The day started out innocently enough with breakfast and checking out out of our hotel in Salzberg. Loading into the vans we were off on another day's adventure! Starting out "on the lam" as Jens put it we avoided the Austria Autobahn because of not paying the toll a day or two ago! We leisurely drove through the Austrian countryside enjoying the green fields, happy cows, farmers going about their daily chores, beautifully tended homes, (we have yet to see a "slum" area) and flowers everywhere and soon left the beautiful Alps behind.
We quickly passed back into Germany and looked for the German Autobahn, but it was elusive and it took us a while to find it! Meanwhile, we enjoyed the views of rural German life which looked a lot like rural America only without so many alpine-styled houses. We finally found the lost Autobahn and soon were racing toward Munich. Well, not exactly racing because Jens is a careful and thoughtful driver and we have to keep Judy behind us always in mind. But after noontime we were safely in Oberschleiheim, a suburb of Munich, and checked in to our lovely hotel which has a real bathtub! Yeah!
We met as a group again and caught a train to Munich. Munich is the capital city of the state of Bavaria and has a population of 1.35 million people. And people were everywhere! You could feel a certain excitement in the air and it was a bit exhilarating! The city was bustling with activity for a variety of reasons. It was Saturday and people were doing their shopping, Oktoberfest was going on, there was a soccer match this evening, and 18 Americans from Illinois were there to see it all! And again, there were flowers everywhere!
We were met by a friend of Jens and Judy's whose name is Toni. Toni taught a year of school in Orion in the mid 70's as part of the teacher exchange program Jens is involved with. Toni took us on a walking tour of the inner city of Munich. Its native name, München, is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order and the Catholic influence is heavy here as well as everywhere else in Bavaria.
I think we toured my favorite German church today. It was St. Michael, built in the 1500's in the gaudy baroque style, and was awesome! As throughout much of Munich, St.Michael's was heavily damaged during WWII and had been restored to its glory! Another restoration of the facade is currently going on and is a three year project. While this is occurring, they have placed a canvas of sorts, over the front of the building attached to the scaffolding, which has pictured on it a photo of the finished project. It is incredible!
There are people and beauty here everywhere! There a darling little two people carts that are pulled by a bicyclist that will taxi you from place to place, walkers everywhere, parking lots filled with bicycles, and the humanity! Have I mentioned that there are people everywhere! It is absolutely exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time! I can not describe this place and country for that matter, adequately. I am simply running out of adjectives!
We toured a bit more of the city and stopped for an ice cream snack. I have figured out that with as much walking and biking as the German people do, this is why they can eat so darn much ice cream! I am really glad that I practiced walking long distances before I left on vacation or it could have been too much for me! It has been fun to live like a German for awhile and walk throughout the cities for literally miles and then sit at a little outdoor cafe and enjoy a snack between meals. Very chic and European! However, I gotta tell you about the ice cream. This was the most expensive ice cream I have ever eaten in my life! I had an ice cream sundae and it cost me 6 Euro which is roughly $9. Pretty darn expensive so I am glad it was good! LOL
We bummed around a bit and then headed for the biggest beer festival in the world...Oktoberfest in Munich! At first glance it reminded us of a state fair with carnival rides and food vendors and carnival games. But on closer inspection we saw all that plus about a quarter million people and most of them practicing some serious alcohol consumption! 5 million will attend the event over 2 1/2 weeks in Munich. Only beer brewed in the Munich city limits is allowed to be served and they will go through 7 million liters!
Since I am not a beer drinker that part I passed easily on. But my interest was held by all the people that were there! I don't think I have ever seen that many people in one place at one time and many of them were enjoying the local brew! We saw a fight, some guy puking his guts out, someone taken out on a stretcher, lots of hearts around people's necks with sayings on them, many different kinds of food, weird hats, darling lederhosen and dirndls, and SO MANY PEOPLE! It was what I imagined New York City on New Year's Eve to look like. There was garbage everywhere as people did not have cans to put it in. It was a very interesting evening and I am glad I went to be able to say I have been there! However, they need to learn about food on a stick! There was not a corn dog to be found and there wieners everywhere! White ones, spicy ones, some with grilled onions, small ones, huge ones, very long ones and still not a single corn dog! I bet I could become a carny and serve nothing but corndogs and deep fried Snickers and funnel cakes and make a killing! Hmmm....perhaps an autumn working vacation next year!
But the most challenging part of the day was yet to come! Picture us...exhausted, overwhelmed with new information, in a strange city where we can not even speak the language or read the signs, (except for Jens and Judy) and we can't find the train station! Even Jens got turned around and we walked, and walked, and walked. We asked numerous people, even police and got different answers. Finally deciding to take the advice of a young couple who were heading that way too, off all of us trudged. We walked for miles and miles through the streets of Munich (ok maybe a slight exaggeration) but we walked and walked. We joked it was like the Bataan Death March but that march was only 60 miles long! And I am actually a little sorry that we joked like that because Day 16 will be spent at the Dachau Concentration Camp. Wow! What a day!
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