I arrived in München, Deutschland at 6:30am after a most uncomfortable night’s rest in a train compartment with five strangers. I found my way to the S-Bahn and waited for the train to Deisenhofen. While waiting, I was asked (in very bad German) if I spoke English and when I nodded, he asked me how to get to the airport. Luckily, the train in front of me had a huge sign on it that said Flughafen, which I pointed to. I smiled, feeling confident after my first interaction in Germany. Of course, when I asked the nice German man if the next train would stop at Diesenhofen and he answered with a kind “ja” I thanked him with a prompt “grazie.” Oy. I managed to get on the correct train then off again at the correct stop where I was met by a friendly face: a young woman who spent a year at my high school in California—Martha! She took me home then had to take off again for an internship, so I spent the day with her twin brother, Paul. He served as a wonderful tour guide around the city of München. We stopped first at the University that he will be attending in a few weeks; an old and magnificent building. From there we walked past the theatre and opera house and into downtown. We saw Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s home (he lived there for a year in 1781) which had been turned into a marvelous thread and notions shop. Then we walked through the most famous central square and up the several thousand stairs of St. Peter’s bell tower to find the most beautiful view of all of München. It was one of the few towns to escape the detrimental bombings of World War II so the juxtaposition of the old buildings and the new was quite striking from this birds-eye view. It reminded me of Venice in that way; celebrating the old while still moving forward in idea, industry and art.
After a lunch of liverwurst we wandered through the Hofbrauhaus and then through the Englische Garten. This public park is enormous, fields spreading far and wide with a river running through it. At the entrance to the park is a particularly violent section of the river for which a special, shorter surfboard has been invented for the surfers here. They wait in line, surf for five to thirty seconds, and then let themselves be swept into the river (or wipeout, as the case may be). Halfway through the park is the section of the river where skinny dipping seems to be encouraged. Traditional Bavarian music can be heard as you get closer to the Biergarten on the other side of the park.
Once we arrived here, we took a bus back to downtown where I met Martha once more and we headed to Wiesn (Oktoberfest)! As night fell, the grounds were crowded and glowing. It was like an enormous carnival with rides, game booths and treats everywhere. As soon as we arrived, Martha made a B-line to get me a traditional Lebkuchen Herz, a heart-shaped spice cookie with various phrases written on them in frosting. One is supposed to buy an appropriate saying for one’s friend or loved one so they can hang it around their neck while they celebrate Oktoberfest. So Martha hung a little heart around my neck which said “Ich hab dich sooooooo lieb”(appropriate because of her abundant usage of vowels and exclamation points when she communicates via the interwebs).
Then we rode two rides which, before they became terrifying, gave beautiful views of all of Wiesn lit up. We did not spend very long there, though, because we planned to spend all of the following day celebrating Oktoberfest. And that…that was a day to remember.
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