Munich

This was my second trip to Munich so I didn't take a ton of pictures but since I didn't write a blog the first time I went, back in 2004, I figured I'd write one now. Munich is a really beautiful city with a lot of fun things to do if you enjoy German food and beer. It also has a great pedestrian area with a lot of shopping and one of the world's largest urban parks. It's a nice city to wander around in and enjoy all of the old buildings.

Here are some pictures of the pedestrian area filled with shopping.



No trip to Munich would be complete without a trip to city hall to see the Glockenspiel. The flowers on the building were gorgeous, and the building is beautiful too. The Glockenspiel itself is anti-climactic but still interesting to see.



The English garden covers 1.4 square miles and is bigger than Central Park. It's enormous and a great respite from the city. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the park and relaxing on the grass and benches. There is also an artificial stream that flows through the park, the Eisbach, and at one end of it some stones were added to create a standing wave that people can surf on. We watched some people surfing for awhile, picture below.



You also can't go to Munich without visiting the Hofbräuhaus. We went there for some beer and käsespätzle one afternoon.



Käsespätzle is kind of like macaroni and cheese, but with better cheese and fried onions on top. It is also made with special dumplings made with eggs and flour instead of pasta.



We managed to visit the hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby over the railing though we were just there for the bar and didn't realize it was famous until we got there. There's a great view from the bar (shown below) because it's located on the roof of the hotel. There are also Michael Jackson shrines in the park across the street from the hotel. Munich is just steeped in history, what can I say.

The World Cup Final in Munich

Two of my college room mates happened to be visiting me in Germany during the world cup final this past weekend, so we decided to travel to Munich to watch it with a few thousand other people. It was a really fun experience to have. A group of my American friends from Bad Dürkheim also went.

Below are pictures of our group in our Germany apparel, plus some pictures of the bar we watched the game at (Cafe Munich on Leopoldstrasse) and the people there. After Germany won the game, everybody took to the streets and was up until dawn celebrating. And they were celebrating nicely too - no riots, no violence, just people being happy that their team won and showing national pride.

All of the pictures except the last one were taken before the game even started. If you want a seat at a bar for the game, you have to arrive at least 6 hours before the game starts. At least. It makes for quite a long afternoon sitting at a bar. And if a bar allows tables to be reserved (ours didn't) you had to reserve your table likely before the world cup even started in June. We called around to some places to try to reserve a table after Germany won the semi-finals and everything was already taken. So you arrive early someplace to get a table and hang out for 6 or so hours and once the game starts there isn't even room to stand within viewing distance of the screens anymore so you're really happy to have your seat.