Salzburg
I can’t believe June is over. Time just flew by. I spent most of the month adapting to my new life as a student (which also means living under a student budget) and getting acquainted with Munich: lots of walks around the city, visiting parks and museums; having a cup of coffee, an ice cream or a beer in one of the many platz or town squares going to different stores trying to learn what each one sells, who has the best prices and and who offers more variety. I also took advantage of the good weather we had during most of June by going to some cultural and outdoor activities offered in many of the parks and squares by the city of Munich. I went to Tollwodd, the arts and crafts festival I told you about that takes place in the Olympic Center. I also went to a Greek festival with traditional food, music and dances. Three weeks ago there was a weekend long celebration of Munich’s 849th birthday with food, an arts and crafts fair, and traditional music. I also went to a Lake on the north part of the city to relax and get some sun. This is one of the favorite activities of the Münchner during the summer months. They love to go to one of the many lakes near the city and just enjoy the day the same way we would enjoy the beach: lay down on the grass or a chair to relax, read a book and get a sun tan, go for a swim on the lake (very cold for me), barbecue some beef or traditional German sausages, play volleyball or soccer, and spend some time chatting with family and friends.
Feldmoching See (Lake)
I also visited the new and old Pinakhothek (art galleries) on a Sunday. Since these 2 museums are state-owned they only cost 1 Euro on Sundays as opposed to 9 Euros on any other day of the week (this is an example of the things I´ve learned to research when you live on a student budget). The new Pinakhothek is the most important museum of art of the 19th century in the world. It is home for example to one of Vincent van Gogh´s most famous painting: “Vase with Sunflowers”. Very interesting museums which are worth visiting!!
The first weekend I was here I also went to Salzburg (in Austria) with some of my classmates. Salzburg is right on the border with Austria and if you take a regional train it is only 2 hours away. For regional trains you can buy what is called a Bayern ticket. This tickets costs 27 euros and it is good for up to 5 people. The ticket is good for an entire day and you can travel on all transportation systems (trains, subways, buses, trams) in the entire Bayern region (including Salzburg) with the same ticket. Salzburg was the birthplace of Mozart and it is also the city where the movie the Sound of Music takes place. Like many of the cities in the South German-Swizerland-Austria region, Salzburg is a charming city. It is crossed by the Salzach river and with a castle on top of a hill, a lively pedestrian zone and many churches and small museums.
Salzburg
The week before last was already the last week of classes for some of the students of the school. One of them was my Japanese classmate. So as a good-bye gift to us she brought her contrabass and played 3 songs: a classical piece, a Japanese song and the wedding march for one of our teachers who was getting married that weekend. This is my classmate who is also a soprano singer. The best of it all is that she also sang the Japanese song. Another Japanese girl from a different classroom joined her in the song. They sang beautifully and I was amazed by how talented they are. As a matter of fact there are quite a good number of students who have a musical talent and who have promised to perform for us before the end of this month. Of course after listening to the Japanese girls singing there is no way I’m opening my mouth to talk about my previous renditions of mariachi songs and boleros I’ve played in public with the guitar: "pero sigo siendo el reeeeeeyyyy!!!!" What was I thinking back then?? Why didn’t anybody stop me???
On Friday the school had a farewell cookout of traditional Bavarian food: white sausages (made out of veal), pretzels, mustard, and of course beer. They also served a very popular drink in Bayern: Radler (the German version of a “refajo”). It is a mixture of beer and lime/lemon soda so it does not have the bitter taste of regular beer. And when served cold it can be very refreshing. That night there was also a Brazilian/Cuban party at a bar/restaurant in the suburbs where one of my classmates works from time to time. Till this day I’m still trying to figure out why they called it a Cuban party too. It ends up that everything about the party was Brazilian: the music, the food, and the decorations etc etc. I think they did it to attract more people to the place. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun. There was a girl from Brazil singing and playing the guitar. One of the Brazilian guys from the school accompanied the singer by playing one of the songs on the guitar. I’m telling you, this people are all very talented and very musical. The party was a lot of fun and we left it too late to catch the last train of the night back to the main station. Since the next train was not leaving until about 5 o’clock in the morning (by then it was 3:30 am) we decided to get a taxi to the main station and then catch a night bus from there. We were also starving by then and we had the feeling the only place in Munich were we could find eat something at that time would be at the station. There were 5 of us who needed to get to the station to then take separate night buses from there to our respective homes. We got to the station around 4 o’clock and had to pay a total of 16 euros (not bad at all since we split the cost between 5). We had something to eat and discovered that the first subways departed the main station around 4:30 am. And that is just what we did. We waited for the first subway of the day. When I go to my stop the first glimpses of daylight were showing up. I decided to wait there an additional 10 minutes for the bus to avoid having to walk at that time. And since I was tired and cold that was my best alternative. I was very happy when I finally got home, took-off my shoes, put on my PJ’s, got underneath the blankets and went to sleep!!!
On Friday the school had a farewell cookout of traditional Bavarian food: white sausages (made out of veal), pretzels, mustard, and of course beer. They also served a very popular drink in Bayern: Radler (the German version of a “refajo”). It is a mixture of beer and lime/lemon soda so it does not have the bitter taste of regular beer. And when served cold it can be very refreshing. That night there was also a Brazilian/Cuban party at a bar/restaurant in the suburbs where one of my classmates works from time to time. Till this day I’m still trying to figure out why they called it a Cuban party too. It ends up that everything about the party was Brazilian: the music, the food, and the decorations etc etc. I think they did it to attract more people to the place. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun. There was a girl from Brazil singing and playing the guitar. One of the Brazilian guys from the school accompanied the singer by playing one of the songs on the guitar. I’m telling you, this people are all very talented and very musical. The party was a lot of fun and we left it too late to catch the last train of the night back to the main station. Since the next train was not leaving until about 5 o’clock in the morning (by then it was 3:30 am) we decided to get a taxi to the main station and then catch a night bus from there. We were also starving by then and we had the feeling the only place in Munich were we could find eat something at that time would be at the station. There were 5 of us who needed to get to the station to then take separate night buses from there to our respective homes. We got to the station around 4 o’clock and had to pay a total of 16 euros (not bad at all since we split the cost between 5). We had something to eat and discovered that the first subways departed the main station around 4:30 am. And that is just what we did. We waited for the first subway of the day. When I go to my stop the first glimpses of daylight were showing up. I decided to wait there an additional 10 minutes for the bus to avoid having to walk at that time. And since I was tired and cold that was my best alternative. I was very happy when I finally got home, took-off my shoes, put on my PJ’s, got underneath the blankets and went to sleep!!!
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