Yet Another Beer…

July 23, 2007
After today we are officially done with our Christmas shopping!! WOO HOO!! I don’t think that I have ever been this organized, and I am pretty sure that Mike never has either. Last year we went shopping on the night before Christmas Eve for our presents for each other. I am sure that living in Europe has helped us to complete our Christmas shopping in July though! :)
After we finished our shopping, we passed by a restaurant that was selling a beer that we had not tried yet – Aylinger-, so we of course HAD to stop. (The restaurants here only sell beer from one brewery.) There are normally not many different kinds of beer that a certain brewery makes. A pils, lager, dark, wheat, and dark wheat. I normally do not like the wheat beers here as they taste like cloves. BUT there is something here called a Cola-weissen that is very tasty. Half coke and half wheat beer. Radlers (half lemonade, half lager) are also quite nice. Especially on hot days. Mike tried their wheat beer, which was surprisingly not clovey. Which made for a wonderful cola-weissen. :)

Art, Art, and More Art…

July 22, 2007
On Sundays many of the museums in Munich are only €1, and since it was looking pretty cloudy out (again), we headed to the Alte Pinakothek. The BIG art museums in Munich are broken up into three different buildings: the Alte Pinakothek – 13th to 18th century art-, the Neue Pinakothek – mainly 19th and some 20th century art-, and the Pinakothek der Moderne – modern art. We started with the Alte Pinakothek. It was a very nice collection which included many Rembrandt, Rueben, and even some Da Vinci and El Greco. The paintings were, of course, amazing.
After walking through the Alte Pinakothek, we headed over to the Neue Pinakothek. There were some Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, etc there. It was a very nice exhibit, but half the museum was taken up by a temporary exhibit that we didn’t buy tickets for. We walked over to the Modern Art building, but we know very few modern artists and don’t always understand modern art. I need help most of the time getting the point. Mike only really likes Dali, and there were only 2 Dali paintings in the whole building, so we skipped it. By then we had been looking at art for about 4 hours and were near our limit anyway.

A Quarter of a Century and Counting

July 20, 2007
Yup, that’s right. As of July 20th I am a quarter of a century old. I only panicked a bit and have now decided I am no longer counting. No more candles, etc. I still want to celebrate my birthday and presents are always okay. But I am doing away with counting.
Anyway… the day was beautiful, so Mike skipped class and we went out to one of the lakes about a half an hour away from Munich. It was a great day. We walked from the town of Starnberg to Possenhofen. It was a nice walk, except for the 2 km in which the sidewalk disappeared and we had to walk along the side of the road. That was NOT fun, but we survived unscathed. We had brought bathing suits so we could go swimming, but in Germany there are no changing facilities. That is what the beach is for. And bathing suits are optional. Many don’t use them. We were actually surprised that most of the kids and all the men had bathing suits on. Many were Speedos, but at least it covers things. Many of the women were topless, but you get used to it after awhile. Although I don’t think I could go topless sunbathing with my neighbors or family watching. Stripping down in front of them, putting my bathing suit bottoms on, and then - while topless – carry on a conversation with them. It would be weird.
In Possenhofen there is an old Palace that is still occupied. By whom we have no idea, but you can walk around it, which was nice. Then we headed to the train station to go down to Tutzing. We did not want to walk on the shoulder of a narrow road again, and we had already walked probably 4 miles. While we were there we saw a crazy lady. In Germany you buy your tickets for the transport before you get on the train, many of the tickets have to be validated before you get on the transport, but its all up to you. I have been riding the Public Transport for 2 months (with a ticket) and have never had my ticket checked. So… many people ride and take the chance that they will not be caught. The people that check your tickets on the subway, buses, and trams are in street clothes, so its very risky. The people that check your tickets on the train are in uniform. But on the trains not only do you get the fine, but you also have to pay twice the fare. Well, this lady got caught, wouldn’t give the people her name so they could write out the fine, so they took her off the train and called the police. We got there with the police. Wonderful. Her story was that she had a month pass, but was at the beach in Starnberg. It was there that some one got into her wallet and stole her transport card AND all her money. But they left her wallet. Well, the police sided with the train people and asked to see her wallet so they could get her name. She FREAKED. They had to take her wallet from her while she was screaming and trying to beat them away. They got her name though, gave her the fine (which was even more because she also had her bike with her), and she freaked even more. She ran off screaming at the police and train people. It was amazing. I’m guessing the police didn’t haul her in because it wasn’t worth the effort. Back home they probably would have tazored her and then hauled her in with multiple charges. But she went off to the other side of the tracks, got on her phone, and started yelling hysterically to someone. People are entertaining…
After the excitement, we got on the train to Tutzing and explored around the city. Its quite small, so it didn’t take that long. But we were able to find a non-naked beach, side on a small wall, and stick our feet in the water. It was a hot day, so it was quite nice. And we had a view of the Alps in the distance as well.
After we were done exploring Tutzing, we headed back into Munich and decided to have a Birthday beer in the Hirsch Garden. It’s the biggest beer garden in Europe and can hold 8,000 people. Well, we got there and it was a huge disappointment. It was the white trash beer garden of Munich. So… we downed our beers as quickly as possible and left.

The Most Disgusting Beer in the World

July 19, 2007
There is a beer garden near us that has been voted the prettiest beer garden in the Munich area before and it sells a beer made in Munich that we had not yet tried. It was a nice day, so we walked over there before we went grocery shopping. We had heard that the beer was not very good and the only reason it was still in production was due to tourists. We now know that this has to be the truth. It was horrid beer. And to top it all off, they were out of beer mats for Spaten beer. Most of the beers have their own beer mats, so we have been collecting them. Free souvenirs! :)

Back to the Oldest Brewery in the World

July 18, 2007
Well, after Mike told people that we had gone to the oldest brewery in the world, they wanted to go to. And Mike was, of course, more than willing to take them there. He was sure that they could not get there without him. I’m pretty sure that he just wanted more of what he claims is one of the best beers in the world. SO today, we headed back to Freising and the Weihenstephan Brewery. We were able to try a couple more of the different types of beer they brew that we didn’t last time. The rest of the beers that they brew that we didn’t try, we bought. They are dirt cheap in their store. There is a beer store in Mt Pleasant that will order anything that they can for you if you ask. When we get back to Michigan, and settled, we are going to find out if they can get the Weihenstephan beer in. We’re also going to check with Erica’s in Grand Rapids, so hopefully we can share the beer with others!

Paulaner Brewery Tour

July 17, 2007
We were able to go on a brewery tour for only €3 each through the school Mike goes to. It was all in German – of course – but I still picked up a bit of it. The guide had a very thick Bavarian accent (which is the most difficult German accent to understand.) But Mike was able to explain it to me after he stopped talking. The tour was incredible. It last an hour and a half, and he took us through the entire process. The best part for me was watching the bottle cleaning (they re-use the glass bottles up to 6 times), bottle filling, and labeling. I got another video of that, it was so fast Mike wanted to document it. :)
At the end of the tour we were told we would get a pretzel (a big soft pretzel), and a beer. Mike and I figured that the beer would be a small taste. We were wrong. At the end of the tour we were given two 0.5L beers, two big pretzels, and dinner. It was amazing. And all for €3. If we had known about it sooner, we would have probably gone a few more times.

Schloss Nymphenburg

June 28th, 2007
It was another crappy day, so we headed to yet another palace of the Wittelsbach Family. We had heard that this one was not worth the visit nor the money, but we decided to see for ourselves. It was only 1 euro cheaper than the Residenz and SOOO much worse! The rooms were in great disrepair and were in great need of a paint job. There is a Gallery of Beauties, that is incredible. It was housed in the Residenz, but after the WWII damage, it was sent here. There are about 36 portraits of beautiful women from a shoemaker’s daughter to a princess. These paintings are wonderful and probably the main reason that the entrance is almost that of the Residenz. The rest of it was okay, the palace looks huge, but you cannot go through much of it. Just one floor in the main building. At least with the Residenz the rooms are incredible and you can spend about 3-4 hours perusing the rooms. Not so with Schloss Nymphenburg. And on top of it all, there were renovations being carried out (so rooms were closed). Whatever was going on was killing me. My allergies flared up and I could barely breath. Not so good.

Residenz, Munich

June 22nd, 2007
Since it was raining quite a bit outside and we had heard great things about the Residenz, we went there on there. The rooms were amazing. The Munich Residenz was at one time one of the many houses of the Wittelsbach Family. They were the first Royal Family of Bavaria and have amazing houses. (We are defining “Royal” here as King and Queen.) Neuschwanstein is one of them and there is even one out on an island that is built to resemble Versailles. The palaces are beautiful inside and out.
This one was unfortunately highly damaged during World War II. Given the fact that Munich was a major center for the Nazi Party, most of the city was destroyed and has been rebuilt to as much of its original splendor as possible. It’s a big point in favor of war with paint guns. You get hit and you go home. Last man standing wins. No casualties, no destruction. If we could only keep people from cheating the world would be a better place…
Many of the rooms have been re-done. You get a (free) audio guide and with this are told exactly what pieces of furniture, art, etc. are originals. The rest have, obviously, been re-done. After we went through all the beautiful rooms, we went through the part of the castle that was not re-done. It costs quite a bit of money to re-construct all the rooms, so with some of the old Queen’s rooms, there are massive wall sized pictures of what they used to look like. All the walls and ceilings are white and in the exact shape of what it was pre-war. With all the fireplaces, shelves, etc. where they once where. Then any furniture that survived was placed where it once sat. It was really quite interesting.
The treasury is also open to the public and is well worth the visit. It is full of amazing pieces of jewelry, cases, relics, etc. that was part of the Wittelsbach Family. The highlight was a statue of St George that is incredibly be-jeweled and a huge case with etched glass, jewels, and beautiful metal work.

Sendlinger Tor Area

On the 20th of June we headed over to Sendlinger Tor after Mike got out of class. The tor is a gate into the city, which was really pretty. The main reason for heading out this was to see the amazing Asamkirche (church). The outside of the church is incredibly beautiful, but the inside is even better. Lots of artwork and incredible sculptures are all over the walls. The rest of the area that we wanted to wander through was under heavy construction, which was a bummer. Maybe later on in the month…

Tollwood Festival

On the 19th of June we headed back to the Tollwood Festival with some people from Mike’s Langauge School. We stopped for a beer at one of the many beer tents there and actually got to see Flamenco Dancers. How cool!

A Festival Day

On June 17th we celebrated out first anniversary. It seems amazing that it has already been one year. It was a beautiful clear day, so we headed into Munich for lunch at Hofbrauhaus before going to Olympia park. While we were in the city we stumbled upon yet another festival. This one was for the city’s 450th birthday. There were all sorts of booths set up with people selling all sorts of stuff. In one section there were booths set up for Medieval Craftsman. There were leather workers, house builders, glass makers, etc. that all had to work as they would in Medieval times. It was really interesting to watch, but incredibly crowded! After we could not deal with all the pushy people anymore, we headed to Olympia park.
Like I said, the day was incredibly clear, so we headed up into the turm (space needle like thing there.) It was so clear that we could clearly see the Alps surrounding the city. And the views of the city were spectacular. There are three levels to walk around, the first is indoors and much of what you are able to see is labeled on the windows, which is great. There is also a museum of Rock and Roll in the Olympiaturm, which is quite interesting. They have all sorts of memorabilia set out. It not very big, but what they do have is interesting.
After we were done looking out over Munich, we headed over to the Tollwood Festival that is right in Olympia park. It’s a large music festival that spans over about 3 weeks. There are, again, lots of different vendors selling a plethora of stuff, temporary bars, all sorts of ethnic food, etc. It was fun to walk around, but after the first festival, we had about enough of crowds. And given that it was a nice, hot, sunny day here in Munich (which doesn’t happen all that often), it seemed like most of Munich was out enjoying it! On the way back out of the park, we stopped by the big pond and saw MASSIVE carps. Honestly, I think a few of them might have been nearly as tall as me. I know I’m not that tall, but still. That’s a big fish!

Theresienwiese

On June 16th we headed over to the park used for Oktoberfest. We neglected to read the description of it BEFORE we went there. We got there, looked out over the park and couldn’t believe we wasted our time. Apparently when its not being used for Oktoberfest it’s a barren wasteland. Boxes of grass are separated by cement walkways and that’s it. Thankfully there was an interesting monument off to one side of the “park.” It is dedicated to Bavaria. There is a huge statue of Lady Bavaria and in the building behind her are busts of famous Bavarians. I had no idea who any of them where, expect a couple of the kings, but it was still really interesting.

The Englischer Garden

June 5, 2007
After Mike got out of class today, we headed over to the Englischer Garden to have lunch. We had heard rumor of this park being frequented by naked sun bathers. When we poked through the park on the Sunday before there were no naked people, apparently we just were not in the correct part of the park. As Mike and I were walking up to a pretty waterfall… I caught view of a naked man. Not so bad from far away; you cannot see anything. But we did stop and watch the guy wander through that part of the park for a few minutes. I think I would begin to feel self-conscious as I walked next to clothed people with babies, but hey, that’s just me. I have no idea if there were more naked people, we didn’t explore.
After a beer in the beer garden in Hofgarten, we did explore more of the markets. All along Kaufingerstrasse in the pedestrian area, there are fruit and vegetable stands. Its great! I love getting all the fresh fruit. After wandering through those, we went over to the main open air food market, Virktualienmarkt. There are meat vendors (in buildings), fruit and vegetable vendors, people selling spices, crafts goods, flowers, souvenirs, etc. Its wonderful. Not only is the fresh food wonderful, but it also helps my German vocabulary. Before we came here I new very little… just what I remember from the 6 weeks I learned German in 8th grade. It was a while ago.

Hofbraühaüs

June 6, 2007
After seeing a pretty church (Michaelskiche) we headed over to the Hofbraühaüs for a beer. Not a massive one like the last time. A normal person sized beer. Anyway… this band was playing while we were there. I cannot remember the technical name for this band type, but it was neat to see!

Hofbraühaüs and the other numerous Beer Gardens of Germany

June 4, 2007
Well, needless to say, Mike and I enjoy beer. I loved the real ale beers of Scotland and Mike kept promising me I would love German beer just as well. Today I tried something called a Radler. They take the light beer and mix it with lemonade. I know it doesn’t sound tasty, but I was assured it was. It was okay, but they put too much lemonade in it. Maybe next time??
The restaurants here only sell beer from one brewer, which is interesting. The brewers only make a light (pilsner), a dark (dunkles) and a wheat beer (wiese). There are a few variations in some of the restaurants and breweries, but not many. Either way, Scotland beer is way better. Germany may be better known for their beer, but Scotland much more superior in the beer making process. According to Mike, I just need to give it time and try more…

Lisa Arrives

June 7, 2007
One of our friends came out to see us, all the way from Vancouver, Washington. Her flight plan over was incredibly long, so we expected her to be exhausted by the time she got here. Not so. We took her to a couple of beer gardens though, and out for German food. What better way to start a German vacation than with beer? J Actually, it was a public holiday, so everything was closed down except restaurants and museums. A beer garden seemed like the better option.
We went out to dinner at a place called Weissebraühaüs. First, pork is very popular here. Not many other meats are sold in the stores, and if it is, its expensive, and the restaurants are much the same. Its torture for anyone like me who hates pork (except salami and pepperoni – but the turkey versions are just as nice.) Pork is not something I have ever liked and unlike asparagus, I have never grown to like it. It might not be a very fatty meat, but I think its vile. So at dinner, I had one of the few non-pork meals, German style mac n’ cheese. And it was wonderful. Pork knuckles, livers, diaphragm, etc just did not appeal to me at all. I may starve here… At least there are lots of fruits and veggies, and there is always good old pasta.

Peterskirche and the Virktualienmarkt

June 8, 2007
After Mike got out of class today, we headed to the Virktualienmarkt for lunch. You can get lachs sandwiches there. Mike’s mom and dad make them every year for Christmas, and we wanted to try the real German version. It’s a sandwich with smoked salmon and onions. I am not going to lie, the texture is very odd for me and I can never really eat a whole one. They are REALLY good, but the fish has the texture of sashimi. But after poking around the market again and buying dinner, we went over to Peterskirche. (A kirche is German for church.) The church is very beautiful and ornate. You can climb up the towers to see the city from above. It was a very tight climb up, which was slightly stressful at times since the walkway is meant for two-way traffic. But we got to the top, and the view was wonderful. The town hall in Munich is absolutely beautiful. It has a massive glockenspiel that is at about eye level from the top of the towers. We couldn’t see the Alps because it was too hazy, but it was great to see the city. There are lots of other towers in Munich to climb and we have a lot of days left to climb them!