upfront and clear. It's good to have ideally both on you. When it comes to tipping, yes, you do tip a little bit, but I would say typically not more than like, it's usually about five to 10%. And to say it's a feeling is kind of strange. I feel like I need to give a little bit more than what let's say my German husband does. Funny, you're going to laugh, but as I was...

going through your questions for this. were driving in the car the other weekend, coming back from a trip and we were running through them and I was like, okay, let's do some examples. So like if it's nine euros, you're gonna tip, you'd do 10 probably, maybe 11, maybe, but probably like that would be very generous, probably 10. If your bill is 27 euros, you might do 29. 30 again, like 30 is kind of pushing it. That's pretty generous. So you're usually gonna round up by like a couple of dollars. Obviously, you know, if you go out for dinner and it's like 88 euros, you might tip 95 or.

Paula Barnes (29:11.991)
Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (29:22.167)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (29:31.564)
somewhere in that range. I guess I'm probably stating something about five to 10%. What you do want to make sure you do is that when somebody's taking your card, it's becoming more common to have this option where it shows a percentage or where you can put it in. But more traditionally, what it is, is you tell them the amount you want them to charge. So if they come and they will have their bill fold and they'll pull it out and they'll say 27 euros, you won't say to them, can I have a euro back typically?

Paula Barnes (29:46.622)
I am.

Paula Barnes (29:51.375)
Keltie Maguire (30:01.326)
what you will or you won't say here, here's $27 and then want to tip. No, you're going to say, make it 29. Okay. So it's good to tell them when they're putting it on the card, how much do you want to charge? And this always confused me because I don't know. I'm like trying to think how it usually is, but before it's like, I'd ask for how much I want back, or I'd say like put $2 on, but instead you just state the price. Same with paying with cash. And then they'll say, thank you. And they'll take the additional money and they'll put it in there. They usually have a little billfold they carry. So.

Paula Barnes (30:07.455)
Okay. Okay.

Paula Barnes (30:20.821)
Okay. Yeah.

Paula Barnes (30:27.105)
Okay. And what do you tip with? Do you tip on every type of service or is it particular services?

Keltie Maguire (30:33.974)
Yeah, definitely restaurants, beer, it's again, it's nice to charge. If you're like up at the counter ordering a beer somewhere, some of the beer gardens, just pay as you go through. You're not going to tip on that sort of thing. Coffee shops are increasingly having a tip option. Again, it kind of depends if you're going to like a more, if you're going to like a bakery and just buying a cup of coffee, you're not going to tip. Definitely not. But if you're going to like a cool third wave coffee shop, they're probably going to have a tip option only.

Paula Barnes (30:56.801)
Okay, okay.

Keltie Maguire (31:02.538)
on their card only payment system, right? They're not going to take credit cards. yeah, and I think in terms of other services as a visitor, is there anything in particular that comes to mind that you're wondering about with tipping?

Paula Barnes (31:04.683)
Okay, okay.

Paula Barnes (31:13.163)
because I guess because just recently I was in Canada and I was with a Canadian friend and he goes, what are you tipping for? Because when I got to Starbucks, I wanted to buy a mug and I was tipping because there was an option to tip. And he's like, what are you tipping that for? I'm just a tipper to everything because I wasn't sure. But that's it.

Keltie Maguire (31:26.892)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (31:31.598)
Yeah, don't tip on that.

Yeah. Yeah. And Canada, mean, I think, I know many people earn their livelihood in tips, which I actually disagree with. think people should be paid proper wages, but yeah, you don't need to tip on gifts for sure. Not. And, I would say even, even with coffee, coffee shops, like, unless there's like a tipping option there, like, you know, or if you pay with cash, just like throw a few coins in their tip jar if they have it. But, you know, and it's also, if you're taking an Uber or a cab or something like that,

Paula Barnes (31:45.707)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (32:04.738)
which you're probably not gonna get around Munich that way, but if you do, yeah, it's nice to tip on that for sure.

Paula Barnes (32:09.033)
Okay got it I understand now. I know I've been taken advantage of before where I've tipped way too much so it's better to tip too much than not enough I guess. Hold on one second.

Keltie Maguire (32:11.79)
It's confusing, right? Even I'm often like, I don't know, was that enough? Was that too much?

Keltie Maguire (32:24.278)
Yeah. I think so.

Paula Barnes (32:35.021)
if I was planning to be there say for about three days, what would a good itinerary look like? Not as a tourist itinerary, but someone that lives there and can give you, you know, the hidden gems.

Keltie Maguire (32:36.118)
All good.

Keltie Maguire (32:43.191)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (32:47.586)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (32:51.702)
Yeah, for sure. I'm excited. So, you know, I'm going to say like, Paula, let's let's you come over to my house. I live in Maxforsstadt and we would walk over. There is this bakery. Let me, I'm going to, now I'm going to pontificate about the bakery. You got to go to this bakery folks. If you like bread and you like baked goods, Germans make fantastic baked goods. You can get pretty good quality baked goods at most bakeries, but this bakery is really renowned through Munich. They've got two locations now and it's called Julius Brantner.

Paula Barnes (32:54.594)
Mm-hmm.

Keltie Maguire (33:19.176)
and it's been featured in the likes of Monocle magazine. They do their bread for all of the Michelin star restaurants in the city. They specialize in sourdough bread and they sell their bread until it's gone and then they close for the day. you know, some days during the week they're open till call at five or 6 p.m. but other days it's like there's a sign and it's all done. So I would suggest going by Julius Brandner. Now you may or may not just grab a big loaf of sourdough but they do also have

Paula Barnes (33:27.235)
I will.

Keltie Maguire (33:47.786)
Usually a sweet treat and it's different each day So they don't have a huge variety like you're gonna find in different bakeries But yesterday they had a cardamom cinnamon bun That's their Wednesday treat and today's Thursday and they have a chocolate croissant and on on Monday on Saturday Saturday is the best I'm gonna say let's go on Saturday because it's gonna fit really well with what I'm gonna suggest we do next But they have a cardamom Buddha Bu LLE. I think it's a Swedish treat, but it's kind of like a cinnamon bomb

Paula Barnes (33:50.79)
Paula Barnes (33:56.163)
wow.

Paula Barnes (34:01.111)
Nice.

Keltie Maguire (34:15.224)
bun and it has like cardamom and saffron. It's high end. It's expensive stuff, but it is so, so good. And you'll also get a bit of the scene of like, wow, there's like 40 people waiting in line for this bakery. So let's go by Julius Brantner. Then we're going to walk like another few minutes, really close to what's called the Elizabeth Mart, the Elizabeth Market. And it's an area with a bunch of different, sort of little houses or stands. Stan doesn't really do it justice, but they call them Stundle.

Paula Barnes (34:18.243)
Nice.

Keltie Maguire (34:44.558)
little kind of, yeah, small little houses, if you will, that have everything from, there's a wine shop, you can get some vegetables, you can get a nice fresh juice. I would propose we go to Standl 20, or Stand 20, Standl 20 is the name. They have really good coffee there. So we can have a coffee, we'll sit outside, we're gonna watch all the people, there's like,

Paula Barnes (34:48.481)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (35:06.936)
Everybody loves hanging out there on Saturday mornings. It's like a great scene. In the afternoon, people will be drinking wine. There's a playground the kids are playing. It's like nice and vibey. There's a little beer garden there. From there, I'm going to propose we like take a walk downtown. We could maybe walk down Hohenzollernstrasse, which is a nice street in Schwabing, the neighboring neighborhood. And then from there, we'll walk right down Leopoldstrasse, where you're going to get a view down to the old town.

And on either side, there's like poplar trees rising up and it's like very majestic looking. So in the old town, I would propose we walk around through some of the streets. There's, you you're gonna have your like big international shops, but I'm gonna propose we cruise over to the Victualienmarkt, which I mentioned earlier that it's sort of like, again, like not, I don't wanna say a farmer's market, but maybe in an elevated sense. Maybe we wanna get another coffee. There's the Victualienmarkt Roastery, which is really good.

We can walk around downtown. We're going to go to the Marine Platz, which is the old town hall. Maybe the timing is right that I think it's like a little bit past 11 o'clock. There's two times a day where this clock comes to life. And I'll admit it sounds like it's been running for about a hundred years or however, 150 years, but there it tells a little bit the story of Munich and the history with the plague and them.

I can actually, what I can recommend doing one of the days and what we might even do this day if we can manage to catch it after our morning coffees is to get a free walking tour of Munich because they're gonna tell you more about the history of Munich and the old town. They're gonna walk you past the Victuale and Marks. So, but you know, if you're with me, I'll try and like get my facts together and tell you a little bit about this. What we can also do if there's...

Paula Barnes (36:36.46)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (36:48.782)
And there's not usually a line. This is, feel like it's a little bit of a hidden secret, but maybe, maybe the tourists know too. It's St. Peter's Kyrgyz, which is St. Peter's Church. We're going to walk up a set of stairs. You know, we got to get our climbing legs on, but you're going to have, I think you pay about three euros or so. You get the most beautiful view over the old town. It's like the best view of the old town in Munich that you're going to get downtown. So yeah, from there, I don't know, maybe we're like going to have a nice lunch somewhere. I would propose.

Paula Barnes (37:07.405)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (37:17.494)
After enjoying the city, we actually head back to my neighborhood and we pick up a pizza, either from Pretty Pizza or from Napoleon Rush. They have amazing pizzas. They have great vegan pizzas, vegetarian meat choices, really yummy. And we're gonna take it, let's assume we have good weather, to the Koenigsplatz, which again is a square where Hitler used to have his marches. And that's not why we're gonna go there. We're actually gonna go there because it is a beautiful historical square. There's stairs that you can sit on.

Paula Barnes (37:37.183)
Okay. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (37:44.12)
People are gonna be out and along the way we can pick up a bottle of Prosecco or some beers or whatever our drink of choice is because this is something I think it's especially unique for people in countries where you're not allowed to publicly drink, but here we can just go sit on the steps or sit on the grass and we can have a beverage and people are gonna be hanging out and there might be a few kids there. People might have their dogs and we're enjoying the sunshine, having our pizza and that's gonna, you we'll enjoy the sunset and then we can go over to Higgins Brewery.

Paula Barnes (37:55.639)
Yeah.

Very cool. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (38:12.148)
which is gosh the area i think might still technically be called Maxvorstadt, although it might be Neuhausen but in any case it's about a 15 minute walk from Königsplatz. It's owned by an American couple so this is not quintessentially German but what i will say is if you're tired of drinking Weisbeer or Wheatbeer or Helles which is lager which they do really well here in Germany and you're you're hankering for a delicious IPA or Sauer or another type of craft beer

Paula Barnes (38:12.247)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (38:23.256)
Mm-hmm.

Keltie Maguire (38:39.692)
Going to Higgins, you're going to find a great international crowd of people. The owners are super lovely. Paul and Jen, they're from the States and they are brewing incredible beer. And so yeah, I'd suggest we finish the night with some beer. So that's day one. Was that too much detail? you, you're here, you're here with it. Okay. You're here for it. Okay. Day two. I love Munich, but you know what? Let's do something a little bit different and let's just like leave the city for a bit. So what we can do.

Paula Barnes (38:48.673)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (38:52.201)
Awesome. Yep. Okay. No, no, I love this. I love this. Yeah

Keltie Maguire (39:06.952)
I mentioned I have a car, but let's just pretend we're two hours. We're going to jump on the train. So we're going to go to the central train station, which you can get there from various parts of the city, either with tram, with bus, with train. And we're going to take one of the S bonds out to Tegernsee. Tegernsee is a beautiful lake, see S-E-E refers to lake. It's about 45 minutes by train. might be a little bit longer, but from Munich. And from there, we're going to do a really nice hike up above the lake.

I hope that people have brought their running shoes because you might not bring it while you're traveling, but like it's good to have a little pair of hikers or some proper runners because we can do a hike up. And I think, and I'm like, I'm a little bit worried that I'm going to state the wrong hike. What we could do is maybe in the show notes, if you want, we can always put like a suggested hike, but there are going to be a couple hikes close to the train stop. I hike a lot by the way. This is one of my favorite hobbies.

Paula Barnes (39:58.591)
I love hiking. Yeah. So this is good. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (39:59.926)
Yeah, so I have all the different names in my mind, but like this is, you know, it's going to be a few hour hike. You're going to go out past a little church in the woods. eventually you're going to get to like a nice sort of ridge or peak and you're going to look down on the lake. It's super beautiful. yeah, the sun will be shining again. I've promised good weather. And when we come back down, what we're going to do is we're going to go to, there's like an old sort of cluster or, I guess cloister. that the right English word or, or sort of Abby, where the monks were. and there's a beer garden there right on the lake. So we can go have a nice beer and a meal.

Paula Barnes (40:28.363)
on us.

Keltie Maguire (40:29.612)
to enjoy after our hike. And then we can take the train back into Munich. Maybe we have a low key night. Maybe we go, I don't know, go find some food in the old town or something could be nice. Then on day three, I'm going to propose we cruise around on some bikes. yeah, renting some bikes, using one of those shared bike things. We can go through the English gardens. I would suggest we stop at the Say House beer garden, which is on a small lake there in the middle of the English gardens.

really nice beer garden. You're going to see the swans cruising by, maybe a few people out in the little paddle boats. It's not a very big lake, but it's a really nice vibe and place to check out. We can maybe ride our bikes over to the other side of the Isar River because I've been very focused on the one side. And there's a nice neighborhood called Hydehausen, which we could check out again, maybe have a nice coffee. There's a nice area there and it's called, actually called Wiener Platz.

Viennese square and they've got also some like nice outdoor seating there. I enjoyed a nice glass of Rosé in the sun recently. Yeah. So you could check out Wiener Platz and like maybe have a bite to eat there. And then I would say for a sundowner this night, we're actually going to go to a rooftop bar. There's a building, sort of a cultural center called the Gasteig. It looks like gas tag in English. And if you go to the top there, there is a really cool rooftop bar, kind of hip kind of fun. Some like

you know, outdoors seating. I don't know how to describe it, but it's just, yeah, good vibe. And you're going to like look down at different perspective over Munich as you enjoy a drink, get a bite to eat. yeah, and we'll see where the night takes us from there. So are you coming to visit Paula?

Paula Barnes (42:12.131)
Sounds good. When are we going? When are we going? I'm not paid to Germany, so I didn't know what to expect. So I'm really quite excited about hearing all about it. So the last thing I'd like to ask you is what is a hidden gem? You know, one of those ones that locals get, they guard with their life that they don't really want to let anybody know. But I'm going to ask you what's your hidden gem?

Keltie Maguire (42:18.958)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (42:30.711)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (42:34.359)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (42:38.912)
Yeah. Honestly, for me, it's this neighborhood we're in in the sense that so Maxvorstadt where we live actually is it's also referred to where the area nearby is called the Museumviertel, which is the museum quarter. And we have incredible galleries and museums for whatever your taste in art or culture are. So I would say tourists probably come through for that. And I will say if you're here on a Sunday, you can go to any of these establishments for one euro. It's, you know, virtually free admits.

admittance and admission. But a lot of people don't really like go beyond that museum's virtual area. So I love the vibe of like checking out this area because it's actually where one of the big universities is the Technical University of Munich. And I really enjoy the young vibe. My husband and I always you know, we kind of go out and we're like, my goodness, these people could be our children. And yet they keep us young and they keep us attuned to like, what are the kids wearing these days and actually

Paula Barnes (43:23.831)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (43:33.002)
one of the art galleries called the Alta Pinochotec, the old Pinochotec and there are three different Pinochotec galleries here. But on a nice day there is like everybody milling about playing like spike ball, volleyball, hanging out. They've got their dogs, they're drinking beers, they're having picnics. And so I would say like hanging out in the Pinochotec grounds is like a very cool local thing to do. And there's a kind of funny little bar just across the street from there. And it's in

and outside of it's also a beer garden, an old kind of battered graffiti at school bus is called the Mina teal. And I would say like, that could be kind of a cool place to hang out and grab a drink. And actually on that note, I will also shout out a cool bar. gosh. there's also another area that you could check out, sort of on the outskirts of the old town and it's a bar in a boat. It's, and the boat is not on the water. So the boat is, it's just like basically suspended above the street. it's kind of hard to describe. It's called the Alta Uting is the name of this boat and

Paula Barnes (44:47.093)
Okay.

Keltie Maguire (44:55.884)
They're seating up above it. have like, again, kind of a cool view. It's more, a little bit more industrial in that neighborhood. mean, people live there as well. It's not going to be the kind of beautiful view. You might have some other places, but it's a great place for a sunset. And they also have like food stands. So you can go and like order a wood fire pizza or you could go get a kebab or something like that. So again, these are like, if you want to kind of feel, I don't want to say sceny cause it's very laid back, but it's like, these are where local people go hang out and have drinks drinks on the weekend. so yeah, those could be a couple of cool areas to check out.

Paula Barnes (45:09.431)
Nah.

Paula Barnes (45:21.955)
I love that.

I love that, I love that. Is there anything else that you'd like to add or any tips that you'd like to add before we go?

Keltie Maguire (45:30.934)
Yeah, yeah. What I will say about Munich as someone who had visited the city a couple of times before moving here is I liked it upon before moving here. You might say it's kind of funny to move somewhere you don't love but like that's what I'm about to say next. I didn't love it as in it didn't really capture me because what I will say about Munich is I found it very beautiful and

perhaps feeling a little bit generic. We've got these beautiful red tiled roofs, it's a lovely city, there's some nice architecture, but it didn't capture my imagination in the way that somewhere like Berlin, which felt really gritty and it had this deep history and it's super diverse and interesting. It didn't feel that way to me, but I will say Munich, at least for me, felt like a slow burn. And moving here, living here, experiencing the city as locals, it is so wonderful because it feels...

It very much feels oriented around a lifestyle that is not, it's not just about work. It's about play. It's about enjoyment. It's they say Munich is a village. There's like a saying about that. And it's, it feels like the best of both a big city and a small town. there is something interesting and I haven't mentioned these churches yet, but they're called the frown and it's actually one church. It's called the frown and Kirche, but there are two towers and they are,

You will see them on tourist items. You will see them if you get up above the city. The reason why is nothing is allowed to be built higher than the Frau and Kirche, these two towers. And it's actually quite a beautiful church. I believe it's Gothic in style. It's not extraordinarily ornate, but it's worth stepping into. in the old town. They have what's referred to as an onion tower. Sorry, an onion, Zwiebel term they call it. Pardon me, any Germans listening, let me know how I did today.

an onion tower effectively, but it's like the kind of rounded steeple with a point, like quite bulbous and rounded. It looks like an onion. This is why they call it this. There's two of them. This church, because nothing can be built higher than it, the city has a very low profile and it gives it like a really nice kind of homey feel as opposed to being like you're locked in in this big city. So I would just say for people visiting, like don't...

Paula Barnes (47:37.302)
Okay.

Paula Barnes (47:43.33)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (47:48.022)
It's not that there aren't things to enjoy and learn about like you would as a tourist in any other city, but it's really more about enjoyment. It's more about like cruise around, have a drink in a beer garden, sit and have a coffee. Like just kind of take it in, go for a run along the Yser river. It's a very active city. It's a young city. So yeah. And we just very cool. Just elected our first first ever green mayor in the city, which is really cool. And he's only about 35. He is queer. It's just, it feels like a really,

positive step forward for city that's going to bring like a lot more interest in diversity and importance on conserving our green spaces, which are so beautiful here.

Paula Barnes (48:27.427)
Yeah, I'm excited to hear what the future holds for it. It'd be interesting to see what in a few years time what he's done and I'm assuming it's a he. yeah, well to be fair, I'd really like to go and see now what it's like. not been, so I'm really, I've got to put it on my bucket list for sure now. You've definitely motivated me. Thank you so much for taking the time to come in and speak about.

Keltie Maguire (48:32.323)
Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (48:37.518)
Yeah, exactly. Yep. Yeah.

Keltie Maguire (48:43.82)
Yeah, yeah.

Keltie Maguire (48:48.62)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, very cool.

Paula Barnes (48:56.355)
Munich has you've really opened my eyes to what I don't know it's never been in one of those places it has always been on my list of places I want to go but it was just for the gardens that sorry the Christmas markets but now I want to go in other seasons as well and really explore yeah excellent thank you so much Keldon for coming on and

Keltie Maguire (49:14.904)
Yeah, come in the summer, come in the spring. Yeah.

Thank you so much for coming on and I will put all the information in the show notes. So anyone who wants to listen to your podcast or get in touch with you, it'll all be there. So yeah, thank you. Thanks very much. Bye. Okay