And so it begins: Munich

Since I last posted… My flight went relatively well. Singapore Airlines has good food. Although by the time the third meal came around I refused it. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep much, but I did get to watch Men in Black International, Aladdin, and Yesterday. None were great, Yesterday was the best of the 3. But that’s not why you’re reading this.

Once we landed customs took a while but was a breeze for me (not so for everyone). I got my stamp and hopped on the subway to downtown Frankfurt. The weather was gloomy, which sadly looks like the pattern for my entire time in Germany. I didn’t see much of Frankfurt, basically walked a straight line. Some old architecture mixed with some new. I lugged my luggage to my preselected lunch spot, Klosterhof. Lots of wood paneling. On the waitress’ recommendation I ordered the special, pork knuckle and klössen (dumpling; sticky potato balls), along with my liter of beer. It was all good. Then I walked about 20 minutes to the train station and onto Munich.

I slept for a majority of the train ride, when I was awake I stared at the rolling hills and farms of the countryside, with a wooded interlude scattered in. I arrived in Munich around 4pm and took the tram to my hostel, Hotel Meninger. This could be the biggest hostel I’ve ever seen, with maybe more than 100 rooms. Mine is an 8-person dorm with an en-suite bathroom. We have an emergency exit. Yesterday two Italian guys arrived around 4:30am, and one of them opened the alarmed exit door. Security came, they argued for a while, all left, came back, argued more, left again. I had fallen back asleep around 6am when they came back, this time with the police, who watched as they packed and were thrown out. A strange way to start that day.

I spent about half my time in Munich within the Wiesn (German for field, and what the locals call Oktoberfest). The festival was, in a word, overwhelming. So many people. So much food. So much beer. So many carnival rides. So many tents. So intense. Some internet searching tells me there are roughly 300,000 daily.

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My first and third days were spent in the Wiesn with my San Franciscan roommate Troy, and we added on others we met in the hotel; Canadian Candace, Irish Owen, Texan Elliott, and Mexican Enrique. All solo travelers save the last two.

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Over the two days I spent there we might have had a beer in 6 different tents.

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Outside the tents it looked like a crowded carnival or festival. Inside each tent were thousands of people eating and drinking and singing. Only one beer is served in each tent, but the menus were relatively large. I wound up having a bratwurst, chicken soup, and half chicken, a couple of potato dishes, a pretzel, and fried dough.

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I didn’t spend all my Munich time in Oktoberfest (only most of it). I saw a good bit of the city, but not as much as I has intended between jet lag, rain, and hangovers. Similar to Frankfurt, there seemed to be a good balance between old and new architecture. Where I was overwhelmed by Oktoberfest, I was perhaps somewhat underwhelmed by Munich as a whole, though maybe I didn’t give it a totally fair shake.

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I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that honors beer more. In some cities they have statues for religion. Some for heroes. Some for art. In Munich it’s beer. The sixty-foot-tall bronze Bavaria statue overlooks the Wiesn.

Tomorrow I pick up a rental car and begin my three week road trip. Onward to Polch, Mainz, and Cologne! Oh, also, you’ll never guess what they played in the hostel bar. The song of the moment!