Prost! Parliamentary Recess Post 1 of 5

I am back in Edinburgh after fourteen crazy days of travel. I am very happy to be back in this incredible city, but I thoroughly enjoyed my trip and I came away with some great experiences!

I wrote about all my travels as I was going from city to city and I will post the rest early this week as I type them up and add the pictures!

Traveling is exhausting. I am currently flying over Croatia. Earlier we flew over the sharp, jagged, tall Alps. They looked like the tips had been dusted with powdered sugar and there were tiny villages nestled in the bright green valleys. 

I had forgotten how beautiful Munich is in the Fall. It was still so green, but a lot of the trees were turning yellow and orange. I get nostalgic easily, but when I was in Pullach in the Fall it was almost overwhelming nostalgia. 

Immediately when I stepped off the plane and walked into the Munich airport, I started grinning stupidly because I was happy to be back. Also, I can't emphasize enough how great it is to be in a city that you know like the back of your hand. It was so low stress not even having to think about what train to take or how not to get lost. 

I was in a rush to meet up with everyone, but I had to drop my stuff off in Pullach. So I took the S1 to Dönnersbergerbrücke, changed to the S7 and walked to the Müller-Rees's. They weren't there, but left me a key. I dropped my stuff off and immediately headed back to Munich. It was cool because at every train stop there were groups of people wearing dirndls and lederhosen going to join the giant Oktoberfest party. 

I met Jacob at the Glockenspiel in Marienplatz. He was wearing Lederhose and was with a bunch of people from his program. We decided to get dinner. 

In front of the Glockenspiel

I became the official tour guide for the weekend. It was a lot of pressure to remember where everything was, and to do the city justice. They'd ask me for a restaurant recommendation and I was like...well we ate at Hard Rock Cafe a lot... and I know a great place in Pullach... Eventually we decided to see if we could get into the Hofbräuhaus.

It was super packed and there was a bouncer at the door with a rope, but we managed to slip in. We went upstairs. It was packed with people. There was a traditional German band that played the "Oans, Zwoa, G'Suffa" every few minutes. The ceiling was pretty and painted.

Inside of the Hofbräuhaus

We ordered giant pretzels and Maẞes. We were there for a while, thoroughly enjoying the ambiance. We'd stand up to sing along, "prost!" to all the people sitting around us, and swing our steins along to the music. We eventually went to the Oktoberfest after that. 

The first thing we wanted to do was go on the Ferris Wheel. The view from the top was so cool. There were so many colorful lights. You could see the tents, the spinning rides, and the crowd of people milling around.

After that we did the bumper cars and the Olympia Ring roller coaster. We walked around the Oktoberfest after that, seeing all the people in their dirndls and lederhosen, the stumbling people wearing gingerbread hearts, the people passed out in piles of trash, the schockofrucht and sugared nüẞe stands, and all the fun houses, rides, and game stands. We stayed until midnight to celebrate Jacob turning 20. After that, we headed home. We walked to Hauptbahnhof and I caught the train back to Pullach. I let myself in and went to bed. 

 The next morning I ate breakfast with Christof and Irmi. She served delicious fresh rolls with homemade jam. She also let me borrow a dirndl. So before I went to meet Jacob and Anne in Munich, I changed into the green and red dress that Irmi lent me. It was so cool wearing my dirndl around. It was fun to wear and I felt like I was legitimately partaking in Bavarian culture and celebration. 

Jacob texted me saying they'd be late, so I decided to walk from Hauptbahnhof to Marienplatz. I love Munich and it was nice to walk around and look at the pretty buildings.

Karlsplatz, looking toward Marienplatz

We eventually met up at Coffee Fellows for coffee, bagels, and muffins and tried to wait out the rain a little bit. To say it was torrential downpour would be an understatement.

As the official tour guide, I laid out a plan of action. We started at Sankt Paters Turm. We climbed to the top and took in the view of Munich. Then we went to die Frauenkirche, which I had actually never been to before. The ceiling was so tall and the stained glass was purple and teal and so cool looking.

Munich from the top of Sankt Peters Turm

Marienplatz from the top of Sankt Peters Turm

Me at the top of Sankt Peters Turm

Stained glass in die Frauenkirche

We then went to the yellow church, the Residenz, the place where Hitler made a speech, and stopped by briefly at Englischer Gartens. We then rushed back to see the Glockenspiel play. 

Me in front of the yellow church

The inside of the yellow church, which is surprisingly white

 We went to San Francisco Coffee Company to rest our feet and plan out the rest of the day. We went and ate dinner at Hauptbahnhof. Anne realized she lost her keys, so while she was looking for them, Jacob and I went to the lost and found. "Hallo, wir haben unsere schlüssel verloren," I told the friendly old German. "Es ist drei oder vier schlüssel an einem Ring," I explained to him. He looked and said he didn't have any. "Ihr Deutsch is perfekt!" he complimented us and asked our nationality. He then gave us directions to another lost and found, which unfortunately we got lost on the way to because our Deutsch isn't actually perfekt. 

We then went to the Oktoberfest. We went to the Augustiner tent because Irmi had given me three free beer vouchers. We found a few spots at a table and ordered. We met a lot people around us. One of the coolest things about the whole weekend was how much Germlish we spoke. We spoke to all the people around us in German and told them we were from California and they complimented our German and my dirndl. Everyone was really friendly. It got to the point that we were speaking so much German that Jacob, Anne, and I would speak to each other in German just because we forgot to switch back to English. I'm not claiming I'm anywhere close to fluent, but even with Irmi we could switch back and forth between German and English. It was great.

The tent was crowded and everyone was smiling and singing and swaying and standing on the benches. Even the security guard at the door was dancing. The tent seemed like one big intergenerational international party. And it was a lot of fun. We stood on the benches eventually and tried to sing along even though we didn't know the words and we prost-ed everyone constantly.

We left around 11:30 and I went back to Pullach. It was nice to stay with the Müller-Rees's because Irmi was very accommodating and welcoming the whole weekend.

One of the entrances to Oktoberfest

Vouchers and coasters at the Augustiner tent

 

Me in a dirndl at the Augustiner tent

On Monday morning I went over to see Herr Grimm before I caught my train. He seemed very happy that I stopped by and he asked repeatedly about Mom, Dad, Shannon, and "Mikey". I told him to visit us in California and he said he didn't like to fly and the only time he ever flew was off his bike one time.

It was really great being back in Munich. It was interesting, too, seeing it through a tourist's eyes. I had a different perspective of the city when I was with a bunch of people who'd never been there before. It was different when I lived there because I was younger and didn't have many European cities to compare it to, and I never really was a tourist there. Whenever I visited since, I've been with my family, so it just feels like I'm visiting an old home and not touring. As a tourist I was struck by how European it looked. It really retains a lot of old European charm. It's an old city and very beautiful. I'm excited to go to Istanbul, but I wish I had a little bit longer in Munich, Germany.