Munich

[Note - this was written a few days ago, but I haven't been able to get online recently... so I'm way past Munich already] :-)

Arriving in Munich, it occurred to me that I hadn't been in a big European city for quite some time. Since Paris, every place I've gone has been a relatively small place. At these smaller cities, the train comes up along side the station; stops; lets people out & in; and then keeps on going in the same direction.

Munich's train station is big - 30+ tracks, and each track ends inside the building. There's a sea of people coming & going everywhere. Some running to meet their train. A few walking back after missing their train, and everyone else going on their way. I was excited to be back in a big city, and thrilled to be in Germany (I had really been looking forward to this part of the trip)

I had not booked any place to stay, so I set out in search of lodging. The first place I went to was honest with me - they told me they were a party hostel. Not wanting to be kept up until the wee hours, I went to another place. They were full. But, the 3rd time was the charm - I found a place not too far away that had an open bed.

With only a few days, I set out right away. I headed to the city center - a place called Marienplatz. A lot's going on there - there's the New Town Hall, which has magnificant architecture. After checking that out for a while, it was time to head to Virtalienmarkt. Under the huge Maypole there is different vendors selling different produce & food, and most importantly - a beer garden. I grabbed my first liter, and an enormous pretzl & went to town.

After finishing that, I noticed someone reading a book written in English - so I decided to go over to talk. After she & I chatted for a while, we decided to head over to Hofbrauhaus. It's an enormous beer garden that has become quite a tourist destination. Everywhere people are hoisting huge glasses of beer, and eating things like pork knuckles, sausages, etc... It also has an important history - it's where Hitler gave one of his first public speaches.

The next morning was the somber portion of my Munich stay. I visited the concentration camp at Dachau. As I did with Normandy, I decided to go with a tour group in order to get the most details about the history. It was definitely worth it - I got much more out of the visit than if I had gone there & walked around alone. The stories of what happend there are unimaginable. We were able to visit a dormitory, a prision block, and administrative block, and finally the gas chamber & creamatorium. After that, I also visited 3 memorial structures that have also been built on the compound.

Later that afternoon, I visited the English Garden in Munich. This was a big change of pace from the morning. The garden is huge, and full of people having fun. There's a stream that flows through the park, and goes over a small waterfall. People were jumping in & swimming around. I desperately wanted to join, but didn't have a swimming suit & had my camera with me. So, the best I could do was to soak my feet - it was very cold! (Lake Superior cold, for the Minnesotans reading this)

I continued to wander through the park, and came across the beer garden. Hooray! And, I ran into a guy that was on the tour during the morning. So, we sat down & had a beer. The beer garden felt just like Oktoberfest (on a smaller scale). People in leiderhosen, an Um-pah band, lots of beer, and lots of fun. We even saw a Beer Bike - a moving bar, where 8 people sit around on stools & peddle. The peddling powers the thing, and those 8 people get driven around while they drink. Definitely have to try that some time!

Oh, and there's a 'clothing optional' portion of the park. As was explained on an episode of Seinfeld once, there's 'good naked', and 'bad naked'. Most of the park was populated by the latter. :-( I walked through that area quickly.

After the beer garden, we headed up to a restaurant that my friend Brian recommended (Weyprechthof). We ate way too much, and drank another liter there. It was really good.

Today was more fun. I headed to a modern art museum, where I got to see some works by Salvador Dali, and some exhibits on 'old' stuff from the 1970s. They had some old school computers, including some of the first laptops.

After the museum, it was back to the English Garden! I love that place. I made my way to the stream again. After sitting around for a while, I couldn't resist. I took my shirt off, and emptied my pockets & climbed in. It was refreshing for a few seconds, and then I lost my breath. It was really cold! I couldn't believe people were playing around in it - I could only handle a minute or so. (On a side note - I firmly believe that my time in Singapore has softened my tolerance to cold... I'll have to spend a lot of time outside this winter, to toughen myself back up)

Well, now I'm down in Fussen, Germany. I discovered on the way down that the train schedules can, indeed, change without notice. The connection that I was supposed to take (according to my rail schedule) doesn't exist. Oh well, I just had to take 2 other connections, which only delayed me by an hour. At least I didn't get stranded at some station. Tomorrow I see the castles of Howenschwangau and Neuschwanstein - I have reservations for the morning (since it's tourist season), so it's good that I made it here tonight. :-)