Before going into the day-to-day madness of the weekend I want to first describe the city of Munich, a place I came to love in such a short time. The city is absolutely stunning both architecturally and geographically and it contains some of the greenest and most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. I've never seen so many gardens, trees, and flowers arranged in such a meticulous manner. The architecture is mainly modern and newly-constructed given the fact that the city was essentially rebuilt post-WWII. Because of this, Munich seems to have been planned and regularized to emulate the ideal city lifestyle. Everything is spaced out and it seems to never get stagnant or overcrowded; their public transportation system certainly reflects that. I must say that everything great about Munich is virtually nonexistent in Rome but both cities are of course amazing in their own ways. Rome has the great mix between old and new and it is obvious that its ancient ties prevent it from ever reaching the pristine and well-organized layout of a city like Munich. Regardless of the (lack of) comparison, I am in love with both cities and of course Europe in general.
Now for the fun part. The madness all began on Thursday as we departed from Rome's Termini station at around 8 pm. We boarded the bus and began the rather miserable 12-hour overnight trip to Munich. It took FOREVER.We even had to stop in Florence and wait for more passengers, making it even more crowded and uncomfortable. Even the endless barrage of movies (Blades of Glory, Gladiator, Pirate Radio, etc) did not make it go by any faster. Luckily I was able to nod off for about 30 minutes at a time and made it through most of the night. We finally pulled into Munich at around 9 am and I immediately jumped on the Metro to get to the hostel. Thankfully the subway map was pretty straightforward and I was able to make it to Harras, the stop just blocks away from our hostel.
When I checked in I was surprised to see what GOROD had to offer. We basically stayed in the dorm of a Russian cultural center and school that had rented itself out to travelers during Oktoberest. It was strangely very home-like and I quickly got to know my "roommates" before Eric and Austin arrived.
When they arrived, we decided to head right over to the festival to see what Oktoberfest was really like. It was such a huge place (located in Thereseinienwiese, one of the many large parks in Munich) and was a mix of beer tents, food places, and rides.
In order to get service, we had to go outside to one of the biergartens and were quickly delivered our first stein of the festival. Even though it cost 10 euro, they contain about 3 beers and the alcohol content is much higher (about 9 percent), so it's worth the money.
Without going into too many details, we had many a stein and had a great time partying into the early evening. The festival looked even more amazing as the sun went down.
On Saturday, I experienced one of the greatest and highly varied birthdays of my entire life. There was not a dull moment and I am so thrilled that all of this happened in such a short period of time. As soon as we got up, we hopped on the metro towards the Englischer Garten, one of the largest city parks in the world. We actually misread the map and took the subway a few extra shops north to arrive at more rural part of the park but it was still beautiful and extremely peaceful.
We basically wandered around the gardens, farms, and forests with no real plan and just took in the scenery of the cool, crisp morning.
We loved walking around and even walked through some farmland.
After the park we switched it up and went to a very different environment, the site of the infamous Dachau concentration camp. We took the metro and then a bus out to its location which has been converted to a museum and memorial. In a way Dachau was a highlight in its own because it grounded us and reminded us, me in particular, of the freedoms we get to enjoy on a daily basis. The camp was designed to bring terror to its prisoners and the architecture clearly reflects this idea. It mainly consisted of ugly gray concrete buildings and gravel grounds that had virtually no color or signs of life.
It was difficult to stand in the center courtyard, the same place where thousands of prisoners had to stand at attention every day that the camp was in operation. I couldn't help but feel some sort of pride for my family and distant relatives in my past who survived these atrocities. It was mind-blowing to think that such a catastrophic event in our human history occurred just about 70 years ago.
Throughout our wanderings throughout the site we read the many plaques that informed us on the history of the SS and the camp, which gradually became more of a hell for the inhabitants. It was fascinating, though equally devastating to read about how the Nazis controlled Dachau's public image with propaganda and by framing it to be much more tolerable whenever any sort of media entered the camp. It really makes you question the power of a dominating party over the media and ultimately the public's opinion of something. These unexpected thoughts made Dachau even relatable to our contemporary political world in an odd way.
Our tour ended when we entered the crematorium, the ultimate site and tragic results of the Nazi butchery. It was extremely difficult to go inside and look at the very equipment responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, political prisoners, homosexuals, and virtually any type of person deemed intolerable by the tyrants. Although nearly impossible to believe it happened, how could the countless pieces of evidence lead anybody to believe that the Holocaust didn't happen? Those thoughts have remained in my head even through the rest of the weekend although thankfully we experienced many more great things to get our minds off the horrors of Dachau.
After Dachau we devoted the rest of the day towards the festival. On our way over, we stopped at Marienplatz (the City Center) to stalk up on a big meal to avoid the expensive ones at the festival. I loved this area; it was really lively and the architecture was really cool in its Gothic ornamentation.
After eating, we headed into the festival which was perhaps at the peak of its crowd and it was difficult navigating around and getting into the tents. We realized we wouldn't be able to get in without a reservation but it was okay because the biergartens were available and offered virtually the same experience. We were able to sit down at a table that was full of locals who were our age and conveniently spoke English. They were all really nice and interested in us and practicing their English so we learned a lot from them.
After multiple steins, prosts, and drinking songs (we even sang some Beta songs), we said our goodbyes and decided to ride one of the rollercoasters. The Olympia Loop, despite its high ticket cost of eight euro, was extremely worth it; we even sat in the front and got an amazing view of the ride and the festival.
Sunday was a short but still jam-packed with great sites of Munich that I got to enjoy before getting back on the bus to go home. We got up early and took the metro to Olympiapark, the site of the 1972 Munich Olympics. This was actually my favorite place that I visited while in Munich. Everything was modern and it looked even futuristic; it was hard to believe it had been built over forty years ago.
Even though we only had about two hours to check out the park, we got to see most of it.
Some of the handprints of famous musicians along the lake.
The highlight of Olympiapark was the the Olympiaturm, the Television Tower that is one of the tallest structures in Munich. This was my favorite because we went up to the top and got to see a 360 degree view of Munich that was absolutely breathtaking. The city looked even more peaceful from up here; it was too serene to believe.
It was a shame that we had to leave that tower; I could've stared at that view all day. Even though I was jealous that Eric and Austin got to stay until Monday, I still was proud of myself for having the best trip possible. We lived every minute that we were there and I wouldn't change a thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment