Munich - The First Day

Arriving in Munich this morning, after two long flights, from Seattle to Philadelphia and then from Philly to Munich, I headed to the S-Bahn to take the subway into the city. On the short walk from the terminal to the train station, I saw an Airstream trailer in the platz and quickly realized that it was no ordinary trailer. It was a hot dog stand, but more than that, it was outfitted with a nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney airplane engine and wings! Bratwurst anyone?

It's raining and cold in Munich this week. A lot like late winter in Seattle, but I'm having a great time already. I met a local woman named Susanne and she is hosting me for my first two nights. She lives several train stops south west of the historic downtown area of Munich and is a freelance event planner and location scout. She has a nine-year-old son named Cedric and they live in a lovely house in an upscale residential area. Susanne gave me directions to find her neighborhood using the city subway system. It was clean and easy to understand. I took one train to the center of town and they transferred to another before arriving at her station. From the airport, it took under an hour. After dropping off my luggage, Susanne made an early lunch of Weisswurst, sweet mustard (senf) and soft pretzels. Yum! Apparently, Weisswurst is traditionally only eaten before noon. Anyway, it was delicious.

Susanne then took the afternoon off and we took the train/subway to the English Garden, Odeonplatz and the Hofbrauhaus, as well as window shopping in the general area of Marienplatz. The English Garden was gorgeous. It was like a rural Central Park, with canals, a river and horse trails everywhere. At one point near the edge of the park and with downtown buildings in sight and less than a block away, there is a place in the river where the water is rough and makes an eddy that people use to surf! They throw their boards in and jump on and can go for ten minuted, surfing in one place, thanks to the conflicting currents, as long as they don't fall off their boards. Once they fall, the next person jumps in and you have to wait your turn again!

All together, we had a nice walk of a couple of miles and one stop for coffee before returning to the house so I could rest! (I napped a bit on the plane, but haven't really slept in a couple of days now.)

Tomorrow I will be a solo tourist in Munich, maybe go to Dachau, and arrange a car rental for the weekend so I can head to Füssen and the schlösser (castles) of Mad King Ludwig!