Another day, another blister....

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December 28, 2008

This morning when we awoke, we were glad we had decided to sleep in until 8AM. After all of the walking these past few days, we were a little sore. We didn't think that today would involve too much walking because we had plans for museums. In looking at the guidebooks before we left the hotel, I saw that “The Big Easy” offered a breakfast menu from 10-5 on Sundays, complete with jazz music, as any good New Orleans-themed restaurant has. New Orleans-themed restaurant in Munich? Of course we had to check it out. Sadly, it was a bit out of the way for the museums, but we decided to try for it anyway. We walked all the way out there only to find out one of the critical pieces of information left out of the guidebooks - The Big Easy offers a breakfast brunch, not just breakfast, and the cost was 17.50E. “17.50E for breakfast?!? No way!!” Matthew also agreed it was a bit spendy, so we decided to head to the museums. I wanted to visit a cemetery on our way, but Matthew left his hat in the hotel this morning, so he was rather cold. It was agreed at this point that we should make it an easy day, not walking as much because we were sore and starting to blister and it was cold and blustery. Once we returned to the hotel room this evening I checked the pedometer - just over 30,000 steps today. I guess we didn't really reach our goal of “take it easy.”

In reading about the museums, most people said that on Sundays the museums were free or 1E, which was why I agreed to go. I refuse to pay more than $5 to see art (although I did have to promise that if I ever make it to Paris that I will pay the 10E fee to see the Louvre, but I think that will be worth it). I don't think that museums should be so expensive. There should be some sort of minimal tax so that everyone supports a museum that is then free or nearly free and open to the public. (Of course I think this was the concept behind the Oregon Zoo's tax. I was shocked to see how much we're paying in taxes for the Oregon Zoo and then people pay huge entrance or membership fees on top of that - ridiculous!) Anyway, the first museum we stopped in was the Neue Pinakothek, which holds art from the 18th & 19th centuries. We waited for our glasses to defog and for our hands to warm up and then stood in line, but by the time we got close enough to read a sign and see that Sunday admission was now 5E (inflation!), we decided it wasn't worth it. The one museum that I really wanted to see was the Pinakothek der Moderne, which holds modern art. That one was still 1E (as long as you didn't want to see their one temporary, special exhibit), so we paid our fee and went inside. It was filled with interesting things, like chairs and computers and kitchen goods and shoes, all from the end of the 19th century up to now. Some of the cars and motorcycles were interesting to see, and there was a whole floor devoted to paintings (and a few sculptures), built in a kind of maze pattern from one room to the next. Some of the painters on display were not to my taste (with paintings that looked like a third grade art room or the room featuring some guy who loved mutilation), but some were good. There was a room with Picasso, and there was one Dali painting that I had never seen before but liked (since I am a bit partial to Dali). The museum also had a temporary exhibit by an Israeli artist, more historical/Holocaust-museum-ish style, about the early history of the State of Israel.

On the way out of the museum we took advantage of the fact that they didn't charge for the restrooms. Most places in Europe charge a nominal fee for using the restroom, which is probably a good idea because the bathrooms stay cleaner, but being that I am a cheapskate I don't like to have to pay. Thankfully, with all of our walking around outside I think all bodily functions stay completely frozen. Anyway, as we were using the facilities, which were designed to look very chic and modern to match the rest of the building/exhibits, I discovered that some things transcend language barriers. A woman said, in German, something to the effect of “how do these darn sinks work?” They were a bit on the pretty-but-not-commonsensical side of design. I turned around, punched the faucet on, smiled and walked out. But maybe I just scared the woman who probably thought that her mutterings under her breath would not be heard by the crazy American.

From the museum we planned to go to the Hofbrauhaus, since most of what I read said “yes, it's touristy now, but it's a Munich experience that everyone must have.” After taking one step inside the door, we decided it was an experience that we could live without. There are probably better ways to get a pretzel and beer without getting trampled to death by mobs of people let loose from tour buses on to hapless wait staff. Walking outside of Hofbrauhaus, the Hard Rock Cafe Munich tries to reach out and suck in the drunken tourists with their promise of globalized “love one, love all in alcohol.” Since we hadn't had anything to drink we avoided this pitfall. Next to the Hard Rock Cafe was the San Fransisco Coffee Company. At that point we realized that this entire block was one we could live without, and we started walking back toward the Viktualienmarkt. We walked away from Maximillianstrasse, which we had been down earlier in our search for Hofbrauhaus. Maximillianstrasse was the street where all the wealthy people come on their vacation to Munich. Stores with names like Jimmy Choo, Hugo Boss, Versace, and others lined the road, putting places like Louis Vuitton on the Marienplatz to shame. This was the only road where I saw women in their 30s wearing furs and women in their 70s trying to look like women in their 30s, and everyone above 40 had either a long-haired dog to match their fur coat or a perfectly-coiffed child complete with nanny ensemble en tow. A few hapless tourists were like me - middle class, way out of our element, and wondering how in the heck we stumbled onto this street and when some security guard would find us and kick us out. When I commented under my breath to Matthew that this street was so expensive I couldn't even afford the air to breath, he magnanimously said “Go ahead and splurge. Breath the air.” Thanks.

Back on Planet Earth, we decided to go to Starbucks. I wanted to try it once while we were here (to test my theory that the reason the coffee is so much better here is because they use whole milk), and there are few things open on Sunday but Starbucks is one of those things, so it seemed like a good time. I had a venti gingerbread latte (I can't remember the German word for gingerbread, but I figured it out while in the store - the one “holiday special” drink that is the same here as in the US), Matthew had a regular latte, and we sat at a corner table enjoying our drinks (when was the last time I had whipped cream on a coffee? Yum!), getting warm, and reading. A few minutes into coffee bliss a tour group arrived, literally filling every inch of space in the Starbucks with their bodies and noise. The group seemed comprised of Americans and Brits, mostly college age, with a 20-something guide. Three noisy students decided to talk at a table right next to us while waiting for their compadres to order beverages. It was at this time that I made a discovery that all college kids seem to have at least one conversation in common, no matter how different they try to be. A girl from the US, going to school in Brighton, was telling her friends how she “had a serious caffeine addiction” but now she's “totally off it” because it's so expensive in Europe. She drinks tea now, but is a “tea snob” because her friends from Japan have shown her what “real tea” is and she wouldn't dream of drinking anything else. This girl also used friends' names as if they were of significance to the others who were listening, when it was obvious through the conversation that the other participants had no idea who these random names were. I sat listening to everything, thinking that I have heard that same conversation almost word for word countless times, every time I am around end of high school/college people. Do they have a script? Is it a Rove-ian ear piece that all are required to wear so that they can say the appropriate things in a conversation? I wanted to mime shooting myself in the head to Matthew but figured that would give us away. Instead, I contented myself with giving A Look, which he returned. We were doing a good job of seeming like we weren't obnoxious Americans, I guess, because when I indicated to the guide that he could use our extra chair at our table, he said (in German) that it was kind of us but he didn't need to sit down. We broke down then and admitted we spoke English (which is how I knew what the guide said originally), and then promptly went back to ignoring the group as best we could.

Once the tour group left we were able to figure out why the cafes in the area have blankets folded on their outside chairs. It's for smokers! Since smoking is only allowed outdoors now (not even in bars!), smokers are given blankets in which they can bundle up while outside. Rather a nice gesture, I thought.
After Starbucks we walked around and found the Afghani restaurant that we saw the first day, then decided that we would go there for lunch either Monday or Tuesday and went back to the touristy area to go to Sausalitos for dinner. It's a “Mexican” restaurant that I read about in guidebooks as being a really popular place. Like places in Prague, it advertises as being Mexican food, but it's really Tex Mex - and even that can be a stretch, since places like Chevy's are more authentically Tex-Mex than this place. The paint was right, the decorations were close, and they did offer margaritas and burritos and tacos, but it's clear that there is not a real understanding of Tex Mex. I have remarked to Matthew on several occasions that it would be interesting to open a more authentic place, since the locals seem to really like these pseudo-Tex Mex places in Germany and Prague. Of course maybe they like the fake places more than they would like a real place because the fake places are a little more bland. However, the food was actually pretty good, we had beer for the first time since our arrival (restaurants charge for water in Germany, so beer and water end up being the same price), and we seemed to be the only English-speaking people in the whole place (aside from an American who was visiting German friends and speaking mostly in German). I ate chicken fajitas and was very, very full afterwards. We thought we'd just have a short walk home, but we got lost and ended up with a bit of a stretch of the legs before we got back to the hotel room. It's easy to get turned around here, since streets loop around and change names all the time. We're doing fairly well for the most part now, recognizing streets and how to get to certain places, but occasionally we'll slip up tonight and end up with a bit of a walking adventure.
I am sure that I had more observations running through my mind, but it is now time to sleep. It's been a long day and my legs need to recover.

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Photos

The Big Easy
Who knew you could find a bit of New Orleans in Munich?

Hofbrauhaus
Pretty, but touristy...

Starbucks
You can't beat a good thing -- unless you make it with whole milk and whipping cream and turn it into a great thing.