Munich (München) continued:

After my first night spent in Europe/Germany/Munich, I was ready to take on the town. I showered, put on my walking shoes and headed downtown to see what went on. I got too caught up in my first European city that I forgot the city map. That was a one time mistake. Maps are essential not just for knowing your location, but also for getting to bus stops or the subway. So I went back to my hotel on the subway and retrived my map. NOW I was ready.

Munich has a pleasant baroque feeling that warms you if you should ever walk its streets. The buildings that survived the allied bombing of World War II are gothic, grey stones, sharp edges, gargoyles, all these on mainly churches. Lots of churches in Munich, old churches at that.  

Munich is in Bavaria, a southern region in Germany with the alps to its south.  Bavaria is known for good food, and good beer. I was surprised at the temperate weather.  It would rain, suddenly stop, then rain again two hours later. And it was chilly, like in the 50's & 60's the whole time. 

I read about Munich's beer halls on the plane before I'd arrived, and noted a paticular hall named The Hafbrauhaus. The Hafbrauhaus is a two-hundred year old multi-story beer hall where locals go to discuss politics over beer.  Getting to the Hafbrauhaus was now a goal of mine.  Beer halls in Munich are the central hang out spot.  I read somewhere that Germans drink on average thirty gallons of beer a year. My kind of people.

The first beer hall I found wasn't the Hafbrauhaus but it served food and I was hungry. I'd figured out by now you don't wait to be seated in a European restuarant, you sit and wait for the waiter. I also found out the airport bartender who told me most Germans spoke English was the one full of it. At the beer hall, a nice older German lady took my order over hand signals and exagerated yes or no's.

I, without too much of a choice, got a really bitter beer and roast over gravy. It wasn't all bad, in fact I had the best darn potato salad the world ever produced. I was hooked, and they only gave me a little so I wanted more. 

My dream of more potato salad was shattered, however, by my impatient old waitress. She wanted me gone. She brought me the bill and kept saying "pay, I go" but I was saying "I love potato saled," she won the battle and I left. I write this in Berlin two days later, and there hasn't been potato saled that's touched Munich's since. I think I'll write a song about it. 

After my run-in with the forbidden potato saled I saw the Deutches Muesem of German Scientific Accomplishments. That's about all I have to say about that. 

I crossed the River Isar and decided to find the Hafbrauhaus. I walked for nearly ninety minutes and got really tired so I sat at this restuarant's outside table and starred at my city map. The sign that pointed and read Hafbrauhaus was taking me in circles. I had no idea where it was.  A waitress came out to get my order and I asked her where this elusive building was.  She pointed right in front of me. The sign I was following was for parking. Nice

The Hafbrauhaus was full of people, all you heard were voices and clinking beer glasses.  For better sound quality i chose to sit outside.  I got my beer and chit chatted with a couple of British folk until it started to rain.  The rain ran us off, and that does it with the beer hall experience. That night I roamed the streets again and was approached by a cross-dressed man of about 25 years. He gave me his German spiel to which I replied, "I don't speak German, I AM sorry." (in German)  He and his friends laughed and as it turns out the transvestite was actually a groom in disguise. I had ran into a bachelor party. They were soliciting people for beer money, which I obliged and gave up 2 Euro. He gave me a little liquor bottle and some condoms for my expense. 

I thought for sure the next day I was going to miss my train to Berlin. Luck was on my side and the train was late. 

This was the first train I ever road under the circumstances. I had a ticket, in German, that told me my seat and boxcar number. I didn't know it told me that at the time. This very very nice non-English speaking older woman saw my aimless wondering on the platform and approached me saying German things. It wasn't until she akwardly left that I realized she was asking about my seat. I ran up to her and squating up and down said, "seat?"  She understood me that I knew what she was asking earlier and showed me the info center that tells boxcar numbers and seat location. I didn't understand her, but she pointed and showed me where it was I needed to go. 

Here's a quote from a Tennessee Williams play that seems appropriate for the nice lady - "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

Thus I end my time in Munich and begins the train to Berlin.