June 29- July 1, 2012
Traveling to Munich was my first time in the country of Germany, and I was beyond impressed by the extreme juxtaposition I found between Prague and Munich. Throughout my history classes I have always learned that Germany is a major European power, but I didn't expect to find such a modern city! I have travelled to London and Paris before, and while both radiate power and history, Munich had an air of sleekness that was impressive. From the BMW world to the reconstruction efforts undertaken by the town after WWII, the city is extremely well built. What perhaps surprised me the most, however, was how much the people of Munich appreciated the outdoors. The city has beautiful parks (The English Gardens being probably my favorite park of all time), a great outdoor festival culture, outdoor beergartens, and endless events to promote the city center and community in Munich.
Our first day in Munich (Friday), we arrived around 1 pm. And by arrived, I mean we came with 20 people from Prague! It took us a while to get our bearings, but when we finally figured out what trams to take and the passes to purchase, we all loaded up and headed to the hostel. Courtney booked this one for us, and it was by far the least expensive hostel in Munich. The cost reduction probably came from the fact that the hostel was literally a giant TENT (Hence the hostel's name "The Tent"). The hostel consisted of extended camp grounds where people had the choice to bring their own tent and camp in the grass, sleep on the floor in the public floor tent, or rent a bunk in the public sleep tent. There was no electricity in the tents, but they did have lights that lined the top at night. Our group, because we were a whomping 20 large, was able to rent the "group tent" - a smaller scale tent that had around 25 bunks in it. Upon first arrival I was a little skeptical (with camping comes bugs....), but The Tent proved to be a very fun community with great staff, good affordable food, a campfire at night and a relaxing place to spend downtime at.
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| The banner at the end of the gravel drive to our hostel |
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| The campfire and outdoor picnic tables. The tents in the background are the public sleeping tents. |
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| Our group tent. Colorful sheets! |
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| Our tent. Simple but charming (and really really really hot during the day). |
After checking in and settling in our tent, we headed back towards the city center for "Mikes Bike Tour". We met the guide underneath the Old Town Tower and began our journey with a couple dance moves and a little bit of adult humor. After getting to the shop, we all picked up a bike (mine was burnt orange!) and headed through town. We saw the National Theater, Ludwigsstrasse, Residenz, Chinesischer Turm Biergarten (and man were the ribs there delicious), Theatinerkirce (one of the most unique churches I have ever seen), the surfers, The English Gardens, and Maximilian street (Rodeo drive of Munich).
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| The Old Town Tower |
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| City Hall. While it looks like it is very old, it was actually built in 1907. |
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| Ready for the bike tour with my burnt orange bike! |
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| Rolling 20 strong. Our tour guide, Kyle, was a UT graduate, so all in all we had 21 Longhorns strolling through the streets of Munich. |
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| Nationaltheater. Built by Max Joseph, the first King of Bavaria (appointed by Napolean) |
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| Theatinerkirche - the inside is one of the most unique I have ever seen. The entire church is completely white. |
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| This memorial remembers the generals who have served in German wars. There are two lions positioned in the front. The one on the left (not shown), faces Residenz (the palace) and has its mouth open to symbolize the necessity for citizens to always question their rulers and stand up for their rights. This lion (on the right), is facing Theatinerkirche (the church) and has its mouth closed symbolizing the need to never question God. |
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| Eisbach - the river running through the English Gardens that everyone swims in. It is like a lazy river, and it's not uncommon to see people swimming in their underwear or even completely nude. |
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| On a sunny day, everyone flocks to the English Gardens to get some sun and enjoy the beautiful park. |
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| My ribs at the Chinesischer Turm Biergarten. |
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| The beirgarten's centerpiece. Musicians play from the second level. |
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Surfers! This is the only constant standing wave in the world, and surfers shred it all day every day. It's quite a sight. Last month Jack Johnson even came to ride it!
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That night I was feeling a little run down so I headed back to the hostel to sit by the camp fire and read my book while everyone else experienced Augustine Biergartens. The next morning the group wanted to go to Dachau Concentration Camp. Michelle had already been to this same one, and I have travelled to Mauthausen last time I was in Austria, and so we decided to spend the morning on our own and meet up with Sanjana and Angela, who were coming into town at 1. We went to Nymphenburg Palace and explored the grounds. What a beautiful place. It is just another exhibit of the joys that can come from beautiful gardens in Europe. I hope that I can help bring a piece of this serenity to Austin one day.
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| The Palace fills the horizon as you walk down the path towards it |
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| So much water and such a beautiful day. This palace ended up being the best way to spend the morning. |
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| Gotta do a handstand... |
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| Michelle and I about to embark on our walk through the grounds. |
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| Rivers ran through the entire grounds. Along with all of the beautiful water, we found natural raspberry bushes, flowers, and more. |
After the palace, Michelle and I went back to the hostel to meet up with Angela and Michelle. The four of us went to grab lunch and then headed back again to try and meet up with the group that had gone to Dachau. Unfortunately, miscommunication ensued and they ended up going into the city center without stopping back by the hostel, so we were on our own. By the time we got back to the city, it was a little too late for all of the sightseeing (and I was dying to go back to the park, but it was getting close-ish to sunset). We were all kind of bummed because everyone else seemed to be doing exactly what we wanted to be doing. We stopped back into Mike's Bike Tours to ask them of a good place to go, and upon seeing our distress of being left and now having anything to do, the owner agreed to let us have four bikes for the afternoon for FREE! In return, we graciously flyered for their shop. We had SO much fun riding throughout the city. We went back to The English Gardens, swam in the river, watched the surfers, and toured the city again (showing Angela and Sanjana the sites they missed that we saw on the tour Friday). Everyone laughed at me as I quoted the same history the tour guide told us back to Angela and Sanjana. After we returned the bikes (with many thank yous and smiles), we picked up a sushi snack (by we I mean the other three), and headed to a coffee shop to get some caffeine before our long night out to celebrate Forrest's birthday. At 9, we met up with the other 16 kiddos at the Hoffbrauhaus and had a dinner full of chants, cheers, toasts, and rowdy laughter celebrating Forrest's 21st! The night didn't end there, and we made it to one more biergarten before finally getting back to the hostel for some shut eye before our final day.
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| Back in the park. |
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| Michelle and Sanjana with their bikes! |
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| Sanjana at the parliamentary building. They replaced the roof with glass to symbolize the transparency of their government. |
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| Hofbrauhaus! This beirgarten can hold over 5000 guests at a time! It gets loud! |
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| In the Hofgarten |
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| The famous "Ranny Point". There's no better indicator of a good time. |
Sunday was pretty incredible. We went to BMW world and saw incredible cars and an impressive phenomenon where families took their children there as if it were an amusement park. The cars were awesome, and the facilities pretty amazing - it was almost like a club in some parts. After BMW world we went to the Olympic Park where Munich hosted the summer Olympics in 1974. The strucures are amazing and the facilities to die for. They've converted a lot of the space into gyms, and I could only imagine what it would be to train there. Talk about motivation. After the Olympic Park Ran and I went off to Konigsplatz, the museum district, where they were hosting the SLACKLINE WORLD CUP! To our surprise, they were also hosting the European speed climbing championships. Wow - we were both extremely inspired by the athletic power at the event, and even more so by how fun the atmosphere was. You could try slack lining out on your own, rock climb a small wall, zip line, juggle, indoboard, listen to live music, rave to the DJ, jump on trampolines, and more! The best and most amazing part was that it was all free. It literally was the coolest sporting event I've ever been to, and I've been to many. After that, we went back to the hostel to pick up our bags, headed to the Augustine Biergarten to watch the Eurocup finals (go Spain!) and then made the extremely long journey home to Prague. We arrived back at 6:30 am this morning to class at 9..... Good thing we're young.
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| BMX performers at the BMW world |
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| Little Nuggets. Best marketing I have ever seen. |
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| Olympic Park! |
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| The girls! We travelled in a strong pack. |
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| Slacklining world cup! |
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| Work out demos - get it Ran! |
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| Two USA athletes competed in the finals! Both were incredible. |
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| The European speed climbing championship! These athletes were unreal. Watch the video below - they're spidermen and women. |
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| Ran and I got balloons! |
All in all it was an extremely successful weekend! Munich, you were wonderful to us.
