As some of my friends already now, I've been on a sightseeing trip to Munich last weekend. And now I am sitting in my bed, sorting through the hundreds of pictures I've taken and felt like writing a blog post about it before going to sleep. Ever since I came back from Munich, I could just sleep all the time - but I did and walked so much more than I usually do during the weekend, and then there is and was the heat, so I guess it is no wonder that my energy resources are empty. So I'm just having a lazy few days before I'll go on a trip to Osnabrück to visit a friend on the weekend. Oh, and in the meantime I'll also get the rest of my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow - not looking forward to it, but at least then all sucky teeth procedures are behind me. Yay! ;) Health insurance must start to hate me for all the expensive procedures I make them pay for this year. But let's talk about Munich now..
When I first arrived on Friday (I went with one on those new long-distance buses, that aren't exactly comfortable for a longer time - might be because I'm too impatient for long drives, anyway - and have the disadvantage of traffic jams, but the advantage of free Wifi and plug connectors, so they are a good alternative to trains for me).. well, I have to admit I first didn't like it much. I was standing at this big bus station and it kind of was a typical scene of "small town girl arriving in the big city": I didn't find the subway, I was overwhelmed by the mass of people, I hadn't thought of bringing a map .. it was a bit of an adventure to find my hotel, and when I did it's neighbourhood didn't seem too friendly and nice either, and I seriously wondered why there is such a hype about this town. So Friday evening was only spent with a walk through the neighborhood because I needed to find some dinner, before I retreated to my hotel room.
But on Saturday I started to enjoy my trip to Munich much more, also because then I discovered the more beautiful parts of town. The first half of Saturday was spent entirely in the beautiful and huge park of Nymphenburg castle. The park is really worth a visit and offers many different aspects: seeing the castle from the outside (there also is a museum on the inside, but I'm not interested enough in old paintings), beautifully arranged flower fields, sculptures, water, a canal with a gondola, woods, lakes, many many ducks and swans.. I spent a long time there, just walking around, taking pictures and trying to befriend a duck.
 |
| Nymphenburg Castle |
 |
| ..and its backside.. |
 |
| ..and me with one of the creepy sculptures |
|
|
After exploring the park, I went to the city centre, which turned out to be a huge contrast. The park was relatively quiet and peaceful, but the city centre was packed with tons and tons of people, both masses of tourists and locals on shopping sprees - no wonder on a Saturday afternoon, though. I guess it is the busiest day there is. It really was extremely crowded and hard to really look at all the beautiful architecture, and with the heat it was a bit exhausting, but it also had some fun aspects. One was the view from St. Peter tower. It's a big church tower, and my feet and legs complained a lot after climbing all those seemingly never-ending stairs, but the view was worth it, as it offered a chance to have a look at all of the city centre and in the distance, other parts of Munich. In the far distance, there also were the Alps, but only as a grey shadow. Another fun aspect was that there was a Hare Krishna celebration in town. When I met members of this group in Würzburg or other tows before, I always found them to be very annoying because they tried to sell me books and convince me of their religious beliefs. Plus, they do seem like weirdos while they do that.. But taken out of the annoying missionary context, I had a whole different impression, as they were just very lively happy people in colourful clothes, dancing in the streets, giving fruits to passengers, and having fun. And it was interesting to witness.
 |
| Frauenkirche & Neues Rathaus |
 |
| Hare Krishna celebration |
To have a more relaxed look at the architecture, I went back into town in the evening, and saw all the illuminated buildings. By this time it was still busy, but less crowded, so much better to really explore the city. And I enjoyed the atmosphere, with street musicians playing at every corner.
Sunday I went to Englischer Garten, and coincidentally I arrived right on time for the start of a Japanese festival! I didn't even know it would be on this day, so I was very lucky. And with my early arrival, I had time to peacefully look at everything before the masses of visitors showed up. There were booths showing all kind of Japanese stuff: crafts, games, decorations.. it was also possible to see Martial Arts, hear traditional music, and of course there was food. I was especially in awe with all the Japanese festival visitors in traditional clothes. Especially the little girls in kimonos looked sooo cute! My highlight was the Japanese Tea House, that is located on a little island within the park. It was possible to go inside and witness a tea ceremony, which was very interesting and so different from the way I make and drink my tea. A long, quiet, strictly structured ceremony instead of just throwing a tea bag into a mug.. ;P It gave off kind of a meditative vibe, and I'm impressed that people have the patience to learn all the steps!
 |
| Japanese Tea House |
 |
| ..from the inside |
 |
| Festival visitors |
After I had explored the festival and Japanese culture enough and before I had to catch my bus towards home, I spent some time just sitting at the edge of the river, letting my feet hang into the cold water and relaxing. I especially liked the parts of Englischer Garten with the river, it is so beautiful and relaxing, even when there are a lot of people that go swimming. And since I saw less of the park than I had planned because the festival distracted me, I would definitely want to go there again to explore the rest of it!
 |
| Englischer Garten and me ;) |
So my resume for my Munich trip is that it is a lively town with beautiful spots and architecture, great food (not that I ate any Bavarian foods, but they have awesome Greek and Turkish food ;) ), so much to offer and to do that it is not possible at all to experience everything during one weekend,.. but it is also very busy, loud, crowded and expensive. I don't really get why so many people dream of living there, as I wouldn't want to do that at all, I prefer more peaceful places for that. But for a city trip, it is great and was definitely worth the trip!! :)
