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Published: September 8th 2009
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For my mid-semester break, (July-August 2009) I took a trip to Germany to visit my parents who were working in Munich. If I could describe Munich with one word, it would be 'perfection.'.. or at least a good imitation of it.
People in Germany refer to Munich as the 'police city' because its jam-packed with rules and regulations which is probably why I thought it was so damn perfect.
The metro system was unbelievably prompt, arriving at the latest, a minute off the time schedule. It also runs on an 'honesty policy' so, you purchase your tickets but nothings can stop you from just jumping on and taking a free ride. On top of that, they were extremely tidy and conveniently possessing an emergency Defibrillator at almost each stop.
Crime is a rarity, which I thought was interesting because drinking at any time of the day, ANYWHERE, is allowed (where as here in NZ, drinking is a big problem and there's certain areas where you'll be fined if caught with a bottle in your hand and a swagger in your step.. the ladder probably being less of a problem haha)
On my first night there (despite the jet-leg) dad
thought it only right to take me to the Hofbrauhaus. A huge drinking/eating hall with live Oompa music and staff dressed in traditional wear. Being popular with tourists as well as the locals, it was a true German experience for me. We drank Wiesbier (my all time favorite beer now) out of gigantic glasses and ate pretzels bigger than my head and that was for starters. Next came dumplings with slow roasted pork knuckles, pork ribs, and sausages galore with saurkraut (not sure if I spelt that right) but its like finely chopped cabbage boiled down in a vinegar-y sauce. Went home that night exhausted, stuffed, and burpin' beer like no ones business.. haha
I stayed with my parents in Quieddestrab, a 5 min metro ride from MarienPlatz (the centre of town). The city centre was always humming with tourists, tour guides, live musicians and fresh fruit stands in and among restaurants packed with tables and umbrellas outside and fancy shops selling all sorts of german gadgets and clothing from chain shops around Europe. One of my fondest memories of Munich was buying a punnet of sweet, juicy raspberries for 2 euros and staining Everything. Literately, everything with raspberry
juice. We were in the thick of summer and I felt like I was 5 years old again.
I was quite lucky with the weather, most of the time it was sunny and warm. The people, on the other hand, were slightly cold. I suppose they had every right to be, considering I couldn't speak a word of German... But in my favor, I did learn how to say 'I'm sorry', 'I can not speak a word of German, can you speak english', ' its very good', 'welcome','hello' and 'goodbye' 😊... but then I guess that defies the point of saying I cant speak a word of German.. anyway.
Munich is scattered with huge Gardens made solely for public leisure! Frisby throwing among bodies of naked sun bathers were probably the most interesting but they also had simple exercise equipment, chessboards with life-size pieces, biergardens for drinking and eating local cuisine, lakes with boats for hire, biking trails and walking trails, etc. I would go for runs in the morning through gardens near Queiddestrab and watch a bunch of old men play chess with one hand, swiggin' a beer with the other.
I took a metro to
some of the museums there which held glass shelves filled with ancient jewelry and treasure belonging to the royal palace. Another museum of technology was amazing and filled with 'almost' anything that was ever invented, definately considered a 'jem' to any 10 year old boy. They also have an Olympic Stadium as well as a huge soccer stadium that I wasn't able to make it to. Partly due to my mothers lack of interest as well as my lack of time there. Also, I was going to go to the Dakau concentration camp but changed my mind in the end. It just would have been too sad to see and since I was planning on taking a trip to Berlin for the weekend, I thought I'd see the Holocaust memorial instead.
When I left Munich, i wasn't able to eat meat for a couple of weeks haha, so if there's any advice I could give you about the trip it would be to take it easy on the meat and.. oh, depending on how long you plan to stay in Munich, they've got different tickets you can purchase for the metro. I bought a weekly pass which let me
go anywhere by metro at any time but only from stage 1-3 (which is pretty much all you need unless you plan on getting out of the city and seeing more of the country side). Thats about it from me on Munich, hope if your planning on doing a trip here, this helps!
Take care
xx
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Ed
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Sounds brilliant! thanks for the great pics and the tale :) Now I want a giant pretzel...