The "SF ferry building on steroids" leads to a great picnic

Quickly, it was time for us to take our departure from Munich. We had grown fond of the parks, plazas, and beer gardens, but the Czech Republic was calling. Our last stop in Munich, en route to the train station, was one we were all excited for: the Viktualienmarkt, a permanent farmer's market that had a wide range of produce and German specialties. There, huge rows of delicious foods beckoned to us.

There was the olive seller, who had small buckets filled to the brim with 30+ different types of olives.

There was the fruit juicer, who had very fresh looking liquids of all types. We were lured to try the special, which had orange juice, passionfruit, and kiwi. Very tasty!

And, among others, there was a cheesemonger, who had done their work sourcing cheeses from all around Europe.

We soon began to create quite the little stockpile for our lunch. We would eat the picnic in sections, over the course of the six hours in which we were traveling via train to Prague.

The pastry bags brought, top to bottom, Quarktasche (cheese Danish), Apfel Strudel (apple strudel), Johannisbeer-Streusel-Taler (tart berry coffee cake-like bear claw), and a Schinkel-Kase croissant (ham and cheese croissant). Winners here were the johannisbeer, which had a tart, small red berry that was excellent when surrounded by crumbly and sweet coffee cake. Would've been even better with a cup of coffee. The apple strudel was also quite good, striking a great balance of pastry, apple, and cinnamon.

Then came the olive selections. On top, wrinkly kalamata olives, in the middle, cheese-stuffed mini squash, on the bottom, green olives stuffed with orange zest and soaked in herbs and garlic. The green olives were a taste sensation, so many conflicting flavors all at once. Yet it worked. The squash were equally odd and equally delightful. The squash was quite tart and also very fresh, and the cheese mellowed both helpfully.

Next was bread and cheese. We had a loaf of sesame fluffy flatbread, goat cheese with figs, and soft stinky cheese. All were good. The goat cheese was repeatedly likened to cheesecake, a rich and decadent bite. Cheesecake! The stinky cheese was excellent when muted by the flatbread (and perhaps a sausage).

The final part of the meal was sausage. We had weisswurst, cured salami pate, long spicy sausage, and chunky mild sausage. The weisswurst continued to be incredibly good. The others, alas, were only ok, backing away from having quite enough flavor.

And with that, seven hours later, we finished our picnic in our hotel in Prague.