From Africa To Russia

Next morning, get up and go out to explore Munich, baby steps. See the Marienplatz again, walk towards the big gate. There are lions everywhere in Munich, stone lions, of all different colors. I eat some raspberries at a stand, then angle north and come to Odeonsplatz. Large statues within a greek-style building to the south, a nice garden to the east. Munich is bright, spacious, cultural. I stroll through the garden, and take a rest, then head south through side streets, looking for the Hofbrauhos. I see a sign for it to the right, I follow it. Then another to the left. This doesn’t jive with the map, which shows it at a different place, but I’ll bite. After a while, I realize the signs are taking me in a tight circle, going nowhere. I use the map and find it immediately. The Hofbrauhos is a large, slightly loud, fairly touristy beer hall in the center of Munich. There is a band playing traditional German music, rooms and side rooms and terraces going every which way, lots of beer and people spilling everywhere. I sit down, get a giant dark beer and some sausages and sauerkraut and enjoy the revelry. A German couple comes and sits at my table. They don’t speak much English, but we use sign-language with good intentions and everyone enjoys themselves. The beer is great, I am feeling fine, back on my feet it seems. All systems go. The Germans as a whole seem to be efficient and polite, I am impressed. In the evening, I take the metro up to Olympiapark. I believe this was the site where the Israeli hostages were kidnapped at the Olympics some thirty-five or so years ago. There is a giant metal spire of a tower, and a few intricate pavilions placed here and there, the roofs composed of adjacent plastic squares. At the center of the park, of course, is a gigantic TV screen reaching up to God, and a mob of people sitting on the hill watching the World Cup. There are dozens of food stalls along the way selling various goodies at high prices. I am tired of spending money, so I buy nothing, stroll around a bit and then head out. There is a fair amount of security and bag checks at the entrances. A pond near the bus entrance has the largest ducks in the history of duckdom, they are the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the duck world, they pump eet aaap, you girlie maan. They are unconcerned with everything, sitting munching grass, and only scatter when a swan comes rushing over to confront them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.