Friday the Thirteenth! June 13, 2008

Today just might have been one of my favorite days on the trip. I absolutely love Munich. After having a great breakfast, we had an hour of art this morning before heading to the Alte Pinokothek. The museum was very big! I had no idea so many amazing works of art were housed there. I stayed for about an hour before grabbing Andy to meet Philipp. Philipp is living in a small town outside of Munich and took the train to come and visit us! We finally found him in one of the botanical gardens close to the city center of Munich. I was so excited to see him! It is always so nice to see a familiar face when you have been gone so long, especially if you have not seen them in 7 months!
We needed up being so lucky that we just so happened to be in Munich this particular weekend. It turns out that the city was celebrating its 850th anniversary this weekend. Needless to say, the city was insane! It was so cool! Everywhere the festival was going on. The crowds were very dense full of Germans dressed in Lederhosen! It was so awesome to see every all decked out and see the music and the culture of the town. There was a couple of stages set up around the city as well as tents selling things and most of all, all the breweries had tons of benches set up with lots and lots of beer.
We walked through the city center for a little while, which was a very difficult thing because the crowds were so thick. We stopped at a huge department store to get Andy some batteries and to get me my very favorite chocolates! They are called Milka and are filled with some sort of delicious strawberry filling. They are just so good and I have been looking forward to getting to Germany so I could get these chocolates. It made my day!
Next, we walked to a very pretty church. I think that the most interesting thing about the church was a story that Philipp told us. The tale goes like this: when the architect was commissioned to build the church, the devil came to visit him. The devil told him that he should design the church to have no windows in it. When the architect refused, the devil said that if he put windows in the church, he would threaten his life. The church was erected, but it had windows. The devil again visited the architect. When the architect was asked why there were windows, he told the devil that you could see no windows from the exact place that he had been standing at the time. There is now a gold footprint where the devil stood and no windows are visible from that spot.
There is also another interesting y about the church. It was one of the only buildings left standing after all of the bombings during the war. This was not because it was a religious place, but because it had two tall, towers and those were used to locate and navigate the other bombing sites.
After we saw the church, we walked over to a Beirgarten for lunch. It was so pretty. The weather was a little chilly but it was a nice day and I loved watching all of the people. Both Andy and Philipp got pig’s knuckle with several sides I did not recognize and a liter of beer. I left Philipp order for me. He got me some sort of white bratwurst and one of the largest pretzels that I have ever seen in my life! It was so good! I had a glass of wine with lunch and it was all so tasty!
After lunch, we hurried to make our appointment at the Pinokothek Modern museum. It was one of the most odd places that I have ever been! The art was very…. Modern…. They had a BMW frozen, exhibits full of just appliances, a room with just zip ties, and even a room that just consisted of 2 sets of strings hanging form the ceiling. It was so strange. Most if it I just did not think of as art. There was even a whole exhibition of just black canvases! Weird.
After the museum, we walked back towards the city center. We walked to Maximillains which is a very exclusive shopping street with everything from Roberto Cavali to Prada and Dolce. It was a very cool street and it was interesting to see the kinds of people that shop there. I found one pair of pants on sale… for 800 Euro…. I did not make that purchase!
After the window-shopping, we headed to Houfbrauoaus. This was probably one of my most favorite locations in all of Munich. It is the largest beer hall in Germany (I think maybe Europe too)? But it was so cool. There were just tables and tables of people drinking. It was awesome to watch and listen to everyone. We sat at a table with one other American along with several Germans. The Germans all loved listening to Philipp switch so quickly between an accents less German to an accent less English. They just loved him. But I have to say, I think they loved Andy even more! They were just all over him. Grabbing his arms, dancing, and singing!
Here, I decided, if I was ever to drink a beer, this had to be the place. I had never ever had a beer, much less finished one! So, Philipp ordered me a Rublen. It consists of beer mixed with a lemon soda. It was better than any beer that I have ever tasted. I finally finished my very first beer! A monumental moment I a am sure. I also had my second gigantic pretzel of the day! We ended up staying at the Houfbrauhaus for much longer than we had expected. After we realized what time it was, we quickly headed back to the hotel to meet up with people for dinner.
After a quick change, we went to try to find something to eat. We stopped at the first Kebab stand that we passed which was a very bad idea. It was pretty bad and I didn’t eat much of mine. But the most entertaining thing about it was that the owner somehow convinced some of the guys that it wasn’t turkey, but it was kangaroo meat. They all thought that it was so cool. That was until Philipp told them that it the meat really just came from a bird.
After this, our group ended up splitting up. We were heading to a place greatly recommended by Philipp’s friends. It is known as the east art district and is just an area comprised of a ton of different nightclubs and bars. I was so excited to go out after all the stories that I had heard about Munich nightlife. Now, every single place that I have gone in all of Europe never ever asked me for an id. But, this had to be the night. didn’t it. I was wearing a dress that didn’t have pockets so I just had left Philipp hold some of my cash. Sadly, we had trouble getting into most places even though I clearly looked 18. We did get a couple of drinks and I still really enjoyed myself. We even met some really cool guys on the metro who were entertaining to say the least!
We headed back to the hotel and spent the rest of the night hanging out. It was such a great day in Germany! I had a lot of fun walking around with Philipp and I had never been so happy to be with a local!