Today was Munich day!!! Before the trip, this is the only city I recognized so I was most looking forward to this, but I think that has all changed now. We left the hotel at 9:10 this morning on the tram, which we took to the train station. We then had about a 45 minute train ride, where we were forced to sit really spread out because of all the travelers who were already seated. A few of us almost got off at the wrong stop because we couldn't see Dr. Feick or Hillary (we got off, stood there for a second, and got right back on)...
As soon as we got there, we took a tour of Munich. We started at the Glockenspiel, which really freaked me out. I thought the architecture was beautiful on the outside, but there were figures acting out a wedding scene of the king and queen up high on the side. It wouldn't have freaked me out if they were any bigger or smaller, but I did not like that they were human size. Even from so far away, it was clear they were our size and they very well could have been real people. Not into that. But then the clock struck 11:00 and they "danced". The top scene was the wedding, and the dancing was when the wedding party figures circled around the bride and groom, including the joker and knights. Right below that, there was the dancing scene, where it was a series of dancers stuck in one position, but when the clock struck, they rotated and spun.
We met our tour guide at the Glockenspiel, who took us all around Munich. We only went inside a few buildings but the architecture of the buildings on the outside was wonderful!
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| The tour guide told us that this was so that people could know what kind of services were offered in this city at a glance |
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| We were planning on going to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch, but it was really crowded and stuffy and touristy so we decided not to. I was really surprised that there are "regulars" there who have lockers for their personal steins. Seems like a place where I don't want to spend a ton of time |
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| These are real plants hanging from the ceiling in this one mall-ish area |
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| The hotel that Michael Jackson stayed in fairly often (see next picture) |
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| I was really surprised by this! This is a Michael Jackson memorial in front of the hotel he often stayed in. We didn't get close enough to see details, but it is covered in pictures of him and flowers. Of all people... |
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| A map for blind people of the city. There were braille words on here to say what building is what, and each building/path was exactly how it is in real life |
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| Saved this as a snapchat.... It's clearly the opera house. It was rebuilt several times. |
In the city of Munich, there were a few things that reminded me of places like New York City! For example, there was a guy who I watched when we first got there while he was setting up this weird set. He had a printed blanket that matched what he was wearing and how his face was painted. When we walked back later, I saw that he was a street performer, dressed up like a fountain. He had some weird pipe system that pumped water up into a vase he was holding and he poured it out like a fountain would while he interacted with spectators. There were also several bridal and groom parties that we passed who seemed be being going pretty crazy considering it was the early afternoon... I tried to get a selfie with one of the groups, but you can't see it very clearly. They're the kind of things you would see in NYC!
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| Crazy wedding party? |
We had the whole afternoon to ourselves, so a few of us picked up lunch at some random kiosk kind of place in central Munich, then took a walk through the English Gardens. It was a beautiful day, which made it that much more enjoyable! We first ran into a man making music from water glasses. We stood there and watched for a while because it was so mesmerizing. Then we just walked. Kind of got lost. But then we found our way! We went to a beer garden that we came across, where some other kids in my group had lunch (and I had a popsicle).
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| This is where the guy was playing the glasses |
While we were at the beer garden, we saw SO MANY DOGS! I was in heaven. I think it's kind of just starting in America, but all around Germany, people often walk their dogs without leashes. So once in a while, a dog would be attracted to the smell of food and come over. I got lots of puppy love :) My goal was to pet at least one dog in Germany and I pet at least 5 that day. It was like a dream.
On the way back, we stopped by this really cool area where there are man-made waves and people go down and try their best to surf there. The people who are there clearly go often and are good at what they do and the crowd that gathered to watch was in awe the whole time. It was hard to leave. (I hope the video below works)
After lunch, a few of us split off from the group to go souvenir shopping. We also made it a goal to get back to a dirndl shop to try on dirndls. They were very strict about not taking pictures but we're American teenagers. We had to.
Sydney and I were the ones who got to try them on, and the women working there went all out on our outfits. They found the right colored ribbons, made sure we had the right size blouses, gave us necklaces (ugly necklaces, but necklaces, nonetheless) to wear, and even did our hair! There are so many components that I didn't realize existed: blouse, dirndl, ribbon, apron, under apron, under skirt, headband... While she was tying the apron on, she asked if I had a boyfriend, which I thought was just her making small talk. Turns out that if the apron is tied on the women's left, she is single, right means taken and tied in the back means widowed or divorced. So during Oktoberfest, a man can tell at first glance if they should pursue a woman. They were trying their best to sell them to us, but they were SO EXPENSIVE! With all the separate parts, Sydney and I were each wearing over $300 worth of clothes... That's ridiculous! But I felt pretty (excuse the ankle brace)...........
For dinner, we met back up with this group at a restaurant that I can describe no other way but but hipster. There were trees with white bark coming out of the ground, with little lights hanging all over them. It had a very rustic feel and i really enjoyed eating there. We all ordered burgers, and I got an avocado burger, which was an
amazing choice (it was massive).
Veronica's Struggle of the Day:
While we were at the hipster burger place, I bent my straw, which somehow managed to bounce back, go up my nose and cut it. There was blood. Again.
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