Plucky Survivors See Europe Day 41: Munich

Slept in this morning after a late night, partially by choice and partially not.

What I’ll say about the choice part is that if I come back married to a guy named Kristoff, I expect you to welcome him to Savannah.

Regarding the not choice part, Russian twenty-somethings are really, really loud when they are drunk in the courtyard just outside your room at three in the morning.

No matter the reason, that left me with less time than I planned to explore Munich.  I wandered through the historic part of the city, which is not as charming as many of the other cities I’ve been in.  Not surprising, really, considering that over 90% of the core was destroyed in World War II by Allied bombing.  While they did try to emulate some of the older buildings as they rebuilt, to various degrees of success, they mostly embraced the 1950s and 1960s Brutalist style so there are lots of square, blocky, uninteresting buildings.

My first stop of the day was at the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art.  From the description I read online, I was expecting something very counter-culture, outsider, street art but it leaned more toward the contemporary side of things, just with a bit of a political/philosophical edge.

One engaging part – a digital graffiti wall with spray cans to create art.  I think my creation is museum worthy.

I did read something interesting in an info panel on a wall… For more years of our history than not, everyone believed the Earth was at the center of the universe and everything else revolved around it.  Then, in 1543, good old Copernicus came along and said, nope… the sun.  The idea that is posited here is that when the Internet came along, the idea of knowledge being disseminated across the globe made Earth once again the center of the universe, intellectually speaking.  But as social media rose, it has transitioned to individuals as the center of their own universes.  We are no longer riding the Earth around the sun, the Earth is just there to support our weight.

Heady stuff for 11am on a Saturday morning in Munich.

I walked over to Marienplatz just a little late to see the Rothaus Glockenspiel go off.  Despite it’s ancient appearance, it was actually built in 1903 and has two different scenes that play out at 11am and noon every day about various Bavarian royalty and the like.

I snagged a table in the shadow of said Glockenspiel at Wildmosers, a Bavarian restaurant that is highly rated despite its tourist trappings (the staff wears lederhosen, FFS).  As usual, most of the options for lunch were insanely heavy and/or fried, so I went back to my go to, the chicken Caesar salad.  I did accompany that with a side of spaetzle, the German version of macaroni and cheese with roasted onions.  I’d rank the Caesar number two on my list of Caesar salads I’ve had on this trip (the one in Paris was still the best) – creamy dressing, crisp and juicy tomatoes, delicately spiced warm chicken, and quality lettuce.  The spaetzle was pasta and cheese so it was amazing.

A respite and then an afternoon show followed.

Variete GOP is a dinner theatre that has a variety of variety shows on its stage.  The one I caught was called “Seasons” by a French-Canadian circus troupe.  No, not that one.  Flip Fabrique is sort of like alternative Cirque, with a group of eight performers who do incredible feats of physical derring-do.  There was tumbling, aerial arts, juggling, trick bicycle and unicycle riding, jump ropes, hula hopps, trampoline work, and a delightful part that started with marshmallows and ended with a snowball fight (of sorts).  The troupe is energetic and full of winning good humor.  There was little dialogue in German or otherwise, but lots of comic moments nevertheless alongside some truly powerful ones.  The silk artists performed on fiery red drapes as autumn leaves fell (the fall part of “Seasons”) and the strap aerialist performed to a stunning ballad that I wish I could’ve pulled out my phone to Shazam.  The latter was filled with pain and anger and, finally, resolve that was heartbreaking in its simplicity.

One of my favorite shows on the trip so far.  I’m bummed that pictures weren’t allowed.

For dinner, I found a nearby place that served Tex Mex and my stomach said yes.  I should stop listening to it.  I’m not sure why garlic bread with cheese and tomatoes was on a Tex Mex restaurant but I rarely pass up a chance at it, and it indeed had bread, cheese, garlic, and tomatoes but any resemblance to actual cheese garlic bread stopped there. 

The chicken quesadilla was equally off-putting, with next to no cheese (why?!) and bizarre adds like cucumbers.  A disappointing meal but I guess that’s my fault for having Tex Mex in Germany.  I’ll correct that with some Spanish food when I get to Spain next week.

Tomorrow I will visit five countries as I say goodbye to Germany and take a longish, but scenic drive through Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein on my way to Lake Como in Italy.