Munich

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We went off to Munich on the train a couple of weeks ago. The train ride was lovely: up into the Dolomites, through a sliver of Austria and out just a bit over the Germany border right into the city.

The first thing we noticed walking out of the train station to our hotel was the prevalence of immigrants--West Africans, North Africans, Turks, and more. The next thing we noticed was the cold.

After leaving our bags we headed out to the center, Marienplatz, to see and do and eat. My heart sank a bit. I didn't like the buildings, nor the look of the city. The entire center of town looked rather like a large shopping mall--a monument to capitalism and consumerism. Oh, and the glockenspiel is kinda lame. The food looked unappetizing. And then there was the German! It could be in Cyrillic for all I know, so unfamiliar to me it is. But we found a restaurant--Zum Sperling--and a nice waitress named Maria (my grandmother's name, I told her) who showed us a few things on the map. I ate boiled beef (more on that later) and cheese and felt better. And then we strolled. We strolled into a tiny plaza on a whim, where a bird sat in a tree and sang and sang, improbably, in the cold. Then we found a cozy bar with colored lights, with blankets draped on all the chairs, where a very sweet young woman and I had a protracted conversation about cocktails. She swore they didn't serve them...just martinis, rum, vodka, whiskey...turns out we had a language problem. Or I did. We laughed, had drinks, laughed some more.

The next day, on to other things: climbing the tower at St. Peter's; the Viktulienmarkt (as in victuals) to taste from various food stands; puzzling out public transportation (with the help of the kind Andrea K. at our hotel); Ferdinand Hodler and more in the Neue Pinakothek Museum (loved it!). Giving up on German cuisine, we went off to a place called the Burrito Company. Staffed by the friendly Jakob, who spent time studying in Boston and therefore was delighted to speak English, we had a happy meal. We noticed then, and continued to notice that every single person we encountered in Munich had been kind, helpful and sweet.

Snow fell overnight and we awoke to a white-dusted world. We left after bidding farewell to our welcoming hotel clerk, Andrea. As we stepped outside, we noticed that the temperature had dropped further, but Munich, with each passing day, had grown a little warmer and brighter.

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Photos

Munich
Marienplatz clocktower

Munich
Getting our beerings

Munich
Lovely building and brawling boys

Dessert!
Cheesecake

More cheesecake
and beefcake!

Munich
Bar hopping

Munich
More bar hopping

Asam's Church
This weird little church got top billing on tripadvisor.com. It is an over-the-top display of every kind of embellishment possible.

Asam's church
Weird little winged skulls

Peterskirche
Not the loveliest church, but the biggest in the town center. The boys climbed the bell tower for a great and vertiginous view of the city.

Peterskirche relic
Germany has more relics than anywhere in Europe. A creepy statistic, and this was a creepy relic, that of St. Munditia.

Coffee and Christ
Or rather, kaffe? This crucifix was hanging on the wall in a coffeehouse.

Munich
The Neue Pinakothek. I was ready for more art, but the guys were finished.

Munich
Happy at the Burrito Company.

Munich morning
We woke up to this outside our window

Munich
The snow-dusted building across the street. There were many such buildings like this in Munich. Very lovely and understated; even lovelier in the snow.

Train ride
Innsbruck, Austria

Comments

[Tina Om]

Such a great post. Better that it was not very lovely buildings but lovely people, instead of the other way around. Your bar story reminds me of when my mother in law went to a cafe in Italy looking for her two friends. She thought she asked the worker if they saw 'dos Americanos,' but realized her mistake when she got two watered down espressos. Glad you are having a wonderful time with your family. Love to all.