4-9-09 Munich

Today was our day in Munich proper. We had to check out of the hostel, so we put our bags in a locker at the train station so as not to have to carry them all over the city. We bought a 24 hour partner ticket for the public transit system (which covers the trains, trams, buses, and subway) for 9€. I’m starting to get used to all the German speaking around us – it is by this time enticing me to learn it better.

We rode the U-Bahn for the first time – our coach was covered in oldschool wooden paneling:

We had to check out the famous glockenspiel, another clock that has a puppet show at certain times of the day, the best part of which is the jousting knights:

I thought it might be funny to buy a sweater from H&M in Europe, and there were three on a single street, so we went in and checked them out. Turns out they are very seasonal, so it is impossible to buy a sweater in spring time. No worries, I suppose. Better to save the money anyhow.

Natasha thought she had lost her glasses, so we went and bought a pair for around 15€:

We found her old pair later, in the locker with our bags at the train station. At least she has a backup now.

Finding places to eat is a real chore in Europe if you aren’t rich. You can eat cheaply if you have access to a kitchen and know how and what to cook (unfortunately not us) by buying from markets and grocers, but we are basically stuck trying to find fast food and restaurants. Since we came all this way to Europe it seems a shame to eat in places like McDonalds, so we make the task even harder by avoiding some of the easiest, cheapest food to come by.

One great solution to the problem is to find a buffet. We happened to find one on the 5th floor of the Kaupthof (shopping mall) on Marienplatz. These are really more like the cafeterias in universities than buffet restaurants; you grab a tray, pile up everything you want, and then pay for it at a cashier. While we were eating, some guy won a huge prize at one of the slot machines behind us.

We saw a toy store on the 3^rd floor on our way down. In there we found their Lego section, which sported a life-size Lego Darth Vader and Bobba Fett.

After this we found the Muji store. Muji is a Japanese company that makes efficient and eco-friendly products. They don’t have a store in the U.S. yet, although there are plans for just one – in New York City. We bought a few things here – an A5 sized notebook and a cool watch for Natasha, and I bought a half-size automatic pencil made of stainless steel, which I have been making notes with in my Moleskine ever since. Most of the narration of the journey from this point on is made thanks to notes taken this way.

We decided to get drinks at a Starbucks, to see if there were any European quirks to them. There weren’t any, so far as we could tell. I realized how much I had missed mochas – most places don’t sell them here. I’ve noticed that caffeine doesn’t seem to affect me as much here; maybe it is because of all the exercise I’m getting.

We made the mandatory stop by the English Gardens to see the world’s second largest biergarten. We checked out the pagoda and the hundreds of people drinking. Somewhere in the park is a nude sunbathing area, which was supposed to be labeled on the map as FKK (Free Body Culture), but we didn’t see these symbols on any of the maps, and we weren’t about to wander over several square miles just to see some naked old people.

We had some time left before our train left, so we tried to hit up the Alte Pinakotek, which our outdated guidebook priced at 4€ a ticket – only to find that the price had jumped to 9€ a ticket in just 2 years, and we would also be forced to spend 2€ to lock up our bags. This just wasn’t in the budget, unfortunately.

We made our way to the next stop, the Löwenbrau Biergarten. Löwenbrau is a beer from Munich that we used to drink back in high school whenever we could get our hands on it. I just had to stop by their biergarten to connect with a small piece of my past. One of the best things about this garten is that it isn’t advertised well, and it isn’t on any of the tourist maps, so it is relatively slow compared to the English Gardens and the like. Our camera died just after getting one last shot of me with my beer and massive pretzel. I wanted to get a shot of Natasha drinking her 0,5L beer, to prove that she actually did it, but, alas, no. Another great thing about this place is that it is only one U-Bahn stop from the train station. 

 

Speaking of the train station, we saw there what I think is the most saccharine thing ever – a Smarties flavored ice cream popsicle. Ugh.

We were pretty much done with Munich at this point. I definitely wanted more time in this city. You can do a walking tour of the city’s 3^rd Reich history, there are more castles to see out in Schwangau, and we would want to see the Romantic Road if we could. I wouldn’t even mind living here, in one of the smaller towns like Füssen or Dachau, since you can be downtown via train in less than an hour. The city has a great atmosphere and an excellent mix of the old and the new. The infrastructure was great (something I’m coming to appreciate more and more as time goes by). Marienplatz, the city center, is a bit touristy, but there is a lot more to do and see here.