First Munich Walkabout - February 2009
So, what is Munich like? From my perspective, bloody cold and snowy! It has snowed every day since I got here. But, Munich is little more than a hop, skip, and jump from the Alps and has its very own micro-climate; I am told that it gets into the mid-30s Celsius in the summer. Roll on the heat wave. Initially, I was very cold, all the time. One night it went down to -17°C and I went to bed in practically every item of clothing I brought with me.
My first foray into the city was fun, but left me with very wet feet and a pair of Dunlop Red Flash that are fit only for the bin. It was a goddamned blizzard. Nevertheless, I did get to learn a little about where things were. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory and show my walkabout from where I am staying for the first couple of months, out towards Giesing, to Karlsplatz (also known as Stachus), to Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, and up past the Bayerische Hof (swankiest hotel in Munich) up to the Museum district.
I found somewhere that serves a breakfast that I recognised bits of. Quirkily cute, it is the Amerikanisches Frühstuck at Rischart, halfway between Stachus and Marienplatz, which is, basically, the top and bottom ends of the shopping precinct. Featuring American-style bacon and scrambled eggs, it also has a little side-salad, toast, marmalade, and even a stick of gum for after. I like to have a cappuccino with mine and, you get the second one free J Now, that all comes in at under 10€ and makes Marky a happy little boy on a Saturday morning.
In the last two weeks, I have made great strides in finding my way around and now I can get on the S-Bahn without constantly checking if I’m on the correct train.
My first foray into the city was fun, but left me with very wet feet and a pair of Dunlop Red Flash that are fit only for the bin. It was a goddamned blizzard. Nevertheless, I did get to learn a little about where things were. The pictures are pretty self-explanatory and show my walkabout from where I am staying for the first couple of months, out towards Giesing, to Karlsplatz (also known as Stachus), to Marienplatz, the Frauenkirche, and up past the Bayerische Hof (swankiest hotel in Munich) up to the Museum district.
I found somewhere that serves a breakfast that I recognised bits of. Quirkily cute, it is the Amerikanisches Frühstuck at Rischart, halfway between Stachus and Marienplatz, which is, basically, the top and bottom ends of the shopping precinct. Featuring American-style bacon and scrambled eggs, it also has a little side-salad, toast, marmalade, and even a stick of gum for after. I like to have a cappuccino with mine and, you get the second one free J Now, that all comes in at under 10€ and makes Marky a happy little boy on a Saturday morning.
In the last two weeks, I have made great strides in finding my way around and now I can get on the S-Bahn without constantly checking if I’m on the correct train.
Public Transport
Munich has a fantastic public transportation system. It has:
· the U-Bahn (the subway)
· the S-Bahn (local over ground trains)
· trams
· busses
· DB (the national railway)
· BOB (the Bavarian Overland Railway)
One of the most daunting things I had to contend with when I first got here was trying to figure out how to buy the correct ticket on the S-Bahn. It was made more complicated by the fact that I had no idea rally where I was, or where I wanted to get to. Then someone told me about the Isarcard. It’s a bit like most big-city travel systems, you have zones and you can get a ticket for a week, or a month. Most of where I want to go is within two zones, so a week Isarcard costs 11€, a month costs 42€, and I can use all the public transport I want in the two inner zones. It has saved me a bundle, I can tell you. All of which I have spent on Augustiner Helles bier. I enjoy my Helles J In fact, I’m enjoying one right now. At my local Getränke Seven, four half litre bottles cost me 4,80€. And that’s not a lot of money at all.
Where was I going with this? Oh, who cares? If you know me, my writing rarely follows any rules at all ;-/
Oh yeah, I was cold. I complained quite a lot, and not having any money until Feb 20th, I couldn’t afford to buy any shoes, or a coat. Poor me. My own fault that I packed books instead of clothes. I like to make life as difficult as possible for myself. Then, unexpectedly, Karl, the man responsible for bringing me out here, gave me a nice warm coat. He is a former marine and this coat is the sort of thing that you wear on trans-Antarctic expeditions and is good to -30; it's basically a continental quilt with arms and a hood. He’d bought it, then saw a coat he liked more, so never wore it. He brought it in for me and I’ve been warm ever since. That was last Friday. On Saturday, with 300€ burning a hole through my pocket, I went and bought myself a pair of good leather boots with a furry lining. For a whole week, I’ve been warm and toasty. Now, of course, the weather is set to go much warmer and I will be too hot. Ah, c’est la guerre.
If I had any discipline as a writer, this would all have structure and follow some sort of logical progression, make sense, and still be funny. Oh wait, maybe I write like this on purpose. Oh, I’m such a paradox, aren’t I?
So, I have my boots, coat, a few Euros in my pocket, and even paid some of the balance off my sorely stressed credit card…
· the U-Bahn (the subway)
· the S-Bahn (local over ground trains)
· trams
· busses
· DB (the national railway)
· BOB (the Bavarian Overland Railway)
One of the most daunting things I had to contend with when I first got here was trying to figure out how to buy the correct ticket on the S-Bahn. It was made more complicated by the fact that I had no idea rally where I was, or where I wanted to get to. Then someone told me about the Isarcard. It’s a bit like most big-city travel systems, you have zones and you can get a ticket for a week, or a month. Most of where I want to go is within two zones, so a week Isarcard costs 11€, a month costs 42€, and I can use all the public transport I want in the two inner zones. It has saved me a bundle, I can tell you. All of which I have spent on Augustiner Helles bier. I enjoy my Helles J In fact, I’m enjoying one right now. At my local Getränke Seven, four half litre bottles cost me 4,80€. And that’s not a lot of money at all.
Where was I going with this? Oh, who cares? If you know me, my writing rarely follows any rules at all ;-/
Oh yeah, I was cold. I complained quite a lot, and not having any money until Feb 20th, I couldn’t afford to buy any shoes, or a coat. Poor me. My own fault that I packed books instead of clothes. I like to make life as difficult as possible for myself. Then, unexpectedly, Karl, the man responsible for bringing me out here, gave me a nice warm coat. He is a former marine and this coat is the sort of thing that you wear on trans-Antarctic expeditions and is good to -30; it's basically a continental quilt with arms and a hood. He’d bought it, then saw a coat he liked more, so never wore it. He brought it in for me and I’ve been warm ever since. That was last Friday. On Saturday, with 300€ burning a hole through my pocket, I went and bought myself a pair of good leather boots with a furry lining. For a whole week, I’ve been warm and toasty. Now, of course, the weather is set to go much warmer and I will be too hot. Ah, c’est la guerre.
If I had any discipline as a writer, this would all have structure and follow some sort of logical progression, make sense, and still be funny. Oh wait, maybe I write like this on purpose. Oh, I’m such a paradox, aren’t I?
So, I have my boots, coat, a few Euros in my pocket, and even paid some of the balance off my sorely stressed credit card…