Skip to main content

Germany, 2018: Munich

Image
By
Before our Iceland trip last year, we also took some time to kick around Germany again. Of course we had to visit Martina and Christian in Munich again! The city is still amazing, still historical, and still beautiful. I still want to move there, right now. If anyone in Munich wants to hire me, or my husband, or both of us, the answer is yes. Let's go.

All joking aside, after meeting a delightful high school exchange student on the plane who saved us spaces in line for our connecting flight in Iceland, we landed in Munich and made our way out to the burbs. Martina and Christian purchased a sweet not-so-little house a few years ago, and had one 2 year old and a baby on the way. Meanwhile Matt and I were just barely pregnant with our first (who, spoiler alert, died about 8 months later, but that's another story for not-here not-now maybe-not-ever-don't-worry-we're-ok), and renting a very overpriced DC one-bedroom pad. We're still in that overpriced pad but now I'm rocking some serious scars.

Our first day we chose to do some classic introductory things. We went to an outdoor market in downtown Munich, wandered around a bunch and then chose an eatery for lunch. We could walk right up to a counter and order from a long menu of sauerkraut and bratwursts, and eat outside on picnic tables. We also got unique sodas; I think mine was elderflower. Martina and Matt sat across from me and made faces as I took pictures. This is one of the more normal photos I succeeded in capturing. We also visited Marienplatz again, in the heart of the old city. It was a perfect day, with just the right light and cottony clouds. Martina got this lovely photo of us:


We had a lot of fun our second time in Munich, much like our first. We did a lot of riding trains to different parts of the city and walking back, finding joy in discovering we could get around and remember things from 6 years prior. One beautiful discovery was all the graffiti around. We saw some truly lovely art, and also a funny message warning people from naming their children Kevin.


We visited a traditional Bavarian fair as well, which is quite reminiscent of an Ohio fair. It was a step up in the food department with a station of traditional German nuts, and we munched and crunched along to the Bavarian brass band done up in full cultural costume. There were little rides and games for children, and a huge tent with more performances and traditional food. I know a lot of people travel to Germany for Oktoberfest, however, I'd encourage some other travel around more obscure cultural traditions.

For more specific sites and recommendations in Munich, visit our old blogs on the subject. We did a lot more sites that time, whereas this time we mostly hung out with our good friends in their house with their kids doing adult stuff. Six years brings changes! We were able to take some day trips to other incredible cities, so check those pages for what we found.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Live in the Moment Without Fear

By
To Live in the Moment Without Fear  is a work by Yuko Shinoda from Gifu, Japan.  Danced by six women, the dance investigates what it means to be a part of a community threatened by a disaster that takes a life.  Premiered June 5th 2011 in Nagoya, Japan, the dance features a strong movement aesthetic that draws from traditional Japanese dance as well as contemporary styles and contact improvisation.  Shinoda's use of space and timing, as her dancers flow in-and-out of solos, duets, trios, and unison, creates a sense that the dancers are unified and alone at the same time.  In the end, Shinoda's view of life is clear: we must tend to the fallen, but we must never surrender ourselves to fear while we are still alive.
3 comments
Read more

Yokohama, Day Four: Roppongi Hills and Shibuya

By
We met Nik's girlfriend, Megumi, for an amazing lunch on the way to Roppongi Hills, where we met up with her friend Misa. Roppongi Hills is an incredibly upscale shopping district in Tokyo, even more upscale than the Ginza. I couldn't afford to look at the stores. We passed by a German-influenced illumination display, honoring 150 years of German-Japanese friendship. It was really beautiful and seemed traditional (I'm going to run it by my German friend to test its authenticity).  In the first two pictures you can see Japanese people chowing down on dark lager and brats, as well as a lovely carved statue with figurines and candles that constantly turned on a podium. Misa was hungry so we got her a lunch snack, and when Matt saw a bagel place he succumbed to his Jewishness. Pictured is his bagel with cream cheese and lox, which he ate in the face of Christmas with Nik. Roppongi Hills also has many beautiful sculptures, including a giant spider of which I didn'...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gamagori Fireworks Festival

By
Takeshima, at low tide. Every year, on the last day of July, a big fireworks festival is held in Gamagori, Japan.  Fireworks are very big in Japan, with each major city priding itself on its particular display, and swearing up and down to anyone who will listen that their fireworks are the best in the nation.  Gifu's displays were canceled this year because of the earthquake, so we took the opportunity to travel a little more than an hour by express train to Gamagori.  It's a cute little town, not far from Okazaki, with a famous island that is entirely shrine space (seen in the picture to the right). It was a wonderful, if long, day.  Four of us set out from Gifu and picked two more friends up on the way to the island.  We arrived early, perhaps too early, but we did miss the worst of the afternoon sun as we wandered around the island.  Even though I was very diligent about my SPF 50 sunblock, I still managed to get burned on both shoulders before the...
1 comment
Read more