München, Deutscheland (Sept 7th to 9th)

Right now (September 7th, 10:00 am), Alyssa and I are aboard a Deutschen Bahn (i.e. German train) in the Austrian Alps on our way from Munich, Germany to Verona, Italy; and it is now that we reflect on these past few days of adventure. By the way, I never did end up sleeping a wink on my flight from NYC to Munich.

 On the morning of Sept 7^th, we found each other in the Munich airport, bought a map of Munich, and immediately boarded an S-Bahn to the center of Munich. As we approached our exit, Hauptbahnnhof, we stood at the doorway and waited for the train to stop. As it came to a standstill, we waited for the doors to open, and waited for the doors to open, and waited for the doors to open until finally the train continued west. By the next stop, we still couldn’t figure out why the doors wouldn’t open for us. Then finally we noticed an elderly man, hunched over and using a cane, touch a little red LED circle on the door which then turned green, and like Merlin the wizard himself, the doors floated open! After acquiring a little German magic ourselves, we backtracked a few stops and opened the portal doors that led us into Hauptbahnnhof, a bustling conglomerate of subways, trains, shops, restaurants, travelers, businesspeople, and sadly, not a single soul dressed in Lederhosen or chugging liters of Bavarian beer.  I was beginning to think that Munich was completely different from its stereotypical, Bavarian image.  Nevertheless, we pressed on.

 Luckily, we found our hostel in almost no time. The Euro Youth Hotel is settled right in the middle of the city just down the street from the main train station on Bayerstrauss and Senefelderstrauss (this is just the beginning of how foreign Munich’s street names sound); and somehow, we actually got used to reading them after a while.  Once we unloaded all of our heavy cargo, we explored the beauty of Munich. We walked its busy streets and found a small Bavarian deli that served something other than the endless varieties of meat products found throughout the city. Basically we just ordered what other people were ordering, but without the meat.

B-E-A-Utiful

 We also climbed all 306 steps to the top of the bell tower of Peterskirche (St. Peter’s Church), which gave us a panoramic view across the entire city, all the way to the Alps. We went to a museum called Alte Pinakotheken, which housed paintings from the 14^th to 18^th century featuring artists such as Altdorfer, Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Leonardo De Vinci, El Greco, and many more. After a well over 24 hours of being awake, we found a quick falafel diner, and went back to the hostel only to immediately pass out at 8pm.

View from St Peter's Church

One of the many gorgeous paintings from this museum. The majority of the paintings were nude and/or based on the Catholic religion because of the period th paintings were done (14th to 18th century)

We awoke at 7 am the next morning, and both managed to get hot water for our showers since it was so early, and then ate our included breakfast at the hostel, which consisted of fresh fruit, toast, cheese, juice, and sliced bell pepper. By far, the highlight of the day was the free, guided walking-tour through Munich with Marcin Wright, an incredibly knowledgeable history professor from England, who has spent years studying WWII. As we strolled through historical courtyards and alleyways with about ten other walkers, he gave us an unbelievably detailed four-hour tour of Munich, covering all of its history leading back to over 1200 years ago. Although he did focus a lot on the rise of The National Socialist Party (The Nazis, which started in Munich) because it is something that still comes to mind when people picture Germany, he also made it very clear to us that those regretful years were just twelve (1933 to 1945) of Munich’s 1200 year history, so it should not be the only thing that people learn about in such a historical city. He also talked a lot about beer, which failed to really hold Alyssa’s or my attention for very long, but overall it was a fantastic tour.

This gold in the alleyway represents the Germans during the Third Reich that chose to take alternate routes to their destinations in order to avoid having to hail Hitler at certain designated locations e.g. government buildings. This is a beautiful landmark

This was Hitler's favorite place to speak in Munich

The newest building constructed in Munich is a Jewish Synagogue

We then continued on our own, visiting various locations throughout the evening and into the night. Finally, using a bit of German detective work, we were able to find a large batch of stereotypical Bavarians at a place called Hofbräuhaus, the oldest beer hall in Munich (1607), where we were encircled by nothing other than beer in liter glasses and beer in two liter glasses. We happily listened to classic Bavarian music as well as the screams and cheers of drunken Germans; we admired men and women in lederhosen, and since we wanted to do something German, we ate an apfelstrudel (apple strudel).

Here is a tiny portion of the "English Garden," one of the most beautiful parks I have ever seen

Same park

We woke up this morning (Sept 9^th), ate a big included breakfast at the hostel, and boarded the train that we are currently riding on. We are now entering the Italian Alps and staring at a group of absolutely gorgeous cathedrals centered atop flourishing green mountains.

Here is a picture I took on the train while going through the Italian Alps

Stay tuned, there is more to come on Italy next time!!!

Song of the day: “Oans, Zwoa, G’suffa” (One, Two, Chug)

PS: If you didn't know this, you can double click on the images I post and see them at their actual size!!! They look a lot better that way.