München

I arrived in Munich and instantly fell in love. The vibe of the city, the scenery, the architecture, the markets, all of it. I love Munich and could see myself living there at some point even. I arrived at my hostel and then took a walk around town. I headed down toward town hall, more commonly known as Marienplatz and could not get enough of it. Look how pretty the building is!

from the ground

from old peter across the way

So, I couldn't resist the urge to go up to the top and continue admiring the details in every corner of this building. So I sucked it up, paid the two euro and headed up to the top. It was quite worth it! I would recommend it to anyone who goes to Munich. Also, it's one of the only buildings in Europe that has been modified and an elevator added, so if your joints aren't up for the 15 floors of stairs, there's another option. I wound up going to the top of Old Peter as well, which is across from the Marienplatz. That was great, it had 14 flights of creaky old wooden stairs, it had a very authentic climbing to the bell tower feel, plus was a great place to take pictures of the Marienplatz! Again, I recommend going up there if you're in Munich, and it's cheaper than the Marienplatz...speaking of, back to the nifty details!

like this

And that, look at the Labyrinth pattern in the center of town hall!

rawesome sneaky, wall-climbing dragon too!

The fish fountain in front, happiness!

So after my walk I came back and crashed pretty hard...early morning flight from Pisa, SCARY early morning flight Swiss Alps and all their turbulence. And the next day I headed out and explored the Deutsches Museum. This place is the largest and oldest science and technology museum in the world and it is as gloriously nerdy as it sounds. I kinda scoffed when my little travel book told me you couldn't do it in a day, but damn...I don't think I could have done it in a week. They have a full U boat, an original Wright brothers plane, a V2 missile a cell magnified 3200 times and you can WALK through. I was wandering through and saying hi to the rough endoplasmic reticulum and the mitochondria...how awesome is that? I spent the entire day there and sadly didn't make it through half of it. They have everything! Great day if I do say so myself. I got my science on and that always leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside.

The next day I stumbled onto Viktualienmarkt, a giant market in city center with fruit stands, cheeses, meats, fish, coffee stands, bakeries, and an amazing soup shop. I stopped and got myself some pumpkin curry soup(!!!) just as it began to snow, it was lovely. Because it was so chilly out I opted for another museum day, this time art, art, and more art. Museum Brandhorst got me the most excited. There are pictures of one exhibit I found particularly interesting. It is by Damien Hirst and is titled, "In this moment we are victims helplessly clinging to an environment that refuses to acknowledge the soul" Depressing title, but interesting! Every single one of the dots is a different prescription pill...its overwhelming I couldn't even get the entire piece in one shot.

crazy, no?

Another day I wandered over to the Residenz. The Residenz is this horribly gaudy collection of buildings, but is endearingly quirky at the same time. I found this fountain, which continues to boggle my mind/make me immensely happy. It has weird combinations of creatures fighting, some examples:

fox/lion versus mer-goat?

winged and finned cherub riding a lobster?

So near the Residenz I found and explored the English Garten, the Ancient Egyptian Museum, and the original headquarters of the Third Reich. Munich is the city that Hitler got his start, so as you can imagine it is loaded with history, one of those places you really wish the walls could talk. At the end of that day I decided I would check out the famous Haufbraus house and then went to Augustiner...AMAZING beer! The building is an old stable house, it has great details and a fun atmosphere. Not to mention good brews, made in the Bavarian Alps by monks, which just makes me happy. The waitress also gave me a glass, all good things, because that's what Munich is. I had one more day in Munich, but I spent it out at Dachau and I will write a separate entry for that because it is more than deserving of extra time. Plus I want to leave my Munich entry on a happy note!

This picture is how Munich makes me feel, not to mention it was SNOWING in it which was glorious! (And for anyone that hasn't seen me in a while, yes I dyed my hair dark again)

So you should all go there as soon as possible AND you should take me with you! Sounds like a plan to mmmeeeee!