Day 2 - Munich

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Wow, I am tired!

Quick update:
Munich is still awesome.
I'm on the train to Paris.

Longer update:
I woke up some time before 7 am this morning. I know; it's outrageously early for a Saturday morning. The bright sun shining through my window told me otherwise. I thought I had overslept and was surprised to find out it was only 6:40. Two of the people in my room were girls' lacrosse players from Cologne, Germany, and they were leaving just as I was wiping my eye boogers. The other two people I shared the room with I met the night before--Jose and Estibaliz, two Erasmus students from Spain studying music and architecture, respectively, in Germany. Their school year doesn't end till late July, but they had a four-day weekend so they decided to travel a little around Germany. On a side note, I realized I'm not very good at determining ages. I thought that they both were around 18, but in fact, they were 23 and 22. Jose and Estibaliz were leaving Munich in the afternoon, but they invited me along with them to explore in the morning.

We checked out of the hostel around 7:40 and headed toward Marienplatz in the center of the city. On the way, we stopped at the train station so I could buy a Metro day pass. There, I met a guy that was from Houston as well. He told me today was going to be crazy because the final match of Budesliga, the German football league, was this afternoon, and the championship was on the line for FC Bayern Munchen, the hometown team. Jose, Estibaliz, and I walked around the center of Munich. It was interesting to see the town so early in the morning; vendors were just beginning to set up their shops, and the streets were very bright but completely void of people. We got some breakfast at Viktualienmarkt, Munich's famous daily food market and square. The area covers 22,000m² and contains 140 stalls and shops, offering flowers, exotic fruit, meats, cheese, fish, and juices. I had a cherry pastry and a small sandwich. Afterwards, we window shopped on Maximilianstraße, one of four royal avenues in Munich and known for its galleries, designer shops, luxury boutiques, and jewelry stores. But couldn't you guess that just from the street's name? We passed by this café that sold single espresso shots for 7 euro each. Obviously, I bought a new Louis Vuitton handbag.

With my new merchandise in hand, we walked to St. Peter's Church at 10 am to climb the tower and view Munich from 300 ft in the air. The climb was 300 steps and quite a workout. A beautiful view awaited us at the top. With no clouds in sight, we could see for miles. It was a good thing we got there right when it opened because the 4 ft platform around the tower was already getting crowded.

From there, we walked to the Deutsches Museum, the world's largest museum of technology and science with over 1 million visitors per year and over 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 different fields of science and technology. It was pretty overwhelming, but we managed to look at a little bit of everything in the two hours we were there. We were all exhausted and ready to eat lunch.

Going back to the center of the city, Jose, Estibaliz, and I visited the biergartens and had lunch at Hofbräuhaus, a famous brewery. We went to the same place before it was open in our early morning tour, and the difference at lunch was huge. The place was packed with several hundred people and a live band playing German music. Bouncers were patrolling the place, most likely because of the upcoming football match, and trying to keep the peace. I wasn't really hungry so I ordered a 1L mug of their famous beer and had some of the snacks I packed myself in the morning.

I parted ways with my new Spanish friends at the train station as they were moving on to Nurenberg. I was off to see the BMW museum. Very awesome and completely free, it made me want to get a BMW badly. Only a short walk away, I went to OlympiaPark, constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. I checked out the aquatic center and laid on the grass for a little bit enjoying the weather. Afterwards, I took the subway back to Marienplatz. I fell asleep on the train and woke up at the right stop lucky for me.

Paris tomorrow. Pumpeddd. A chance to use my French speaking skills and fail a few times.

Notes: Haha I told you it was going to be a longer update. I apologize for the random Wikipedia facts strewn through the entry, but it's more impressive when I copy and paste than when I try to describe the significance of the places through just my own perspective. Travelling alone is much different from travelling with my family. I feel like I appreciate it more when I have to walk everywhere. Also, I love German girls. Man are they hot.

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Comments

[Andrew]

rofl
man no pictures of german girls?? trip seems awesome. man i want a smoothie right now