Resting in München

We arrived in Munich on the third. We have had horrible wifi here, as I said, so this post will be more brief than usual and maybe less pictures. 

The night we got here we did our usual- dropped stuff off, went and got some dinner (pizza right down the road), and a short walk. We got a beer in the hostel bar and figured out our accommodations for Switzerland. We were set to be in Munich for 5 nights and then go to Zurich, but we changed our plans and are now going to Interlaken. Way further on the train but basically an outdoor paradise, we've read. 

So the morning of the fourth Jeremy went exploring on his own and I got some bananas at a fruit stand and did a walking tour- my 7th free one, 8th if you count the Berlin Wall tour we paid for. Crazy. As usual, it was great for some city history. 

One cool thing Munich did was vote to rebuild to make it look like it did before WW2 instead of building new stuff like Berlin. 

This is the old town hall, and the original Glockenspiel.

At 11:00 the bells brought the figures in the green frames to life like a puppet show. They tell the story of a wedding of a Duke of Bavaria (this region) to an Austrian woman and their wedding festivities. This is considered the #2 most over-rated attraction in Europe, after a similar attraction in Prague near the astronomical clock. I have to agree- its pretty unimpressive and the bells are out of tune. It was fun to see though. I have a video if you're interested :)

On the ceiling of the town hall courtyard is the monk symbol, now a symbol of Munich itself. The town was named after the monks, who originally lived here, so the town was originally "by the monks"- monk being mönch in German. The monk symbol is used a lot here. 

The famous Frauenkirche- Cathedral of Our Dear Lady in English- is probably the most recognizable symbol of Munich

These 2 towers, along with a couple others in the city, weren't bombed in the war because they are easy landmarks. The rest of the church was practically destroyed, however. 

Before WW2, church officials could tell what was coming and they offered to hide some Jewish religious relics for the synagogues that would certainly be bombed or raided. After the war, they returned the relics to the Jewish community and in return the Jewish people contributed money to the rebuilding of the church. Idk if you can tell, but the leftmost middle ceiling tile in this picture is a menorah. Strange in a Catholic church, unless you know the story of this really cool relationship between the communities. 

The architect had a really cool design for the church. From in the entrance, columns block the view of all the windows. 

But once you go through the gate- into the light- the widows are visible. 

Not so much in this picture, but you get the idea. 

There's a whole long legend about how the devil helped build the church. To paraphrase, the devil came in on a stormy day and liked the darkness he saw from the entrance. He offered to help finish the church if the architect didn't add any more widows. So the minions from hell helped build the church in a short (REALLY short in Europe church time) 20 years. The devil came back on a sunny day and saw the light and was furious, but the architect insisted the windows were already there, just hidden from sight if you are at the entrance. The devil was so mad he stamped his foot into the tile. 

It's really the architect's footprint, supposedly, but it's a cute story. I mean really... What devil is wearing a size 10 loafer. Shouldn't it have claws or something?? Anyway. 

One more cool thing- this church is where this guy came from...

Yep, the second pope to ever give up his papacy started here! Pretty cool. 

Moving on, we went to a square full of statues and tributes to famous musicians, and found this. 

Yes, Munich's very own MJ shrine. There's even a section dedicated to his pet monkey Bubbles, who died recently. I don't really know what to say. Apparently most Munichers don't like it, but obviously some do. 

Our next stop on the tour was Odeons Platz, which has a very regal structure on it kinda like the one surrounding Abe Lincoln at his memorial, except with different statues

The problems with this were that the structure is basically a public urinal with zero security and dark spaces, and it was the worst pee smell I've ever experienced in my life. Also, fittingly, it's where Hitler delivered many speeches. So yea, didn't love it. 

One cool thing behind it was this little gold path. 

It is one of 108 small memorials throughout the city dedicated to small acts of defiance against the Nazis. During occupation, the Nazis set up a shrine in Odeons Platz and you had to give the Nazi salute whenever you passed. So people started going around, taking this short cut. If you were discovered, you were interrogated and arrested or worse, but people still did it. Pretty cool. 

Our tour then took us into the royal gardens...

...where we learned some royal history. Some of the facts were pretty cool, like how King Max I of Bavaria invented the first sprinkler system while his opera house was being built. Unfortunately it didn't work so well (winter- frozen pipes) and the place burned down, but it was rebuilt and his statue now sits in front of it. 

His son, King Ludwig I, had a huge party for his wedding reception in a big field given to him by his father. The party has been recreated every year since for about 180 years, but is now known to the world as Octoberfest. 

We got to see the Hofbräuhaus, or royal beer hall, which is one of the biggest tourist attractions. It even has a special vommitting device in the men's bathroom. 

Stopped for some lunch here and got another leberkesa, and this time I remembered to take a picture! Sorry, it was halfway through...

Just a big ol slab of bologna. Yum!

We stopped by Juliet's statue, given to Munich by the town of Verona. Legend has it that she can help you with your love life. If you're a girl, you give her a flower and ask for her help or blessing. If you're a guy, you rub a particular spot on the statue...

Nice, guys. 

The oldest church in Munich is St. Peter's but it has a new tower. 

There is, of course, a legend accompanying the church. The legend of why the cross on top faces the wrong way- apparently no one wanted to climb up that tower and put the cross on, so they found a drunk brave young guy to do it. So he went up, with his beer, and put the cross on, but he accidentally dropped his beer mug. It fell all the way to the street below. Distraught, the guy put the cross on the wrong way. When he got back down, he went over to the mug and found a group of people looking at it. He saw that the mug hadn't shattered- it was still completely intact. And that's the miracle of the beer, and supposedly the mug is on display. Yep, Munich loves beer. 

We ended our tour at the Munich market, where they have a nice big Maypole and a beer garden, of course. 

That was the tour, and a bit about Munich for you. 

After the tour I walked around the market a bit and got a huge bag of cherries. They were so good! 

I walked back to the hostel and took a shower. I found Jeremy and we decided to go check out the Augustiner Keller- a huge downtown beer garden. We got some KFC for dinner because they had sides- mashed potatoes and gravy, cole slaw, corn on the cob, and it was excellent. We then went to the beer garden and Jeremy got a beer...

Yep, that's a liter. 

The next day I woke up and got an awesome blueberry muffin at a little bakery by the train station and headed to Dachau. Jeremy stayed at the hostel because he wasn't feeling great. My separate post is on the camp. 

When I got back to the hostel that night I wasn't feeling too perky, so we just went for a walk around the city. I needed some more soap from the store and I got some pizza. Pretty much went to bed after that. 

Yesterday, the sixth, I was feeling really lazy. I could tell that my mind needed a day off. So I got some more bananas at a fruit stand and a pastry at a small bakery, took a shower, and headed to the bookstore. 

That's right, I just wanted to sit and read a book. 

I sat in the Hugendubel bookstore for like 3 hours reading the new Dan Brown book. I stepped out and had some Subway for lunch, and then kept reading. It was awesome. My mind took a break and I sat on a couch and I had wifi. I probably sat and read for like 4 hours. 

Meanwhile, outside in the city square, a huge crowd had assembled. Apparently there was a big football match between Germany and Austria. Let me tell ya- these people make US "fans" look pathetic. They are NUTS. 

So walking through THAT to get back to the hostel was fun... Especially past all the riot police...

I met Jeremy at the hostel at 6- he had been exploring the city all day and relaxing in some of the gardens. We got cleaned up and went out to a different beer garden that was about a 45 minute walk through the city. We got to see a lot on the way that I hadn't seen yet. 

Some other royal gardens

It was beautiful. 

We also passed the Munich surfers. This was SO cool. There's a spot at the bottom of the HUGE park- the Englischer Garten- where the city has installed a standing wave and people take turns surfing it for like 30 seconds. 

The view from the bridge. People hop in from the sides, surf, and then just float downstream and get out. 

View from downstream. 

Surfers hangin out

It was so cool. 

We walked through the garden to a beer garden in the middle of it. We walked through huge fields as the fun was setting. 

We finally arrived at the Chinese Tower beer garden, a favorite of tourists and locals alike. 

And we each ordered dinner- half a chicken and fries. It was a gross amount of food. Topped with a half liter of beer. Neither of us finished everything and we were stuffed!

We walked back through the downtown football craziness, soaking up the Munich culture. We even got a small ice cream because there's aaaallllwaaaays room for ice cream. 

And that FINALLY brings me to today. 

Today Jeremy went to Dachau and I came back to the bookstore. Honestly I'm just feeling tired and lazy. I got bananas and a pastry on the way here, and haven't left since I got here at 10 am (it's 4 pm). 

This is what I've been doing. 

Alllllll day. 

Oh wait- no I did stop for a sandwich in their cafe, and a strawberry smoothie. And now I'm blogging so it hasn't been all day. 

I'm meeting Jeremy in a little bit for dinner. I hope he's not too depressed after today. I also need a shower pretty bad, so I won't be here much longer. It's just so nice to read and have wifi!

Honestly I'm just burnt out again. It's happening a little more often now. I was prepared for this, and built an extra day into Munich to relax. I just took an extra extra day... :)

Tomorrow we are off to Switzerland, only for 2 days, and after the long train ride tomorrow I'm sure I will be excited and have more energy to explore Interlaken. 

Munich is pretty cool. Huge beer culture, preserved old buildings, lots to do and see. I'm just not exactly in a do and see mood, and I think that's ok. I haven't had tv or a book the whole trip, and I really just needed to zone out a bit. 

Two final thoughts. 

First, it has been pointed out to me that I haven't mentioned the means I am using to blog and that maybe I should. I am blogging from my iPhone using Google's blogger app. Yes, it takes forever and is so annoying to add pictures!!! Figured maybe you should know that. 

Second, I have realized that I have broken all kinds of records for myself on this trip. Longest time without tv or movies, longest time without a hug, most times eating out EVER... So I may do a post about that soon. Or maybe another "musings" post. We'll see. 

Sorry this is a little rushed. It was put together quickly in and out of wifi. I'm hoping to post again when we get to Switzerland tomorrow. We are excited to get to the next place. I think we both like only having a few days somewhere. It's tiring but you force yourself to see a lot. 

That's all for now!

Miss you!

<3