Ah, Munich!

Our train from Wittenberg to Munich was mostly uneventful.  It was a little disconcerting when we boarded:  I'm not sure where the train originated (Berlin?  Hamburg?) but it was FULL and we had some doubts about finding a seat, lugging bags that weighed about as much as we do.  We found a couple of reserved seats without the reservees (is that a word? You know what I mean) anywhere in sight, so we grabbed them, in some fear that we'd be on our feet for the next 5 hours after getting to Leipsig.  Just the opposite: loads of people piled off in Leipsig, and we were able to get some reasonably comfortable seats together.

"Reasonably comfortable" is the key phrase.  I don't know if this generalizes, but there was a huge difference between our ICE (which stands for Inter City Express) train from Munich to Wittenberg, and our IC (Inter City, skip the "Express") train from Wittenberg to Munich.  BTW, we could've taken an ICE train, but (1) it would have cost 45 euro more, (2) we would have had to change trains, I assume in Leipsig, and (3), we would have only saved 4 minutes.  Not a good deal.  BUT... there was no internet access on the IC, the seats aren't as nice, the food car isn't as nice (word to the wise - never order "currywurst."  Ever.), and the AC isn't as good.

All those snarky, spoiled American comments aside. it was fine.  The weather has remained great, and the scenery along the way was great.  Judy and I are inspired to figure out whether there's a non-stupid way to cross the US on Amtrack, because it was such a great way to travel.

We are staying at the Hotel Belle View, just a couple blocks south of the Munich Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and a couple more blocks from Neuhauser Strasse, the entrance to the old city and Marienplatz.  Our first time here, we stayed literally a block to the west, at Hotel Goethe, which is run by Turks.  When we returned on the tail end of that trip, we stayed about a block north, so we know the neighborhood.  As I said then, it is a largely Muslim neighborhood.  Much of the signage (and the talk on the street) is in Arabic.  I know that some of your are probably thinking, "not a great place for lily-white Americans," but I think you're wrong.  We shop here, we've eaten here, and we've slept here.  I like it.

It is a place of interesting contrasts.  You see some rather modern hijabs (head scarfs), but no burkas (full body coverings).  Women's attire is relatively conservative, there are also a lot of sex shops and strip bars in this neighborate.  The younger (and many of the older) immigrants are hanging out in the bars, nursing a beer.  Let's just say that most of these folks are "lapsed," at least by the stereotypical Islamophobe standards.

So anyway, we got to our hotel, and of the 3 places I've stayed here, I think I like this the best. All had very small rooms, but (1) this one has great AC, (2) it's got a great shower, (3) the staff are super friendly, (4) they've got a great included breakfast, and (5) they have free mineral water, juice, and awesome coffee beverages from dawn until 11:00PM.

We checked in and tried to regain our bearings from 5 years ago.  It was surprisingly easy, and we made our way to Neuhauser Strasse, working our way through Marienplatz (home of the famous Glockenspiel) and managed to find our favorite restaurant, Opatija.  We found this on our first trip and have revisited every time we've been to Munich.

Opatija is a place in Croatia, and the folks who started this restaurant are from there.  The prices are very reasonable for the area.  The portions are not.  Judy and I left more than half of our food on our plates.  And we were really hungry.  Bloated and exhausted, we shuffled back to our hotel and called it a night.

This morning, we had a hearty breakfast at the hotel and headed back down to the old city.  We found a couple of churches that were closed last time we were here.  The first - and I might be screwing this up - is the Burgersaalekirche, which translates to (I think) as "city hall church."  The building itself is quite impressive, but the entrance is nondescript:

You walk into the "Unterkirche," a worship area below the main sancturary.  Most impressive here is a series of statuary detailing the passion of the Christ. Here are a few of them:

The "Unterkirche" is pretty small.  

The upper church is decidedly not.

 From there, we went down the road to St. Michaels.  The name confuses me, because Michael is an Archangel.  To me, "Saint" is decidedly human.  Michael has wings.  I don't think he qualifies.  But then, I'm not a Catholic theologian. Maybe I'm missing something.

Entrance to St. Michaels

Entrance to St Michaels 

Inside St. Michaels 

St Michaels

We walked around some more and came back to St. Michaels for a meditation service at 12:30.  Afterwards, we went down to an outdoor market for lunch:  for me, Weisswurst.  For Judy, a large Brezen (pretzel).  For both of us, a .5l Bier.  Pretty awesome.

We went back to the room: Judy rested, I did some grading.   Then back to the old town.  In the evening, it's pretty fun.  We heard some good music on the street, then went to the Augustiner Brauhaus for some (frankly) mediocre food and beverage.  Then some more walking around.  Both of us got to about 18,000 steps today.  We'll see if we can get past 20,000 tomorrow.  I think there's a pretty good chance.

Something big is going on in Old Munich tomorrow.  They're setting up stages, and the festivities will go from 10AM until evening... but I can't figure out what it's about.  The signs translate as "birthday party," but I'm not sure who/what's birthday we're celebrating. And I can't find an answer online.

Whatever.  We'll see parades and bands and eat street food tomorrow.  And we'll get on a plane, no doubt bloated and exhausted, on Sunday.