Pretzels and Sausages

After another sleepless night last night, I got up at 9:30 and went into the city for a free walking tour. We met in the center, Marienplatz, where the famous Glockenspiel goes off twice a day. I watched it and it was SO underwhelming! Haha, there are these little figurines that move very slowly on a track to the clashing sound of bells. And the grand finale? A little owl on the top goes, "Whoo. Whoo." HAHA.

It was very cold out (yes, I did have to break out the long underwear), and my tour guide, unfortunately, was not the one from yesterday. He was a guy from Scotland and therefore incomprehensible most of the time and he loved beer so much, apparently, that for every one time he mentioned something historical, he told us something beer-related twice. He was nice, but I dropped off the tour early (oops). Oh, but there were two interesting things I learned: 1. that Munich is named after the monks that used to inhabit it. It literally translates to 'monk'. 2. The Australian Embassy is in Berlin, Germany. Now, during Oktoberfest, out of the 6 million people that come, apparently most of them are Australian. And they get so hammered that they lose their keys, their wallets annnnd..their passports. Because of this, for the two weeks in September that is Oktoberfest, the Australian Embassy actually COMES to Munich! Haha, how funny is that?

So after cutting out of the tour early, I went back to this street that's literally just lined with meat shop after meat shop. Mmm mm mm! I got a sausage with sweet mustard on a hard roll. OH MAN was it good, and only 3 euro! Then, I went to the Spielzeugmuseum, or the Toy Museum, if you will. It was crazy because there was this cool building with a tower that said 'Spielzeugmuseum' but I couldn't find the entrance anywhere. Just when I was about to give up and say, "Screw toys!" I saw it-- a tiny little door that said 'OPEN'. So I pushed it open and it barely missed scraping the tiny staircase (like something out of Alice in Wonderland). So I climbed the small, spiral staircase-- knowing that if someone was coming down at the same time, we'd both be screwed-- and found it! It was suuuper cool. They had this one exhibit of Barbie (who turned 50 this year!) through the years as well as lots of toys from back in the day that they no longer make anymore. Also, because it was in a tower, the windows yielded the greatest views of the main square, or 'platz'.

After that I braved the ever-complex U-Bahn and made my way (on my first try!) to the Olympic Park. First, I went to the BMW museum. The museum itself was closed (because aparently every museum in Munich is closed in Mondays) but they still had very museum-like things there, so I checked them out (Dad and Chris would've been drooooling). This one part just had a whole row of probably 20 BMWs, just sitting there. Man, they were nice, and I don't even know cars. The other part had all these hands-on things to learn about why hydrogen-powered BMWs are so much more eco-friendly. It was really interesting!

Across from the BMW museum was Olympiapark, where I got to see the actual Olympic pool and stadium. I also went into the Olympic tower in an elevator (I know!) that shot you up to the top at 7 meters/second. The view at the top was AMAZING and it was right around sunset. The only problem was that the very very top, where there's no fingerprinted glass to ruin your pictures, was closed because of too much ice. Damn it! However, I didn't know this, but Debora had planned to take me up there on Wednesday..oopsy. So we might still do it, if the very top is open.

After that I got back on the U-Bahn and took it to this museum Iin the middle of the river. Sadly, because I SUCK at military time, it was closed when I got there. Apparently 17:00 is 5:00, not 6. Ah well.

On my way home I picked up a little pretzel for 55 cents. It was so cute and German. Also, tasty.
Today I realized that I love the Munich underground. It's amazing. There are no turnstyles, no little doors that close quickly and try to chatchya, nothing! AND the trains themselves are SO clean and nice! It's very pleasant to ride the U-Bahn, I must say. I also must say that the Germans have got it RIGHT when it comes to renting movies. Last night we went out to rent one and I was freaking out. Picture an ATM. You know the ones that aren't attached to the actual bank? So you swipe your ATM card and you go into this little room, right? Well imagine that, but with MOVIES! I know! You swipe your..Blockbuster card, I guess, and you go into this ATM-like room that's just covered in movie posters and DVD box covers. So you go to the "ATM" and you scroll through, reading the movie descriptions until you choose one you want. Then, you put in your credit card and out comes the movie!!! I was freaking out and Debo was like, "Why, how does it work in America?" and I said, "Um, we have actual human beings that hand you the movie." She said, "Hah! Human beings? That's so old school."

Tomorrow I'm going on that Bavarian castle tour, which includes Neuschwanstein! YES! However, tomorrow is also the day that the trams and metro go on strike, so I have to take the bus, which is much less convenient.

Until tomorrow!