Nude Old Men

Munich is a new city for me and I didn't do much research on the place beyond beer so I figured I ought to take a tour.

Meredith and I were out the door around 10am to get some food and then take a free walking tour of Munich. At the grocery store, I found a pastry that would be my breakfast every morning while in Munich. It was a buttery, sugary, doughy morsel of goodness complete with cranberries and frosting. Best breakfast of the trip so far.

We walked from our hostel to Marienplatz, the central square of Munich where we had walked to the night before, to find the walking tour. While waiting, truck after truck was passing through the hordes of tourists in an attempt to set something up.

We would later find out that the International Olympic committee was selecting the final venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Munich was in the final three. During the truck bombardment we found our guides and joined in the large group. We stayed in Marienplatz for quite some time until 11am rolled around. Three times a day the glockenspiel located on the New Town Hall does its performance of an Austrian-Bavarian wedding that lasts about ten minutes. Our guide said it was the second most overrated site in all of Europe behind the Astronomical clock in Prague. I agree.

When in Germany, you hear a lot about the World War's (especially the second one) and Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Our tour took us past many rebuilt churches and memorials to the Jews and others that suffered during the reign.

Unlike Berlin, many of the memorials are very discreet, such as the golden pathway that was once taken by anti-Nazis to avoid a Nazi monument that was to be hailed every time it was passed. We made another stop on the walking tour in front of the famous Hofbrauhaus, a massive beer hall and garden in the center of Munich. The tour ended between another rebuilt church and a large square filled with food where Meredith and I dove into some bratwurst and cabbage.

The two of us made our way back through the warm weather to our hostel to get the rest of the crew along with Chris, one of our friends from Vancouver. Our walking marathon continued as we made our way back through Marienplatz and into that famous beer hall I mentioned earlier, the Hofbrauhaus. Having been to the Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh, Brad was excited to visit the real thing to get a massive one liter mug of Hofbrau beer.

We wanted to sit in the garden, but since it was such a nice day out the place was already packed. Instead we went into one of the halls and ordered a liter of beer which came served in one of the largest mugs I have ever seen in my life.

After the beer drinking rendezvous, we all parked ourselves at Starbucks for some coffee and free internet outside. About an hour or so later, Ellie and Meredith went to the English Gardens while the rest of us went back to the hostel completing my second hour long round trip between Marienplatz and the hostel. There was no way I was doing that walk again the rest of the day and luckily I didn't have to. On the way, we picked up some more local Munich beer in the grocery store (cheaper than water!) and went back to the hostel.

When the girls got back we went to the store again to get some 4th of July (well now the 5th of July) food to cook up in the kitchen. Unfortunately the store closed about one minute before we got there. Instead we settled on pizza from the cafe next to our hostel. The rest of the night was spent staying up in the room and chatting with Chris and our other two roommates from Japan and Australia.

The next morning began with my buttery, sugary, doughy morsel of goodness complete with cranberries and frosting. I got Brad hooked on them too.

Ellie, Meredith, and Brad had a pretty elaborate plan for the following day so they went to the train station to figure everything out. Kristen went shopping. I went to Starbucks for my morning coffee and internet surfing session.

Currently, we have hit a glitch with the trip planning and we are struggling to secure a ferry once we arrive in Greece next week. About two hours later, the rest of the crew met me and we set off for a relaxing afternoon in the English Gardens, one of Munich's largest public parks.

Since the girls had been there the day before we followed them. The first stop was one of the more interesting things I had seen in a while. If you were to see someone carrying a surfboard through the streets of Munich you would've thought they were either A) confused B) lost or C) in for a very long walk to the ocean. However, at the edge of the English Gardens there is a fast flowing stream that has been tweaked with to create a man made wave. It is a site to see. There were about ten surfers taking turns riding the man made wave.

At one point, one of the better surfers grabbed a liter of beer and entertained the audience by surfing with it. After watching for a while, we went to the main area of the park to lie down and relax.

Never in my life have I seen so many old naked men. Apparently it is the norm in the section of the park we were in. We noticed a large amount of people hanging out by a fast flowing stream towards the middle of the field and made our way to the water weaving between the naked men. We soon determined that the other side of the stream was the non nude side, however, there were still plenty of clothed individuals on the side we were on. The stream itself was cold and came complete with a very strong current. There were people floating down the stream at high speeds past us.

We spent about an hour and a half relaxing until it was time for the next adventure of the day.

As previously mention, the selection for the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympic games was being held that day. The three candidate cities were Anncey, France, Pyongsheng, South Korea, and last but not least, Munich, Germany. The stages that were being set up in Marienplatz the day before were now rocking out. The square was filled with many enthusiastic Germans and tourists alike rooting for Munich to receive the Olympic games. Beer mug and German flag in hand, all of us joined in the festivities. Live music played until 5pm rolled around when the whole world would find out the announcement.

Being in the center of one of the candidate cities for the Olympic games is something I have never experienced but was much anticipating.

It was awesome just stumbling upon the event. Either Munich would be going wild with joy and excitement or there was going to be one massive sigh and disappointment throughout Munich and Germany. We were hoping for the former. After much hype and build up, it was finally announced...and the winner is...

Pyongsheng, South Korea.

There was a massive deflation of enthusiasm and energy in the crowd and people began to make their way out. Pyongsheng had been in the final three for both the 2010 and 2014 Winter games. They missed out behind Vancouver by a mere three votes and behind Sochi by four votes. We joined the masses and made our way back out of Marienplatz to the hostel.

We stopped at the grocery store before it closed this time to pick up hamburger meat, corn on the cob, and eggs to make deviled eggs for our now 6th of July feast.

Its not quite the same cooking up the traditional American meal in a dirty hostel kitchen, but we still got the job done. We all spent the rest of the night around the hostel, packing up and getting ready for our final European train ride to Berlin. Munich was full of pleasant surprises and cheap beer, but our tour of Germany must go on.