Weekend in Munich

After 9 cold, gray and rainy days the sun finally shone over Munich (Yes, we did count the days and there were 9). It happened last Thursday afternoon. I hate to talk about the weather once again but I don’t remember something like this ever happening to me. After a couple of days where you do not see the sun it starts getting to you. The lack of vitamin D definitely has an effect on the way you feel: you have less energy, are less motivated and feel like doing fewer activities. I don’t remember ever experiencing such an overwhelming joy and happiness from just seeing a clear sky, from just seeing the sun. That morning the sky was cloudy and gray, just like the prior nine days, but when I got out of school and I saw the sun I couldn’t stop smiling. And I was not the only one. You could feel a new vibe all over the city; you could feel how happy and bubbly people were out on the streets. The cafés, restaurants and beer gardens set up once again their tables and chairs outside on the sidewalks, people were sitting outside enjoying lunch, a coffee, an ice cream or a beer, a lot more people were driving their bikes and a lot more were out walking. But as the days go by and we get deeper and deeper into the fall the continuous gray days will be more the norm than the exception so I just need to get used to it; and just like a good friend told me the other day: this is all part of the whole experience as well.
So given the weather conditions I explained earlier, most of my time last week was spent just between school, studying at home, jogging, and watching some of the movies I’ve purchased. However on Friday I went out to walk around the city center since I had not done it during a while. I had a long lunch with a friend, did some window shopping and went to Hügendubel (the German version of Barnes & Nobles) where I purchased a fantastic European guide from Lonely Planet (1284 pages with information on all the countries in eastern and western Europe) which I’m now carefully studying and have begun to make a preliminary plan of my backpacking trip early next year. I was surprised by how full downtown was. There were a lot of events taking place that afternoon. All of the stores in the area were for example opened until midnight (they usually close at 8pm) in what was the longest shopping day in Munich. The stores were testing how people would respond to them being opened until later. To make this a livelier event and attract more shoppers as well, the city then planned a series of street performances or concerts all over the downtown area.

The streets were also crowded on Saturday. Everywhere you went in Munich you saw a mass of people: it was great!!!. There was a Street Festival on the “Leopold Strasse”: a street right next to the university which is full of cafés and restaurants. The place was filled with artists displaying and selling their work, music, food, and games. There were also lots of people who were wearing their shirts of the FC Bayern since there had been a game earlier in the afternoon; and even though there was not really a winner – the game was tied 1-1 -, fans from both teams were out celebrating. And I also saw a big number of people wearing the traditional Bavarian dresses (leather pants for the men and the Dirndl for the ladys) all over town. I can only guess that all of this was a preamble to the upcoming Oktoberfest which starts next Saturday, September 22nd. That afternoon my friend Eliana G had also driven to Munich from Frankfurt with a friend. So I caught up with them in the infamous Marienplatz later that afternoon to give them a tour of the city. I have to admit that since this was my first time giving an official tour of Munich and I basically had cero advanced notice to prepare for it, we even ended up walking by places I had never been before and for which I did not have all the historical background and general information I usually like to give. But nevertheless I think I did a pretty decent job with the rest of the tour. Afterwards we went to eat to a French Restaurant where the food was to die for and where Carlos F caught up with us to once again have ourselves a little German school reunion. For me it was great to change from the German and Italian food which is where I always end up eating whenever I eat out in Munich.

Street Festival on Leopold Strasse -- Adri, Carlos F, Eli

On Sunday I had already made plans with some friend to have a Fondue cookout in my apartment (in my little matchbox or Streichholzschächtelchen…..remember?!?!). Now, don’t think I already knew or that because I’m here I’ve learned how to make fondue. No, no no. Not yet at least. We have a friend from Austria who had all the tools required to make a fondue; he even brought the special fondue cheese from his recent visit to Austria/Switzerland. Due to popular demand I took the opportunity that I had some people over to make a short video of my apartment. Well, now that I´m here trying to upload the video it ends up that it is too big and this blogger website does not allow me to upload it. So I´m going to try to edit it to try to shorten it or else I´ll have to creat a new video. Just stay tuned.

And since the days have been so nice lately I also decided to make a couple of short videos of my neighborhood so you get a feeling about the area where I’m leaving. Disclaimer: since this blogger website does not take very big files I made several short videos instead of a long one.
This video just shows me in one of my favorite’s hobbies: being somewhat of a clown (payaseando) and talking smack!!!

The videos show my route to the subway-tram station. As I leave my building and walk past a Laundromat I make a right, walk 2 blocks (past a bunch of apartment buildings, little stores, 2 or 3 beer gardens, some restaurants and bakeries) to the tram stop that takes me to school or the entrance to the subway station that takes me directly to downtown Munich (Munich central station) in about 5 minutes.