Munich Germany: Ich Leibe Deutschland! (Part 1)

After a hectic week of studying for exams and planning a final 2-week tour of Europe, I finally have a free day to update this blog and recount amazing weekend in Munich, Germany! Like many of our European trips this month, this story begins like many of the others by re-capping the perils of catching a flight from London. For the first time, I am pleased to say that I have virtually nothing to say about our flight to Munich... HOORAY! Cursed by wrong departure times and nearly-missed flights, Bill and I actually arrived at London Standsted airport with plenty of time to spare before boarding our plane bound for Germany. Thrilled by a smooth start to our trip, I was ready to brush up on my German language skills in the Fatherland!

Arriving in Munich about 30 minutes late due to a bit of bad German weather, Bill and I walked through customs with no problems and checked into our hostel before an afternoon of seeing the sights. After stopping for a quick bite to eat at a small Chinese cafe, we began our tour of Munich with the famed Deutsche Museum. Answering to the American Smithsonians with their own massive museum complex, the Deutsche Museum consists of 10 MILES of exhibits on science and technology. A prominent world force in engineering and technology, Germany has much to boast in this gigantic museum. Incredibly well laid-out and logically organized, Bill and I began our tour with the transportation wing. As expected, the story of transportation began with a room filled with huge life-sized ships as well as intricate smaller models. From sails to steam-powered boats, the display was definitely one of the museum's crowning glories. Walking "below deck" (rather, taking the stairs down one floor in the museum), we were able to peruse through several refurbished submarines, torpedoes, and deep-sea diving contraptions. Just as the submarines were located on the floor below the ships, the airplane exhibit was placed one floor above the ships. (Starting to make sense??) Taking some time to admire the jets and helicopters, Bill and I climbed to the upper floors, which featured space exploration and astronomy. Thinking back on the museum organization, I find it ingenious that the floors were arranged to mimic the position of the transportation exhibits in relation to the earth (ships on the ground floor, submarines below ground, flight above ground, etc.), which makes me wonder why more science museums don't follow this logical format! Other wings of the museum covered physics, trains, bridges, musical instruments, communication, and many additional topics that would require several paragraphs to list all of them.

Though Bill was most impressed by the transportation exhibits, my favorite wing included the musical instrument rooms. Like I've mentioned in earlier blog posts, I'm not a huge fan of science museums. Ironically, I love learning about science, working in research labs, and am entering a predominantly science-related career field. So why do I prefer history and art museums to those sporting a hodge-podge of scientific posters and specimens? I like the variety of learning something new. After countless biology, physics, and engineering classes, the exhibits in many science museums are mainly review of what I've already studied in great detail. As an analogy, picture your job whether it be office work, teaching, medicine, writing, etc. Then imagine taking a vacation where you spend several hours surrounded by fax machines, rambunctious kids, microbes, or editors, respectively. Not much of a vacation, huh? Hopefully, this sheds a little light on my point. Backing up to the musical instrument exhibits... these rooms were a breath of fresh air after wading through airplanes, stress/strain demonstrations, and amendments to the fact the Pluto is now not a planet. Marveling at some of the most beautiful pianos, harps, and international percussion sets, my fingers itched to plunk out a few tunes on the most prodigiously-made instruments in the world. Much to my excitement, an organist arrived in the afternoon to give an informal concert as avid museum-goers passed through the exhibits. Enjoying the acoustical properties of the room, I paused for a few moments to admire the ornately-painted pianos before moving from my favorite part of the Deutsche Museum. Overall, the Deutsche Museum is incredibly impressive, and I would recommend it to anyone visiting Munich. The exhibits are clearly catered to adults and older children, but several rooms contained play-areas for small children and lively demonstrations. Bill thought the museum was fabulous, and I also liked several of the exhibits. Given a choice, however, I usually prefer historical buildings and Renaissance art galleries.

After spending nearly three hours in the Deutsche Museum, evening was quickly falling on the city as we walked back to the center of town. Bundling up to fight the freezing temperatures, I was in the mood for a lively beer hall with hearty German food. Where would we go?? THE HOFBRAUHAUS, of course! Living in Cincinnati for the past three years of my college career, I was ecstatic to visit the original Hofbrauhaus. Newport, Kentucky (a small city just south of Cincinnati) has their own replica of the Hofbrauhaus in the States, which has always been one of my favorite destinations when studying at UC. (In fact, my boyfriend and I "met" at the Newport Hofbrauhaus... of course, you'll either hear that we met at church or a beer hall -- depending on which one of us you ask.) Sliding into a bench at one of the long wooden tables, Bill and I glanced through the menu before ordering hearty plates of traditional Bavarian fare: sausages, pork roast, potatoes, and sauerkraut. Though I'll probably recieve a few incredulous rebukes from my friends, Bill and I are probably two of the few who have eaten at the Hofbrauhaus and did not drink beer. Before your feathers get too ruffled, we did order a few glasses of German wine, which is of incredibly fine-quality and outshown only by the German beer culture. Chatting with the native Germans sharing our table, they looked slightly appalled when we told them that neither of us like beer, but they were slightly impressed when I ordered a glass of Frankfurt's finest red Riesling. The alcoholic drinks, however, fall closely second to the amazing German food. There are not enough words to describe the ingenious flavor of Bavarian sausage that made my tastebuds dance and shout out, "WE WANT MORE!" Bill was constantly laughing at me all weekend as I ordered plate after plate after plate of sausages, pork, potatoes, sauerkraut, strudels, Bavarian cream, and beautiful pastries. No matter how stuffed I felt before a meal, I shoveled plates of food into my mouth with ravenous carnality that I've never before experienced in my life. Perhaps my German heritage is to blame, but no food has ever made my tastebuds happier or my stomach more satisfied.

Prolonging our stay over drinks and desserts, Bill and I had a few great moments to appreciate German culture. Exclaiming "Prost!" and clinking glasses with our German tablemates, we engaged in a lively conversation on similarities between the U.S. and Germany. Incredibly impressed by their language skills, we had no trouble understanding their fluent mastery of the English language even though they occasionally seemed slightly confused by our "crazy American phrases". Clinking a final "Prost!", Bill and I eventually bade them farewell before snapping a few final pictures of the Hofbrauhaus and walking back to our hostel for the night.

Enduring the cold, we rushed back to our hostel with stomachs full and tastebuds satisfied only to find the common rooms hopping with student travellers from across the globe. While Bill ordered a drink at the bar, I commandeered a computer to email my family to let them know that we had arrived safely in Germany. Stifling a few yawns, I decided to by-pass the smoky bar room and curl up in a warm bed. Though tired from the early-morning flight, I was most excited to fall asleep only to wake up the next morning to a beautiful breakfast of German pastries and a cup of rich hot chocolate!