Munich

As mentioned in previous posts, my last little excursion was to Munich. This was the first city in my European travels that I haven't been terribly impressed with, honestly. The weather wasn't great while I was there and when I arrived the tourist office wasn't very helpful in finding me a room (there was some trade show on and they told me there were no rooms in the whole city. I started looking for a stable, but then my first phone call found one...) and it was dirty, and I wasn't in the best mood ever... the list goes on.

After checking into my room, I decided I needed some retail therapy, so went for a bit of a shop, which turned out to be OK (bought a beautiful new Hugo Boss suit in my new size and it makes me look very thin! and they're much cheaper in Germany!). That night I headed to the opera (see Barber of Seville post) wearing the new suit - and looking great, may I say! Then went out for a beer or 5 to finish the night off (Munich is famous for beer after all!). It was really quite a good evening, but for some reason, it didn't really help me to love Munich.

The next day I halfheartedly went through most of the Lonely Planet walking tour of the altstadt and bought some CDs and a shirt before getting on the train back to work. I think maybe I'm reaching that point where all of the beautiful churches and town halls and city squares are blurring into each other. Or maybe Munich is just not the place for me. In some ways, it is refreshing to find somewhere here that I don't really like. Germany and Austria aren't all picture perfect after all!

Two things of note, though. Firstly the sign outside one of the churches prohibiting hands in pockets!

and secondly, the ongoing fascination with lederhosen. I really did consider trying them on and even purchasing some just for the laughs, but 179 Euro!!!!

Next week I will be in Vienna for 5 days, which I'm sure will be a totally different experience. I am really looking forward to seeing such a musical city and it will be nice to be able to take my time with the sightseeing (rushing through all of the sights in 24 hours is probably another reason for me not being too excited about Munich). I'm also seeing 3 operas, a musical and a play (both in German) while I'm there, so there will be plenty to write about!