Thursday, September 27

Thursday in Munich was a pretty chill day. Michael had to finish working on his thesis... he got up around 7 or 8 to work until noon... while I just rested from the long day before. We took his thesis to the print shop (which, by the way, cost him 131 Euros... about $186!!!) to print up 4 copies (each around 200 pages... can you imagine writing a 200 page thesis?!?)... then wandered around Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square) for a while to do some shopping.


An ariel view of Marienplatz and the new town hall.


A view of the square and of the Mariensaule at Marienplatz.


A view of the other side of the square with the old Town Hall in the background.


A close up of the new Town Hall where, yes, the Glockenspiel is.

The Glockenspiel is located on front of the Rathaus (Town Hall). At 11am, 12pm, and 5pm each day the Glockenspiel chimes and the statues on front begin to rotate. The statues each tell a story of Munich's past... one is depicting the Schafflertanz (the "Coopers Dance") in memory of the end of the plague in 1517... the other depicts a tournament that was held for Duke Wilhelm V's wedding which took place on the Marienplatz in 1568.


And... for those of us American's who have been there, I couldn't forget a picture of the Hofbrauhaus (since it's located super close to Marienplatz). Also, bit of real history about the Hofbrauhaus... it was established in 1589 by Duke Wilhelm V (yes, the same guy as above) because he and his family did not like the beer that was being brewed in Munich at the time. And we all thought it was just a fun place for Americans and Italians to drink...


Thrusday night Michael and I went to Oktoberfest in Theresienwiese (named after Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen). You know, one of the crazy parts about Oktoberfest is that people think that it is just a beer drinking festival... but did you know they also have carnival rides? Yes... everything from the bumper cars to the ferris wheel to the Spinner to the upside-down rollercoasters (there are 3 of those). Michael and I went on a ride called the Skater... it was crazy... spun you all over the place, up and down and around... I was super dizzy when we got off... and my shoulders and hands hurt from hanging on for dear life (I thought I was going to fall out when we went upside down)... but it was a blast! We hung out outside the Hacker-Pschorr tent... it was crazy inside (and we had tried the Paulaner tent before that which was PACKED)... and it was a nice night to sit outside, have a drink, and talk. There were some crazy Germans near us singing German drinking songs... I joined in a bit with the parts I knew. They were also singing a song called "Viva Kolnia" (meaning long live Cologne... another city in Germany)... which was a bit weird considering Oktoberfest is in Munchen! I did get a dirty look from one of the girls when she found out I was an American... the first dirty look I've ever gotten from a German! The other guys at that table were call cool though... haha!

After "die Wisen" (what the Bavarians call Oktoberfest because of its location), Michael and I took the U-Bahn back home around midnight... we had to get up early in the morning to drive to Ulm!

V

As a disclaimer... I did not bring my camera with me this day... as much as I love to take pictures, I'm also afraid of getting my camera stolen or broken... all pictures on this page were taken from www.aviewoncities.com/munich.htm Feel free to visit the site for more beautiful pictures! (I'm sure I'll be using them again in some of my other posts when I didn't bring my camera!) Also... I'll post a few pictures from Oktoberfest on another post... I'm waiting for Michael to send me a few he took with his camera phone!