Unintentionally Great Three Days in München

I awoke on the floor of the Munich hotel around 9 am. My friend Laure's mom had generously booked us a hotel room in Munich, and because of her platinum standing with this certain hotel chain, Laure, Matt, and I got a free breakfast. And not just any breakfast. This was a breakfast feast. A smörgåsbord. A fabulous cornucopia of breakfast food. All for free.

There were pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, smoked salmon, strawberries and tons of different kinds of fruit, cereals, whipped cream, toast, jams and nutella, vegetables, dips, EVERYTHING. I didn't get a picture (who takes their camera to breakfast? Not me!), but I can assure you it was fabulous. Matt, Laure, and I agreed that our breakfast surprise made our volcanic ash cloud worries disappear, at least for a little bit. Bonus: we may or may not have seen L.C. from The Hills at breakfast.

We knew our flight to Istanbul, like every other flight, had been cancelled. Other than that, we had no information.

The three of us went to an internet cafe to look for some answers: Would there be any more flights to Istanbul? When? If not, what should we do? It was a Sunday, and we were supposed to leave Istanbul on Wednesday. Could we make it to our next planned locations (Athens for me, and Cairo for Laure and Matt)? Where was the volcanic ash cloud going? Could we get refunds?

There were so many questions and no one had any answers. The internet cafes were packed, and several travel websites (information and bookings for trains and buses, for example) crashed. The numbers for the airlines were completely blocked. It was craziness.

Matt and I went to the airport to get answers. It was deserted. We had trouble finding anyone who could even answer our questions. It was a little eerie. Every single flight was cancelled.
Finally we found a lady that helped us. She said that flights wouldn't be going out of Munich until at least Friday (this was Monday), and it was probably best if we cancelled our tickets and got our money back. Now we knew we were no longer going to Istanbul, but we didn't know how long we'd be in Munich or what to do next, so we booked a hostel and started exploring.

That night, we went to the Frühlingsfest (I don't speak German, but I think it meant "spring festival"), which was basically a spring version of Oktoberfest.

They had carnival rides and two huge tents.

We ordered German food, namely, beer and pretzels.


When in Munich, right? There was an oomp-pah Bavarian band, complete with lederhosen, playing away.
We were kind of confused when an American woman, dressed half in a dirndl top (for women, I have no idea what the proper name is so just go with it) and half in lederhosen got on stage and started singing a bunch of American songs. If I were German, I would just be really confused about why this foreigner who clearly doesn't understand Bavarian clothing ettiquette, was getting up and singing songs in another language.

Nevertheless, the Hippodrome tent was packed with Germans and internationals, young and old. Except you could always tell who the non-Bavarians were because we didn't wear lederhosen or dirndls (which I had learned were quite expensive from my time in Austria with Niki).

yep, even bishops get in on the fun.

We sang along to all of the classics that the American woman was singing, as did the rest of the tent.

All in all, a lot of fun, and we headed back to our hostel, exhausted.

The next morning my friend Matt left to go to Italy, and my friend Laure and I continued to tour Munich. Although we had originally only planned to be there for only five hours en route to Istanbul, both of us fell in love with the charm of Munich. Munich, and Bavaria in general, were definitely distinct from Berlin. I found that many inhabitants of Munich considered themselves Bavarian first and German second. And don't even get them started on how much they love the Bavarian soccer team. While Berlin was fast-paced, sleek and modern, Munich felt kind of like its more easygoing, charming cousin. And that completely agreed with me.

We started off at the Marienplatz, one of the most famous sights in Munich.
One side of the square contains the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, a huge clock that puts on a huge show with all of the bells and whistles twice a day. I think this one even tops Prague's (so much for killing the clock maker...see my last post for details).

I climbed to the tower of a church nearby. The way up was a little terrifying--rickety stairs and one-way traffic for the most part, but the view was worth it.

Right by the church was the Viktualienmarkt, an open-air market (you probably know by now that I'm a huge sucker for them). We bought some strawberries, hummus, and broccoli for a little picnic, and I had a fresh-squeezed fruit juice. YUM.

Laure and I rented bikes and saw a lot of Munich from our bike seats.

We rode along the Isar River, enjoying the sunshine and gentle breeze.

One thing that I liked about Munich was how friendly it seemed. Even though it was a week day, there were lots of people out walking, running, biking, and lounging in the parks. It was free and easygoing.

We headed to the Englischer Gardens, which were absolutely gorgeous. Lots of green space, a lovely lake where we rented a paddle boat and ate our broccoli and hummus.
Check out the sleek paddle boat design. Only in Germany!

This little guy was waiting for us at the boat rental.

We then headed to a nice sunny spot to lay out in the sun, read for a bit, eat our strawberries, and nap.

Another activity included spotting all of the Nordic walkers. Seriously, I don't know how this became so popular there, but we probably spotted upwards of 20 Nordic walkers within a couple hours. We were also a little bit confused because there were absolutely no hills in sight. Necessary? Methinks no. Anyways, in case you want to go to Munich and not look foreign, bring your walking sticks with you!

We soon learned that German obsession #2 is having a LOT of gates (or Tor in German). We saw this in Berlin too. In Munich you have the Isartor, Karlstor, Sendlinger tor, and Schwabinger tor. Whew!

Our next stop was Olympiapark, the home of the 1972 summer Olympics (and, sadly, where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered).

The Olympiapark itself was amazing. Even though it was built for the 1972 Olympics, you could have told me it was for the Olympics in 2012. It's still modern and futuristic-looking, and while I find that most things from the 70s that tried to look modern (sorry to all of my older readers) look extremely dated today.

There were lots of walking and biking trails through the park, and a lake where you could...(wait for it!)...rent car paddle boats.
Volkswagens, naturally.

If there was any question in your mind whether Germans love cars, the answer is yes!

Oh, and more Nordic walker spottings.

I'm serious, they're taking over the world. Or at least Munich.

There's the huge Olympic tower, which we decided to skip, and we instead climbed a huge hill in the Olympiapark that was actually made out of WWII rubble (don't worry, it was covered in dirt and grass when we climbed it). It was pretty high, and we had a great view of Munich.

And the BMW headquarters and factory was nearby.

We walked around the Olympiapark some more and then headed back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner. We decided to go to an Afghani restaurant for dinner. It was pretty tiny and very charming. The only problem was that the menu was in German, no translation, and none of the waiters spoke English. Dun, dun, dun. Luckily I could decipher the word for "vegetarian" in German, and both of us ended up literally pointing at a menu item and hoping for the best.

Both turned out to be delicious, and we went back to the hostel to research travel plans before turning in for the night.

The next day, Laure left in the morning to go back to Berlin, and I was left in Munich by myself, without a truly coherent idea of what to do next. I walked around Munich some more, went back to the Englischer garden, saw a few beautiful churches,

and went to a huge vintage store in Munich, where I bought a couple cute vintage sundresses and also saw not one but TWO Notre Dame sweatshirts.

Both were priced at 45 euros apiece! I thought it was hilarious.

It just goes to show you that wearing Fighting Irish gear anywhere is a good idea, even in Munich.

That night I solidified my travel plans: I was going to couchsurf, by myself, in Switzerland for the rest of the week (Wednesday through Sunday). This, my friends, was the definition of adventure.

p.s. I was interviewed by the Notre Dame Observer about my volcanic ash experiences: http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/news/volcano-disrupts-students-abroad-1.1374937