Day 16: Mostly Dry Seating
I started off the day the way I should have started off each city, with a free walking tour. My hostel hosted this tour, something my AirBnB spots wouldn’t do. I will have to do some research in the upcoming cities to see if there are any free tours that I can be a part of. The hostel I’m staying at in Vienna might have their own tour, but the AirBnB’s for Prague and Budapest probably won’t.
The tour lasted about two hours, starting at quarter to eleven. It was a little chaotic because Munich was having a half marathon today, so a lot of the usual walking routes were blocked off. But we still saw a lot of landmarks that I will have to re-visit. I can’t remember all of the names because they are in German, but there are several churches and museums to visit, as well as the Brofhausen, or something like that. It’s a restaurant filled with traditional German cuisine, beer, and a very social atmosphere of benched tables. Apparently it’s the thing to do in Munich. The thing everyone will ask you about when you get back. The pretzels were enormous, so I’m definitely stopping by.
I think I will fill up my day tomorrow with a lot of the things I saw on the tour. Tuesday I’m going to a castle though. How can you pass up a castle? Apparently it’s the castle that inspired the famous Disney castle as well, so it better be good.
After the tour finished I retraced my steps to an awesome fountain we had passed by. It was shaped a lot like an upside down half shell, coliseum style seating, with the seats all facing the pool of water in the middle. The unique part was that water would cascade down the seats (only in a few spots, so it was mostly dry seating) into the pool. I decided to stay here for another hour and get some reading done.
A peculiar thing happened while I was at that fountain. I was sitting comfortably, reading, minding my own business, when a young kid approached me. English was not his first language, but he managed to communicate that he was separated from his family and his own phone wasn’t working. He asked to borrow my phone so he could call his mother. At first I’ll admit I was suspicious, but after a few moments I realized that this kid was shaking a little bit. He was honestly nervous. Plus I figured I could catch him if he tried to run off with my phone.
After trying a few times, he eventually reached his mother and talked to her in a language I wasn’t familiar with. A man that must have been his father waved at him from across the park and he left, without forgetting to say “thank you.”
It was the one part of the day that caught me by surprise. It will be a while before I forget that interaction.
After the kid left, I continued reading. But by 2:30, I was ready to move on, because Ireland played France in the Euro at 3:00, and I wanted to cheer on Ireland. I found a big beer garden a short walk away and watched the match. It started off great, with Ireland scoring on a penalty kick within the first two minutes, but ultimately France came out victorious with the final score being 2 – 1.
After the match I moved on to find something for dinner and catch some of the German game. It was a bit of a struggle finding a restaurant that both had something I could eat, and wasn’t crowded beyond belief for the soccer game. I watched most of the game in passing as I walked the streets, checking menus outside each restaurant. I finally found some pizza to go, and brought it back to my hostel, where I watched the end of the game in the common area.
Needless to say, Germany handily defeated Slovakia. I remember Germany doing extremely well in the World Cup a few years ago while I was in Greece, so I’m sure they could do it here. I don’t remember who won that World Cup. Was it Italy? Or maybe Argentina? I don’t remember. Looking it up would be cheating.
So after today I have a loose plan for my stay in Munich. I think I can learn to really enjoy this city. If only I could speak German. That would make it so much easier. So many languages, so little time.
Thanks for reading, here’s to tomorrow.
