Day Two - Beer & Jet Lag is a healthy combination
5/5/2006
Munich, Germany
Hotel EasyPalace
I wasn't expecting anything out of Germany, really. I mean, my mom's side is from Germany and holds that heritage very dear, but I only imagined small cottage towns and polka music and everyone in lederhosen and derndels with names like Heidi or Hans and Frans.
But Munich has captivated me. It's really not what I expected -- it's something that I feel actually fits my personality. For WI locals, I would describe it as a Madison with more cultural heritage. The area that we're stying in mostly does not allow cars on the streets and the streets are just awash with people. I love that feeling. Just like Madison, you get some amazing people-watching. Everyone here has their own absolutely unique style. Some freakishly weird and some ahead of the trends -- but not like in the states, where the trendy grunge-punk kids with chains are trying to be different when in fact they are all the same. These people each have a unique style and way of carrying themselves that was all their own. At least I had never seen it before. But they were also mixed in with an ever-present history and validity. The very modern looking buildings were built right next to -- or incorporated with -- some very old architecture, ornate sculptures, historical murals, and lots and lots of detail. For non-WI-natives, I would compare Munich to NY if NY was a cleaner, quainter big city. Imagine the same hustle and bustle, the same throngs of seething masses, the same underground malls and subways and skyscrapers (although not quite to that scale), but all the taxis and cars are bicycles. All the graffiti is delicate stone carving. All the "ghetto" people and styles are now adelweis and shnitzel and beer.
We're staying in a hostel but we got the deluxe rooms so we could have our own bathrooms. And all the guests get a free beer. I think with the hotel beer and the beer with dinner (pork knuckles. yes. they were good.) and the beer at the famous Houfbrou Haus beer garten, not to mention the complimentary beer on the flight over here from London this morning/last night... that Germany might just outshine Milwaukee as the beer capitol of the world. Oh and the brandy chocolates are pretty good too.
Well, with the jet lag, plus running on a lot of sleep-inducing beer and 2 hours of sleep last night on the plane... I'm going to turn off the light... as soon as I skim a few more pages of Italian for Dummies.
Munich Lions. There's a million of these everywhere. All with different colors and styles and themes.
Mom's Blue Onion Lion
Prince?
Roll out the barrell!
I love this photo.
Cool statues
Close up
Clock tower
Golden statues
Clockenspiel... the little statues in there walk in a circle and do little weird actions once a day.
Some famous square. Marienplatz?
Painted scenes
More lions
More gold
More statues
Clockenspiel
Fancy Architecture
More cool statues
They rub the gold for luck
An architectury thingy
Stage and sculpture
Everyone rides a bike!
Stairs below Munich... Nazi bunkers? I went down a few floors in the dark and got scared.
T-Mobile Punkt!
Crazy mooseheads in the grocery store!
Cool groceries tho
Crazy German person
What is he advertising?
The 'ForTwo'. How many does it fit?
Sidewalk artist drawing Neuschwanstein - which we visit tomorrow
Blind violinist
Beer at the Easy Palace
Pork Knuckles! Yum!
The famous HofBrauhaus
Look at those Beers!
He's a little tired
mmm ... beer!
No, really tired! Jet Lag's rough!
Traditional derndels
Polka your eyes out!
Posted by heydomsar
2006-06-13
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
Rachel Ray - 2009-05-03
The cold wind was the reason - 2009-03-02
The Collected Wisdom of Angela Chase - 2009-02-15
All's well that ends well. - 2009-01-07
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - 2008-10-04
