Munich, the Happiest Place on Earth

WARNING: THIS BLOG ENTRY CONTAINS GRAPHIC SCENES OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS AND SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED BY RELATIVES, COWARDS, OR ANYONE WHO STILL, FOR SOME REASON, HOLDS ME IN HIGH REGARD


I think that should give you a pretty good idea.

Munich was a trip that I had been looking forward to for a long time because it is the Mecca of beer drinkers. Not only is some amazing beer brewed there, it is also the setting for the annual, world-renowned beer festival Oktoberfest. It's also home to the very famous Hofbräuhaus beer garden. Additionally, it is the hometown of football team FC Bayern-München, who just so happened to be playing in the Champion's League final match that weekend against Inter Milan. Needless to say, I was pretty excited once I got on that train.

Rachel and I decided to forgo the hostel idea in lieu of a surprisingly cheap hotel with actual beds and a private shower. Arriving, we were pretty excited to find that we even had a balcony with a nice view of the city. Not bad for 30 Euro a night per person.

Anyway, we didn't spend much time in the room because that was precious time that could be spent with the good people of Munich in the Hofbräuhaus. We found the first taxi we could and hit the road. Once we reached the Hofbräuhaus I was too excited to snap a picture of the outside. I did, however, manage to take a picture of this mural, which captures one of the great ideals of Munich:

"Thirst is worse than homesickness"

My kind of people. We grabbed a spot at a table in the inner courtyard and ordered exactly what I was craving since we arrived: A massive pretzel and a massive mug of beer.

Contentedness

After a couple mugs, a couple conversations with random people at our table, and a couple hours had gone by, we decided to wander around the city at night and then head back to the hotel to rest up for our big day of beer, sausage and football.

Rathaus (city hall) at night

The next morning we headed back to the center of the city to take the elevator up to the 9th floor of the Rathaus and see the city from the observation deck.

Rathaus during the day

The view from the Rathaus is pretty excellent. You can see all across the city, provided it's a clear day (mostly true here).

Buildings around Marienplatz

A portion of Marienplatz

View up from the observation deck

When we had gotten our fill of the cityscape, we set off to fill our stomachs. We were, after all, in Munich, and we needed a proper Munich breakfast. What do the locals eat for breakfast around here?

Oh yeah, sausage and beer.

Not kidding, this was at 11am. The locals were all gathered in an outdoor food area eating Wurst and drinking beer. Many of the patrons were drinking out of the big, liter-sized mugs. And this wasn't just the crazy 16-30 crowd, it was also parents and elderly folk. These people really know how to live.

Again, I'm quite content

After that we walked through the city (fully taking advantage of that handy law that allows you to drink outside) and made a stop at one of the coolest churches ever. The Awesome Church. That is actually its name.

Well, almost. I still prefer Awesomekirche

As far as I can remember, the story of this place is that two men who apparently had too much money laying around decided to make this ridiculously awesome (Asam) church for themselves. This angered the city folk, who demanded access. Now it is happily crawling with tourists.

The church is quite amazing though:






Well enough culture, time to get back to Munich proper.

It was about time to go find somewhere to watch the big game, the final match between FC Bayern-München and Inter Milan. It should be clear who I was rooting for, given the fact that I was in Munich at the time, I love Germany, and I absolutely despise Italian football. A lot. Quit with the crocodile tears and play the freaking game, stop fishing for fouls.

Anyway.

I was in no shape to watch the game. I was severely under dressed. I decided to head to a store to better outfit myself for the game before heading to the Hofbräuhaus.

I finally got my Deutschland jersey, in my favorite city in Deutschland. Too bad Ballack isn't playing this year... oops

And then inside, where we found a delightful crew of eccentric locals and drunk football hooligans:

Those hats are EXCELLENT

As it turns out, we were told by a couple people that the game would not be televised there. Sad. We got a beer anyway and then set out to find a suitable place to watch. Not knowing where else to look, I did what seemed most logical at the time and found a group of drunk Germans in FC Bayern jerseys and asked them where to go. They pointed us in the direction of a place they said would be "pretty cool".

Yes, this is a good idea

Even found some friends there!

It was going to be a fantastic game.

But alas.

FC Bayern did not have it in them, and Inter Milan won. Disappointed, we all left the building and proceeded to quietly return to the Hofbräuhaus, where we were met with other disappointed, but still happy, drunk Germans.

The next morning Rachel and I set out to explore the huge Englischergarten in the city. What we found was the Chinesischerturn and more beer and sausage.


Walking through the park later, we heard a bunch of very loud Germans singing FC Bayern songs, and then we saw what I consider to be the greatest accomplishment in automotive technology mankind has ever achieved: The Biermobile

WHAT HAS SCIENCE DONE?!

Let me give you the rundown of this masterful piece of machinery: 12 inebriated football fans pedal while sitting on bar stools, singing and drinking beer, and motoring through the park. To all of you who are still thinking about what to get me for my birthday this year, this is it. I'm sure 11 of my friends would be willing to pitch in for a stool. We will also require a keg.

Linnea then brought me out of my trance by letting me know that something important was happening in Marienplatz: FC Bayern was returning to Munich and there was a HUGE cheering crowd waiting to greet them.

Time to move.

Here is what we found in Marienplatz, hundreds of fans waiting to congratulate their team on their accomplishments:

Truly devoted fans greet their team like this regardless of the outcome of the game.

I also found an incredible show of German marketing strategery:

Now that is just smart advertising right there

The next hour saw a lot of celebrating and a lot of garbage.

Well isn't this just a terrible day waiting to happen

Then our day completely changed, because we ran into a group of Germans that we started talking to who were AWESOME. They loved us, we loved them, and we then proceeded to spend the rest of the day with them, singing FC Bayern songs, drinking beer, running through the streets, speaking drunk German, and trying to stop our new friend from passing out everywhere we went. It was some very, very fun times.

New friends! The guy on the right might be intoxicated.

This poor girl lost her brother in the chaos. Very sad. He later got right up and kept on going though, a true miracle.

Oh they are going to be really upset once they learned someone took a picture of this. ...and put it online

After running through the fountain, which was an absolute necessity for some reason or another

Harassing some street performers. They were not amused. Fun fact: Street performers in Munich have to apply for a license first. That's right, they have to actually audition in order to play in the streets. I think you'll agree that this should be true for every major city

From here on, the night, along with the pictures, gets a little blurry. After a long, hilarious visit to a beer cafe out on the street, and after I reaffirmed the idea that my German speaking abilities are better when drunk, we said goodbye to our new friends (I'll be finding you guys if I ever make it back to Munich, mark my words) and headed back to the hotel one last time.

Munich is an amazing place. The city is beautiful, the people are extremely friendly, they love football and beer, and they have excellent food. To all of you who are afraid I'll get a job over in Europe and not come back, that is now a very real possibility. You better hope nobody in Munich is looking for chemical engineers.

I love Munich.