Saturday, April 29, 2006

Munich was a wonderful chance to forget about all the work I should have done in Prague, because, you know, I'm still in school. But pass/fail, so I really don't have to do quality work.

I took a train by myself (gasp!), which proved to be quite confusing, considering I speak very little Czech and absolutely no German, and neither country is very accommodating. There was a point where we got off the train and took a bus over the border, and I really had no idea what was going on. Then I didn't even get a stamp in my passport! I was counting on having 8 countries in my passport and now I'm stuck with only 7. Because you know that is the only reason I've traveled...

I finally arrived in Munich and found Rachel with almost no problem, other than that I was late. We went back to her place and I fell asleep very quickly because it had been a long trip. The next day we went to the Munich Zoo which, yes, a zoo is a zoo, but it was still fun. I'd say 50% of my pictures are from there. We then went into the city center. Dear God is Munich CLEAN. Prague is a crap hole compared to the pristine sidewalks of Bavaria. The cleanliness gave the impression of a small city, when Munich is the second biggest city in Germany. I liked it a lot but I definitely prefer Prague's big-city feeling and character. We walked over to the university district and ate at a nice restaurant. I, naturally, ate schnitzel and drank weissbier. Afterwards, we met up with some of the new arrivals to Rachel's program who go to Michigan for drinks in one of Studentstadt bars. Sara and I ordered margaritas and when the bartender finished them, they were clearly half empty so we watched him take the handle of tequila and fill them the rest of the way. That was one of the most disgusting drinks I have ever had in my life.

The next day, I went to the Neue something art museum that had works from the late 19th and early 20th century. I got to see some original Monets, Klimts and Van Goghs. I then met Rachel back at Studentstadt and we went to the Hoffberg House. I drank a liter of beer and ate a large meal as a large group of ruffians were pre-gaming for a football game. When we got on the U-Bahn, there were a ridiculous amount of football fans chanting on their way to the game. I got very close to all the people on the train. We then went to the English gardens right by Studentstadt and drank beer and threw around a frisbee with Sara, Kate, and Chani. After resting in Rachel's room for a while, we went for gelato and then to a Sneak Preview movie, which is an American film that has not been released in Germany yet that is a secret until the credits roll. It ended up being Proof, which I saw on the plane to Prague from the States, but it was still a good movie.

The next day we went grocery shopping and then Chani, Rachel and I made the nice long hike up to the Andechs Monestary and beer gardens. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we ended up running into Rachel's boss at her internship. They ate lunch with us during their break from their biking. It was very pleasant to talk to a native German and Australian. We made our way back down and then relaxed until we went to a Mexican bar with Sara, Kate, Chani, Daniel and Jon. We ate nachos, drank margaritas, danced to a ridiculous mix of music with crazy sorority girls who couldn't dance, and then Rachel and I called it a night.

I left for Prague Sunday morning and met an Australian girl who was backpacking across Europe for 8 weeks on her way to London, where she was moving without ever visiting. We ran into each other later that night in Prague but we never met up again, unfortunately. Kelly was very nice and we commiserated that we didn't understand the point of taking a bus over the German/Czech border.

That night I went to the Earth Wind and Fire concert at Lucerna Music Bar. The opening act was a Czech group called the Navigators who I liked except they had a white rapper...and all I could think was "Who does this guy think he is?" Then, after a ridiculous 45 minute change-over, EW & F came onstage. Just so you know, this venue can only hold a few hundred people and I pushed my way up to the front. The concert was fantastic. I cannot really describe it in any other words. Rivals my favorite concerts of all time, Prince and Nikka Costa. Afterwards, they sold CDs and signed autographs. Of course, I got most of their autographs and talked to some of them. They asked me why I was in Prague and I asked them the same thing. We both responded with "Why not?" That sums up this entire experience for me.