Munich.... or munchkin.... however you want to say it

Munich (Munchen)

I think I'll start out with a little excitement - there was a bit of an accident that will leave Simon and I looking at bunk beds with wary eyes for the rest of our lives, I believe. The last night we were in Berlin, simon went to climb back up into his bunk, and upon getting on said bunk, had it completely collapse in on him. The side supports that had been holding the plank up decided to give out which sent him tumbling. I took some shots of it so you can see what happened. Simon came out mostly unscathed, save for a few minor cuts and bruises which were aided by his first-aid kit which he brought, including the ice pack for the bruises. Our night wasn't so great, at least for me, because we walked to this place called Matrix with this guy Greg we had met. It wasn't all that much fun, but that's not the point - the point is, I had been wearing thong flip flop sandals which I had not worn in months - the kind that had rubber between the toes for the thong part. Big mistake, because after walking 20 minutes to get to this place, I had blisters in-between/on the bottom of my feet and toes. But, Simon falling through the bed shifted my thoughts from my feet to his "still livingness." We told the owner of the hostile, and for the only time we ever saw him serious, he apologized for what had happened and was genuinely sorry. Then he went back to being hilarious and cracking jokes and such. The train ride went off without a hitch and we got to Munich or Munchen as they call/say it, found our hostel and have been enjoying all that the "boy monk city" has to offer.

We decided to check out one of the famous biergartens, Augustiner Keller, where they serve Augustiner beer by the liter in gigantic glasses as well as half chickens, sausage and other such german cuisine. This place is set under really old chestnut trees with picnic benches upon picnic benches underneath these trees. A very picturesque place, with room to seat 9,000 by the way.

The next day we headed out to check out the free tour - the same company as the one that did it in Berlin, but with slightly less gusto on the part of the tour guide this time. We learned a lot of stuff, once again, but happily by walking a lot less. The Hoffbrau house was pretty sweet (the place Hitler had his first public speech) - just a neat old place where they of course serve beer and such. After this tour, we hung around in the square where the Glockenspiel is (slightly boring by the way, but fun to watch for 30 seconds or so), until the free bike tour was leaving. This tour, while still informative (the facts were sometimes different from the previous tour, which we trusted a little bit more than the bike tour guy), was more tuned to the college kid demographic as he explained the history in a more.... crass fashion. He would refer to a statue of a lady on top of a pillar as "the gold bitch" up on the pillar and other such unique descriptions. But he did show us other interesting locations that we hadn't had the leg-power to see on the walking tour. We got to see another government building which they had recently covered in glass to once again show that the people should always be watching their government - kind of a recurring theme from a country who's government did some not nice things to it's people a little while back. After that we kind hung out at our hostel for a bit, then attempted to head out to go to a bar or something for a while - no such luck - everything was very very ritzy and we were certainly not dressed to go to such events. We ended up getting a slice of pizza and ate it at a cafe on the street and a coke, then returning home.

Today we got up and checked out the highly acclaimed Deutches Museum which is pretty much the Smithsonian of Germany. It had so many exhibits -- from physics, to aeronautics, to engines and motors, to chemistry to musical instruments, to mining coal and other natural resources. I might add that the mining section, down in the basement, was extremely extensive, and while it might have been educational to an individual who reads german, we couldn't really grasp the fullness of all it had to offer. Lucky for us, many other other exhibits were in english as well so we learned quite a bit from that today. We walked around to find some place to eat, and we thought we would go back to this giant marketplace which offers all kinds of fresh fruit and german food, and ice cream, and beer which we had seen yesterday. Upon arriving, we remembered that there is a very big Bavarian (meaning only celebrated in bavaria, which we happen to be in) religious holiday going on today, so everything was closed up. Other restaurants and such were open, so we went and had some sausage and potato salad from some restaurant on the street. We finished our day so far, by going to the english garden. This is a gigantic park - think central park in new york, but much bigger - its the largest city park in europe. Um, apparently nudism is allowed in some places of the park, as we saw some naked old guys walking around - not exactly what we were looking to see when we went to the park to soak up some rays. But, to each his own, and they can do that if they want... I guess... Anyway, we rested there for a while, made our way back to the hostel here, and are just kinda chillin at the moment.

Tomorrow, we're going to take a train to Konstanz, which is a town on the south border of Germany and switzerland where we're going to stay with a girl who was a foreign exchange student who lived with Simon's girlfriend, Rachel at her house in Rochester for a while. We'll stay there for a day or two, getting the feeling for a smaller town in germany, as well as taking a break from the city life. It certainly is quite nice of her to let us stay there and I hope we don't impose too much.

Well, back to chilling for a bit - not sure what to do tonight, but I'm sure we'll find something.

Until next time!

-Matt from Munchen