Grace:
August 18
So we had arrived in Munich, the land of beer and sausages! We were pretty tired but we had to make it to our hostel. We took a train to central Munich. On the train, we met a guy from Botswana. He was very pleased that Matt could speak to him intelligently about Botswana. Matt has covered it for work occasionally. He also settled (sort of) a dispute Matt and his officemates have had over a bit of Botswanan grammar. (I may have just violated the grammar rule in the previous sentence, I don't remember exactly how it works.) Matt: Yes, you have. The correct adjective is Motswana grammar.
The place where we stayed in Munich was a university dorm room on the northern edge of the center of town. We got a room for three, which included access to the dorm kitchens. We checked in and found that there was no electricity in our room (the man who checked us in said, ‘Your room is currentless!’). We had a space of 4 hours in which to nap before we were scheduled to meet Keith at the central train station, during which we tried to nap. Unfortunately, the electricians kept knocking on our door to come in a fix the electricity. So I bet we got about 2 hours of uninterupted sleep in that time. Whatever, it was blissful and we slept like the dead.
Around lunchtime it was time to meet Keith, so we took a long walk down to the central station (passing by the 'red light' district; one shop was called, simply, "Boobs") and Keith was waiting for us. We were all hungry so we stopped for a lunch of bagel sandwiches eaten at outdoor cafe seating. Then we all walked back to the dorm to drop off Keith's stuff.
We decided to explore our area of town which included the park where they held the 1972 Olympic games. It's a large park with a high hill where you can see all over Munich. Of course, we had to go the top, but there was a lovely view. As we were climbing up we heard this music ringing around the park. We thought it was from a beer garden or something. But then we realised... it was Madonna music! She was doing a soundcheck for the concert she was doing in Munich that night at the old Olympic stadium. We climbed down the hill (from which we could also see the tallest reinforced concrete structure in Europe, as Matt informed us) and strolled through the park a bit, enjoying the Olympic architecture. There were all these webs of metal cording suspended above the walkways hung with glass which made it all look like bubbles. Very interesting effect, and still very impressive, considering it was built more than 30 years ago. We wandered over to the BMW headquarters, which is located in Munich. They have a big building called BMW Welt (BMW World), sort of like a museum where you can look at all the cars and motorcycles up close. It was cool. By then we were pretty hungry. We decided to go by a grocery store and pick up some foods for dinner, then go back up the hill which had a good view of the Olympic stadium and listen to Madonna's concert.
We had a lovely picnic camped out on the hill. Everyone else in Munich apparently had the same idea we had and soon the whole lawn was covered with people. Unfortunately we only stayed for the opening act because we finished eating, it was getting cold and the bugs were becoming too much to handle (bees love Keith), plus none of us like Madonna that much. So we went back to our dorm, rested up a bit, then headed down to a local bar to sit outside and enjoy a refreshing weissbier.
August 19
On our first full day in Munich, we made ourselves a very hearty breakfast of egg, sausages and bread. In the morning we toodled around the touristy sites, such as the city square, Marienplatz, containing a glockenspiel. Then we saw a series of three churches, Frauenkirch, Michaelskirch and Peterskirch.
Sausage!
Us in front of the Glockenspiel. Nice sunglasses.
I do not know why someone has defaced (?) this painting?
Keith in front of a church.
Now, the last church, Peterskirch, had a tower you could climb so...
After Peterskirch, we were getting hungry. We had packed sandwiches stuffed full of lovely German cold cuts and flavorful German mustard (for Matt PB&J). We went to the outdoor market called Viktualienmarkt and bought a bit of fruit to supplement lunch. Also at the market, we went to the honighaus--honey house. Germans love honey and you can get a million different kinds. I bought a little sampler pack of honeys harvested from different flower pollen sources. They all had a distinct flavor and texture.
After sitting on a stoop and eating our lunch, we decided to go to a museum called Deutchemuseum, a science themed museum, the biggest one in Europe, and probably the biggest one we've ever been to. I was still feeling a bit behind on sleep so after wandering around a bit, I sat down in a massage chair in the lobby for a few minutes and almost nodded off. We stayed at the museum until it closed, then decided to get a drink at a nearby cafe to wake up a bit, quite unsuccessfully, but it was nice to sit down.
There are fake mines in the museum. They go for miles it seems, but almost all the signs are in German...
There are also ships. And planes.
After that we decided to have a mellow night, recover a bit more and relax. We went to the grocery store and cooked dinner in. We had spaetzel, a kind of potato/flour noodle, boiled and sprinkled generously with cheese; cheese tortellinni with a pre-made sauce; and waffles with strawberries and cream for dessert. Afterwards we went back to the local pub with outdoor seating and enjoyed another nice German brew.
August 20
The next day we went to a museum called the Residenz, which was the residence of the kings of Bavaria for hundreds of years. It was huge and very, very elaborately decorated. The tour went through a very long series of fancy rooms, each with different names and purposes: Empress' Anteroom, Empress' Second Anteroom, Empress' Reception Room, Empress' Throne Room, Empress' Parlour, Empress' Sitting Room, Empress' Bedroom, Empress' Dining Room. Emperor's Dining Room, Emperor's Bedroom, Emperor's Sitting Room, Emperor's Parlour, Emperor's Throne Room, Emperor's Reception Room, Emperor's Second Anteroom, Emperor's Anteroom. And so on. They built a new wing of the place for when the Pope visited. It was splendiferous. After a morning checking these things out, we went to a nearby garden to have our lunch.
There was a shell grotto, with this sculpture made from shells.
At lunch we discussed whether or not to see the Residenz's treasury, which was supposed to hold the nation's treasures. We thought this would mean crown jewels and things like that. Matt and Keith didn't want to go, but I did. It turned out to be so cool, everyone liked it. Just check out this jewel encrusted bear with a shotgun!
Afterwards, we went to a museum of Bavaria. Bavaria now refers a region of Germany, but it used to be an autonomous state ruled by kings. This museum covered the whole history of Bavaria, especially the capital of Munich. There were exhibits on modern art, models of the city, Nazi art and, most bizzarrley, an exhibit on carnival entertainment.
Matt:
It was an exhibit on carnival attractions, and puppets. There is a proud puppet heritage in Bavaria. Or something. It's a creepy, creepy exhibition. Things start off acceptably - there are lots of puppets, some creepy, but some not. Then, you get to the carnival ride section and there are motion sensors that seem to turn the attractions on when you walk by. The creepiest was in the very back corner. There was a room full of robotic fortune tellers, like from the movie Big. And behind the glass of one booth was nothing but a severed head, the gore still hanging off the bottom. When you get close, suddenly the head activates and starts talking fast in German and spitting blood. Not exactly our kind of attraction.
After the museum, we all headed out to Hofbrahaus, the most famous of beer halls, to meet some of Keith's friends. No trip to Munich is complete without a visit, or so they say. It used to be a royal brewery, but it was opened to the public in the 19th century. Hitler first gained notoriety at a meeting there (yikes). Anyway, it was the stereotype of Germany. Beer served in one liter glass steins. Waitresses dressed in traditional costume (think the logo to St. Pauli's beer). Oompah bands. We spent the night there with Keith's friends, then walked home.
August 21
Our last full day in Munich. We started the day off with a walk out to the Englischergarten (English Garden), a gigantic park in Munich. This was a more low-key way to start the day off - a park is a park, whether in London, Munich or Iowa City - but I wanted to see the famour Englishergarten surfers. I had heard that there is a river running through the park, and the way it goes under a bridge and hits the water somehow creates a permanent wave, that is exploited by surfers. The problem was, I didn't really know if anyone would be out today. So we wandered south through the park, passing by the Chinese tea house, nude sunbathers, a Japanese noodle shop and some other sights, before we found the permanent wave.
It was exactly that. A permanent wave. There were some 10 surfers all lined up, each taking turns on the wave. As soon as one slipped, the next would leap of the banks and onto the wave. I've never seen surfers in action. Sometimes on beaches I've seen them floating out on the sea, but they never seem to get much action. These guys, on the other hand, were standing and surfing from the get-go.
We ate lunch downstream from the surfers, out on the grass. The stream was very fast moving and had a powerful current, but plenty of people seemed to like swimming in it. One guy and his girlfriend would zip by us every twenty minutes or so, floating down the river, getting out and the walking back to be borne by the current again. Another group of guys liked to try and swim from one side of the river to the other. This is not as easy as it seems, and they would have to swim at a 45% angle just to keep themselves from being swept rapidly downstream. Finally, there were two other guys having a go, but they didn't seem to know what they were in for. The two of them were clutching a rope that hung off the side, straining with every muscle to hoist themselves out of the water. The second guy really had a tough time extricating himself and almost lost his swimtrunks to the river.
After lunch we headed over to an art Museum called Alte Pinakothek. It was an amazing museum of paintings from the 15-18th century. We spent all afternoon slowly walking the halls. I've never seen so many paintings of hunting dogs attacking animals or people being cast into hell. But it was a really, really good museum, we all agreed.
After Alte Pinakothek, we decided to head down to Augustinerskeller, another beer garden we had heard good things about. One the way we passed through Konigsplatz, site of many famous Nazi demonstrations - I think the book burnings were held here. Anyway, they have let the place become grown over with grass, prompting some to argue its a metaphor for Germany's failure to 'deal' with its history. Maybe. But it's a pretty complicated history, and I think they do alright. They'll just have to wait a generation or two I think before they can really move on. There's no way around that. Maybe longer. How long did it take for the American south to get over the loss of the civil war and the end of slavery?
The Augustinerskeller was everything I am looking for in a beer garden. A huge open space covered in shady trees. It's a family friendly place - there's even a playground. You sit down and a waitress comes by. We ask for three different kinds of beers - I want the house beer, Keith wants a dark wheat beer and Grace wants a half-liter instead of the full liter stein. The waitress responds in broken english - "only one beer, only one size." So, we say, "OK, zvei bier (three beers!)" We also get three pretzels. She comes back with three giant beer steins and we drink the beers while the place fills up.
We end the night back at the dorm. We cook what food we have left over, and we watch the world championships on TV. They're going on in Berlin at the time. We don't understand the language, but we understand the races.
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