A Weekend in Munich

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting Munich. It technically wasn’t my first time there, as I flew into Germany via Munich, but it was my first proper time visiting the city since I didn’t have time to explore the city when I flew in.

Friday: Munich is about four hours away from Freiburg, but the bus ride there felt a lot longer than four hours (it was probably because the WiFi on the bus wasn’t working). After what felt like forever, I finally arrived in Munich and met up with my friend from Bowdoin who’s studying abroad there. The restaurant we went to for dinner was pretty packed, and I soon learned why. The schnitzel and the currywurst that we had at the restaurant were both fantastic.

Saturday: Saturday morning began with my friend and I travelling to the outskirts of Munich to visit Nymphenburg Palace. We walked around the palace gardens before deciding to go inside. The palace itself was only a few rooms big, but it was gorgeous. The main room was gold- and blue-colored, had several chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and had a massive square painting plastered across the ceiling. The surrounding rooms were just as nice, many of which had paintings of the royalty that lived there on the walls.

After visiting Nymphenburg Palace and getting lunch at a suspiciously greasy Chinese all-you-can-eat restaurant, we went to the English Garden, a famous public park in Munich. Although there weren’t that many people in the park because it was cold that day, walking around the park made me feel as if I was in Central Park.

Sunday: My last day in Munich was also my most exciting one, partly because it was Saint Patrick’s Day. I had forgotten to bring green clothes with me, but I was nonetheless insistent on going to the Saint Patrick’s Day parade and properly celebrating Saint Patrick’s day.

On the way to the Saint Patrick’s Day parade, we visited a historical building that I was keen on visiting: the Führerbau. The Führerbau has historical significance as it was not only a representative building for Hitler during Nazi times, but it was also where Neville Chamberlain and Hitler signed the Munich Agreement 1938. After German surrender, the building was used by US occupation forces to manage the art that had been stolen by the Nazis. The building is currently houses the University of Music and Performing Arts and understandably had no indications of its past, but as a history buff I was glad to have visited the building.

The Saint Patrick’s day parade started around noon and was thoroughly entertaining. A number of Irish dance groups, school groups and musicians passed by us, and I even got a mini Irish flag to wave at them as they passed by. But the most memorable part of the parade was undoubtedly the paraders who were dressed in full-body Guiness beer costumes staggering down the street.

Finally, it was time to go to Allianz Area for the other exciting half of the day: a soccer game between Bayern Munich and Mainz. I didn’t know too much about Bayern Munich, but my friend had been talking about them in the days leading up to the game and had gotten me excited to see them play live; I don’t have much investment in sports, but the atmosphere and energy present in the arena was contagious. Every time one of the Bayern Munich players scored a goal, the commentator proceeded to heckle to opposing team. The heckling was promptly followed by the narrator saying danke to the spectators, which always elicited a bitte in response. The final score was 6 - 0 in favor of Bayern Munich, and I left the stadium elated.

I left Munich feeling that having spent an entire weekend in Munich, I had not only had had the opportunity and the time to properly get to know the city, but to also get a better feel for Germany. Having travelled to big cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, and now Munich as well as lived in Freiburg, a much smaller city, for almost three months, I feel as if I have gotten to see multiple sides to Germany.