Munich 2

I really liked Munich. It was a vibrant city that was very walkable and easy to traverse. It is beautiful and modern (though there is enough of the historic city to keep me happy) with some lovely quaint corners and delicious soft pretzels. I have never seen such glisteningly clean and perfectly maintained metro stations. Incredible. Not only that, but people were friendly. I wasn't expecting meanness, I was just pleasantly surprised by how kind everyone was. For instance, on three separate occasions, strangers stopped and asked me if they could help! (I had my map out and looked confused. Typical for me.) No one has ever asked me that in Prague.

The best was when I was offered a ride to the city (by the people in the company, not randos), and instead of taking me into Munich they drove to the convention center on the outskirts of the city and parked and said "here we are." There was a U-bahn station there, but I was a little frantic because I was meeting my friends for breakfast in the city center and I was now farther from my destination than I had been in the little town of Poing. I essentially ran to the station and took the U-bahn a few stops and then planned to take an S-bahn which would deposit me directly underneath the cafe. But the S-bahn only goes every twenty minutes, and I had just missed the one I needed. I suppose I looked rather crestfallen since I was going to be thirty minutes late and I hate that. A nice man asked me something in German and I said "I don't speak German" and he said, "Oh, I'm Scottish anyway. Can I help you?" And he helped me figure out a different route using the U-bahn so I got to breakfast just a little late instead of very. How nice.

So after my visit to Dachau I got back to Munich in the late afternoon. I went walking to the English Garden since my friends had recommended it and I thought some beautiful nature would be a good pick-me-up after the concentration camp.

I walked from Marienplatz by the Residenz Palace and the Hofgarten through this gate and then onwards. I like the wide streets and I have never seen so many shining cars.

The garden is huge and gorgeous. It is right by one of the two universities in Munich, so when the weather is warm the students go to the garden and picnic and sunbathe and drink beer. It was awfully cold when I was there but there were still people jogging and strolling with strollers and walking with dogs. It was nice to see people jogging. I get really funny looks when I run in the Czech Republic.

There were lots of geese, too.

There is a Chinese pagoda in the middle of the garden which apparently is a rollicking good beer garden.

It was cold, but there were still people sitting there with their huge beer steins. Made me sad I wasn't in Munich for the summer or something. Must be a fun place with all of the outdoor beer gardens and parks.

Of course I got lost trying to leave the garden, but a nice woman on a bicycle stopped and helped me. I walked back to Marienplatz past this beautiful museum.

Just past the museum was a bridge over the river. There were some people gathered with cameras so I peeked over the edge and saw people surfing. In the cold water. As cars whizzed by above them. What?

My German friends told me that it is a very popular spot in the summer and that people have been surfing there for years. I took a video to share the weirdness.

Here are some of my Munich friends at the Tambosi Cafe, a beautiful old place by the Hofgarten.

Lesson of the day: Traveling should be fun.

I had a really lovely time in Munich. I tried to be relaxed about it and emulate the travel behavior of the people in the picture above. I lived with them in Venice for a semester and we travelled together. I remember our weekend in Stockholm particularly. Someone found a ridiculously cheap flight so we all bought tickets. The first day we were there I was surprised at the laid back attitudes of the Germans. They weren't rushing from spot to spot, palace to palace, monument to monument. They didn't have a bunch of maps and lists of places they MUST see. They spent a lot of time in a cozy cafe. And they were enjoying themselves so much! No stress about missing things or scheduling tours or planning the day. After I noticed this I tried to be more like them. And I had a wonderful time in Stockholm. I got to see plenty of the city but I also had such a great time in that tiny cafe.

I understand why we (Americans) can be in such a rush to see everything. After you have bought an expensive ticket and spent days on an airplane and you only have a little time in Europe, of course we are a bit uptight! It is not a quick trip compared to flying from Italy to Stockholm, or taking a train to Germany or whatever. And it may be our only chance to see Sweden or France or Belgium!

But--there is a balance here. I don't think that you should spend all your visit in a cafe or in a hotel room. Take advantage of your time. But don't waste your trip worrying about taking advantage of your time!

So in Munich I saw quite a lot and I didn't beat myself up for getting some coffee and sitting in a cafe for an hour. I got up at a decent hour instead of taking the first train into the city, and if I didn't want to see something that is a "must-see" then I didn't. And it was great.

I would like to go back to Munich. And not just for the live production of "Ben-Hur" in the Olympic Stadium. Yes. There were posters and brochures all over the city. I didn't think that a live Ben Hur was possible...it is a traveling show hitting cities with big outdoor stadiums.

I liked Munich so much that when this weekend was unexpectedly free I headed to Berlin to experience another German city. More on that later.