munich - day 1: a museum, a park, a prince

we are off to munich thursday evening. about 4 hours on the train. funny thing, when we are about to get off the train in munich, i realised an old classmate, doris, has been sitting across the aisle from me, with her back to us, since salzburg! she lives in munich now, and is an actress. i had not seen her since we graduated from school, or perhaps a little later. way, waaayyy back in the 90s.

convenient that the hotel is just across the street from the central station. we are rather tired, so no testing the munich nightlife.

on friday, we get a chance to check out the breakfast buffet. it is a delight! sepp will always love the hotel for this. :) well fed, we walk down towards the pedestrian area, through the karlstor. there are lions everywhere, painted and decorated, some very brightly coloured, playful, others sexy or sporty some even sinister. you can see the soccer lions in a previous post, check out the photo album for more. i spot a nice pair of comfy geox shoes and tell sepp i'll only be ten minutes, but i have to get them. i keep my promise, too. that's how guys love us girls, i'm sure - buying shoes in a matter of minutes! :) you can actually see the shoes in that pic in tuesday's post.

munich seems smaller than it is, at least the city centre makes it appear that way. i am surprised at the friendliness of people. at the post office, the clerk says "have a nice weekend". that does not happen in vienna. and in munich, they seem to do that everywhere. wow. you actually feel like you are welcome!


marienplatz, munich

the weather is a lot better than we had expected - they had promised snow, sleet, rain, rain, rain. it is not exactly warm unless the sun comes out for more than a peep (and it does occasionally), but at least it is dry. we walk all the way down to the karl valentin (munich comedian, author, playwright, and original)& liesl karlstadt (his partner on stage) musäum. quite fun. what a quirky character he was. quite the genius too!


karl valentin

we have a look around the viktualienmarkt, a partly open-air market which i am sure is a lot busier when it's warm outside. we buy bavarian pretzels, a must, of course.

we decide to check out the english garden, though of course there is no much to see. what we get is relative solitude, and wet feet. :) it had snowed the previous weekend, and though much of it is gone in the streets, there's quite a bit of snow left in the park. and huge puddles. and slush. there are some photos that can give you an idea, like this one:


not very inviting, is it?

a woman is actually stranded in the middle of what could be described as a small shallow pond after she has misjudged the snow bridge across it - it was only slush after all, and did not bear her weight. it's fun though, in a way, wading through the slush. we have nowhere to go, so who cares, really. okay, my toes do. they are a little *cold*. :)

we make our way back to the hotel to get out of our wet shoes and socks, and i actually take a very short nap. hunger drives us out into the cold a while later. sepp suggests checking out a restaurant called prinz myshkin, recommended by the guidebook. it is WONDERFUL. if anybody gets a chance, check it out. it's a vegetarian restaurant, and they serve delicious food. honestly. we love it so much that we come back the next day! nice waiters too. not only in terms of friendly, if you girls know what i mean. ;)

enough walking for that day! we are quite knackered by the time we get back to the hotel, and we do need some beauty sleep.

pictures of day 1 can be found in my photo album