Timezones, Languages, and Other Differences
The struggle is real. Jetlag is a thing. It is something I have never truly experienced before. Flying to the east coast really doesn't count, especially when you're young. After arriving yesterday and going to bed around 9pm, I woke this morning up sure that I had received a full nights sleep and that it must be at least 7 o'clock. It was 1:30am. I got another seven hours of really awful "sleep" after that.
Landeshauptstadt München. A large gothic style building on the Marienplatz. Home to visitor's center, stores, and restaurants.
For breakfast we headed over to a local grocery store and grabbed some cereal and fruit. It was pretty amusing to recognize certain American brands, even if they had slight tweaks to them. Kellogg's Frosted Flakes became Frosties, while other brands bailed entirely and just went with some hardcore German word. After breakfast he hit up the underground and got our 4-day ticket and proceeded to catch a ride to Marienplatz, Munich's central town square. Lots of tourists here. After poking around here we made our way to St. Peter's Church a block away. Inside was a service taking place, which we quickly passed through, and outside was the door that lead up the very top of the steeple. The walk to the top takes about fives minutes considering all the people but the view is worth it (see Photos). We used this as an opportunity to scout out where we wanted to head next. We decided to head north toward the English Gardens. On the way we walked through the Viktualienmarkt, a massive outdoor market/beer garden.
The English Gardens are a huge expanse of green. Lots of variety here. Some places are immaculately maintained with hedges and flowers, some flat and wooded like Central Park, and others overgrown and hilly like Golden Gate Park. In the gardens we found Munich's hidden surf culture. Yes, surf culture. Imagine a small waterfall coming out from under a bridge that produces enough chaos to surf. Dozen's of wetsuit endowed locals all lined up ready to hit the "waves." VIDEO HERE
Chinese Tower at Chinesischen Turm
Next up in the center of the English Gardens was Chinesischen Turm, the world's oldest beer garden going back to 1789. My favorite meal so far, our Chinesischen Turm meal consisted the german classics: bratwurtzs, giant soft pretzels and beer. After this tremendously heathy lunch, we slowly wound our way back home.
I didn't appreciate how truly weird not have everything in English would be until today. Sign, menus, directions, all in German. The visitor's center with their english maps was a life saver. Today was also the first day I got to experience the European public transportation system and my take away is... we really suck. America seriously needs to step up our game. The underground (U-Bahn) absolutely puts any subway system in the US to shame. It is clean, quiet, and an enjoyable experience; nothing I've ever had on any American underground. Even on the surface everything is better. Smaller non-obnoxious cars and smaller cleaner roads. American transport is truly depressing. +1 point for Germany.