Augsburg

As I got off the train at the Augsburg Hauptbahnhof and stepped onto the dark streets of the city, I realized that I was an idiot.

I had only been to Augsburg once, in the day, with a guide of sorts.  Now it was night, cold, misting rain, and I found myself in a European city with the winding streets that have no rhyme or reason to their layout and I needed to find a Christkindlemarkt that was located somewhere within the city .  Awesome, Jenny, well planned.

Okay, I thought to myself, this shouldn’t be too bad.  The Markt shouldn’t be located somewhere random.  It should be in the city center, or by the town hall or something, but now the question was where that was.  After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly around the Hauptbahnhof, Mackenzie and I found a shadowy map that we lit with the backlight on my phone.  It was easy to read, thankfully, and, according to the map, the main square should be straight down the road in front of us (bahnhofstrasse).  We closed my phone and set off.

Despite the cold and the rain, people were out on the streets in Augsburg.  Christmas decorations lit the streets, although the ones that were supposed to look like stars ended up looking like giant spiders.  Once in a while we came across a collection of the wooden stalls that are found in a Christmas market, but there weren’t enough of them to tell us we had found our destination, and half of them were closed anyways.  That last made me nervous.  What if we found the market but it was closed?  Would we ever get the chance to come back?

As we plunged deeper into the city, there were more lights and more people.  A crowd had built up near the Strassenbahn tracks and as we waited for the streetcars to pass, I tried to eavesdrop on the conversation around me, hoping maybe I could figure out if these people were going to the Market.

This is approximately what I heard:

“balidsfnaoidnfaidufadf FACEBOOK! Aaodsfhaodifanfb;f”

That wasn’t very helpful

Once the street car passed we continue down the street until we reached the bottom of a hill where the road split, took a right and circled around to the large town hall.  And I breathed a sigh of relief.  There it was.  The Christkindlemarkt….however all the stalls were shut and the lights were out.

Balls.

We were going to give up and go back, when Mackenzie and I noticed a strange amount of people on the street.  Now let me repeat, it was cold.  It had to have been hovering around the freezing mark and it was misting rain.  In other words, not a good night to be out.  But there were still people hanging out under overhangs drinking hot chocolate and coffee.  Then we began to notice shadows lurking among the closed stands.  Every now and one would zip inside their stand, or slip under the cloth covering  as if to arrange a display.  A woman walked by us wearing an apron for holding money.

Mackenzie and I looked at each other.  Something was up and we were going to find out what.

We found a spot to stand in front of the lighted shop window of a jewelry store.  Then we decided it wasn’t a good idea to loiter in front of a jewelry store and moved to loiter in front of another store, which gave no indication as to what it actually was. 

It was a cold wait.  At first we thought we might be mistaken, but as more and more people began to loiter with us, we realized that no, something was happening.  Then a choir came out onto the balcony of the town hall and began to sing.

It was lovely and unearthly.  For about 20 minutes.  Then I was too cold to care.  We continued to wait as the choir sang, then, an announcement came in German, explaining the history of the Christkindlesmarkt.  ‘Ah ha!’ we thought, ‘they’re opening it!’

Haha we were silly.  We waited another half hour before the announcement came again.  Then another half hour.  Then at the very random time of 8:37, all the lights came on—on the Christmas tree, on the giant Christmas pyramid, on the buildings on the stalls—and the market was open.

This photo courtesy of Mackenzie

It was magical.  The scent of sugared almonds filled the air.  People feasted on wurst, and gluhwein.  Mackenzie and I purchased some sort of tender pork patty, spiced delicately and deliciously, and we ate as we browsed through the lighted booths.

I didn’t know when we got off the train that we would stumble on the opening ‘ceremony’ of the market, but it was worth it.  No one does Christmas like the Germans.  After we made some purchases, we found our way back to the bahnhof—getting some gluhwein on the way and having a lovely conversation with a random group of Germans—and made our way back to Munich.

Around Munich: Day 2

We woke up this morning and talked with my host parents for an hour and a half over breakfast . I love breakfast with my host parents.  Traudl makes the BEST jam, homemade, from the fresh fruit bought in the stands in the city. That’s something else I love about Munich—the seasonal fruit stands all over the city.  The Turkish quarter outside the hauptbahnhof is especially delicious.

Anyways, we took the bahn in the Munich so I could show Mackenzie around the city properly.  We started in Marienplatz, the city center, home to:

The Rathaus

 Rathaus=townhall.  There is an awesome restaurant in the basement

And the famous Glockenspiel.

The Glockenspiel is a moveable clock and one of the symbols of the city.  As it plays, it reenacts several scenes from Munich’s history.  The first is a joust celebrating the wedding of Ludwig I and Princess Therese.  This is the same wedding which Oktoberfest celebrates and is even held in a meadow named after Princess Therese (Theresianweise).  The second scene recreates the Schaefflertanz—or the Cooper’s dance.  After the plague left the city, the Coopers were said to be the first out of their homes, dancing in the streets.

The Glockenspiel is really cool to watch, and it draws tourists from all over.  But, as a lot of tourist things do, it also might attract pickpockets.  Now one of the things I love about Germany, is that its ridiculously safe and people are very law abiding and so I never heard of anyone having anything stolen when watching the Glockenspiel play, BUT the rumor is that that is the best time for thieves.  Anyways, now you know!

We stood in Marienplatz for a little, just soaking things in.  The Munich Christkindlemarkt (Christmas Market) was going to be starting that Friday, and so people were setting up their stalls and hanging lights.  The giant Christmas tree was already up.

If there is something Germany does well, it’s Christmas.  It’s like a Christmas explosion.  Even when they’re setting up, it feels like Christmas.

Marienplatz at night during Christmas

The little stalls for the Christkindlemarkt are made of wood, some with beautiful scrollwork and decorations.  There are other stalls open selling hot roasted chestnuts, and sugared roasted almonds.  It’s just yum.  And perfect.  In fact, nothing is more delicious that those hot sugared almonds in 30 degree weather.

See?

Soon we moved away from the Christmas explosion in Marienplatz and up towards Sendlinger Tor because I wanted to show Mackenzie what I liked to call the random church.  Munich is full of really awesome old churches, but the one I wanted to show her was especially awesome.  First off, it’s away from any main square and it seems shoved right in the middle of all these perfectly normal shops and businesses.  And when I say right in the middle, I mean right in the middle.

 One of these things is not like the other.

The inside is just as crazy.  It’s ridiculously baroque, and very dark, with lots of random things happening.  Like this random skeleton cutting this cherubs hair. 

WTF Germany

Luckily Mackenzie had the foresight to snap this photo of the randomness.

As we left the church, we saw this awesome window.  Nothing really exciting about it except it’s awesome.

I also took Mackenzie on a mini ‘walk of evil’ tour.  Munich was the center of the Nazi movement and when I studied here back in 2007, one of my classes was all about fascism and the rise of Nazism in Munich and we got to see some of famous places and buildings that figured prominently in the Nazi regime.

Odeonsplatz is one of them.  It was here that Hitler staged a huge march, was arrested, thrown in jail, which is where he wrote Mein Kampf, which helped, essentially put him on the map.  Odeonsplatz has some other awesome things like the Teatinerkirche

And the Rezidence, where the kings of Bavaria lived.  According to legend, if you rub the nose of one of the lions at the gate, it means you will return to Bayern.

The next stop on our walk of evil tour was the center of the Nazi government: Koenigsplatz.  The Nazi’s really liked the classical greek style of architecture because of their clean orderly lines.  As such, all of their buildings in Koenigsplatz reflect this style.

This is now the Egypt Museum haha

If you’re ever in this area of Munich there’s something you have to do, that I don’t think many people know about/do since the tours for tourists usually stay in the city center.  Walk up the street, away from the big gate and you come to an intersection.  Turn to the left and you will see this balcony:

My pictures of this thing always turn out blurry or crooked.  GROWL

This humble, unassuming balcony, now part of a music school, marks Hitler’s office where Appeasement took place.  Crazy no?

The last stop on our ‘walk of evil’ tour is one of my favorite memorials.  One of the resistance movements in Munich was by a group of students known as the Weisse Rose (White Roses).  They were led by brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl.  They put up anti Nazi propaganda all over the city and, on the day they were caught, Sophie is famous for taking a whole ream of leaflets and throwing them out over a balcony toward incoming students.

The memorial to them is, to me, just so perfect and moving.  It’s very simple, and if you don’t know where to look, it’s hard to find.  You have to go to the University, where the Weisse Rose had their headquarters.  Stand in front of the university on Geschwester Scholl Platz, on the cobbles, and look down at your feet.  You’ll see something like this:

Scattered like leaflets across the cobbles of the entrance are little stone markets, shaped like pamphlets in homage, honoring each member of the Weisse Rose.

It’s insanely moving to me.

It was inching towards 3:30pm by the time we were done with our tour, and, this time of year, it gets dark around 4:00pm and we had a train to catch to the neighboring city of Augsberg.  However, there was something very important we had to do first.

I’m about to tell you a secret.  A very important secret and an incredibly valuable piece of information.

Are you ready?

There is a free public bathroom, one of the only on the entire U-bahn system, located at Candidplatz.

See?  Told you it was important.

Not only is there a bathroom there, but the bahn stop at Candidplatz is super cool.

See?

Anyways, after we made *that* important stop, we climbed on the train, headed for Augsberg.

Back!

I'm back!  Get excited :D .  Actually I was back several days ago but had some coming home stuff to take care of first.  Over the next week, though, I'll be posting my travel journal here.  Starting with the day we--my best friend and I--left/arrived in Munich, Germany.


Go!

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It is so nice to be back in Munich.  I am not German, and I do not wish to be German—I’m perfectly happy being American—however I do love this country and this city.  I love Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel in all their beautiful architectural goodness.  I love the cheeses and meats and wonderful wonderful bread.  I love it all.

But to back track to yesterday morning.

Before I even left, I packed two of my travel essentials

1)

Yes, my Velcro shoes for my feetsies.  No, I’m not a twelve year old.  I am, though, a person who likes to go through security quickly, and have ease when I travel.  Velco shoes are easy to slip on and easy to slip off, not only when going through the security line, but also when you’re on a plane. Plus they add protection for your feet that sandals don't.

2)

 

The tic tacs are for scale, although they are delicious

I can’t travel without a moleskin notebook.  Well…I can, but its one of those things I would rather not  travel without.  It has to be a moleskin—not because of the name, but for several reasons.  The first is size. The smallest size is the perfect size and can readily fit in your pants pocket and is easy to whip out to take notes on.  That’s what I bring a moleskin for: notes.  Like when I’m in a strange city and I want to look up the name of a building or place when I get home, I make a note.  They’re great for writing down train times too.  Once I was traveling back from Krakow on a sleeper train, set my alarm for when my stop was supposed to be, but when the alarm went off we were at a completely different stop.  Well, I just pulled out my handy dandy little moleskin and was able to figure out late the train was running and how much longer I could sleep.

The best feature of a moleskin, and the reason I choose a moleskin over a regular less expensive notebook, is the hidden pocket in the backflap.  Oh yes, you read that.  There’s a little pocket in the back where I keep my emergency cash.  If I were a thief the last thing I would still is the little notebook.  Unless the thief is reading this blog.  Hmmm….

Anyways, with my essentials packed we, my best friend and I, left this morning for our regional airport, where we would fly to Dulles, and then from Dulles to Toronto, then from Toronto to Munich.  A little round about I know, but it was worth it cost wise.  The actual trip was uneventful, but I would be failing if I didn’t mention one point of awesome:

These are the hand dryers at one of the airports.  THEY ARE SO AWESOME!!! 

We arrived in Munich around 10:00 am and my host parents, Traudl and Peter picked and drove us back to Neubiberg, our little village just to the south of the city. To my surprise they didn’t remember my old roommate Kaitlin or her icky boyfriend Dail.  I guess that’s probably a good thing.  I also asked them what they thought about the terrorist threats against Germany and they made some noise along the lines of “eh emuh eh,” and sorta flapped their hands.  “It is terrible,” they said finally, “but what can we really do?  We do all we can.”

Once we got to their house, we went up to the same little apartment that Kaitlin and I shared.  There’s this weird European thing, or maybe it’s just a German thing, where they take two twin beds and push them together. 

Aww so cute and cozy

It’s as if you have one big bed but…not.  It actually works really well and Traudl and Peter have these ridiculously comfortable down filled comforters that are just mmmmmm.  We would have slept like rocks but it was only 12:00pm and we were hungry.  Traudl told us she would make ‘Lettuces’ (her exact words lol) for lunch.  Before we ate our ‘lettuces,’ Peter showed us around.

The house was the same as I remember it, expect for one point which Peter was very excited about.

Yes.  This is a toilet.  And, as you can see, it is a new toilet with a seat that closes slowly and quietly by itself. Apparently that is a big deal.  Then he said “I wish the seat would be blue, or red.”  Just for reference, the bottom half of the toilet is a pale yellow.

Oh Peter, artist you are not.

After lunch Traudl asked us what we were planning on doing.  We were a little tired but it was only around 1 pm, so I said Mackenzie and I would go and tool around the city for a bit.  Traudl decided she would come.  Little did I know what an adventure that would be.

Now, I studied abroad in Munich in 2007.  I spent a large portion of my time exploring the city.  I even had a class on ‘Munich behind the scenes,’ so I do know how things tend to work, what tickets to get, where to get them, what the things are, etc.   Now I would have expected Traudl to know just as much if not more.  Haha silly me.

First she didn’t know which ticket to get to get us into the city.  Munich, like many large cities, as a system of subway trains (U-bahns) and over ground trains (S-bahns), and the tickets you purchase, for the most part can usually apply to both of these.  There are many options however but apparently Traudl didn’t know them.  And since I didn’t want to offend her by telling her which ones were the best, Mackenzie and I patiently waited in the cold while she figured it out.  And then she didn’t even time stamp the ticket..oops!  Ah well, we didn’t get controlled and that’s the important thing!

When we got into Munich, Mackenzie and I were just assuming we would sorta wander around slowly.  However this is not the German thing.  Germans like to have plans.  Germans like to get from point A to point B, and Traudl was no exception.

“And now we will go here, and then we will go here.  You want to go inside?  We will go inside.”

We were almost dragged from Odeonsplatz to Marienplatz to Karlsplatz.  No stopping for photographs, no pausing for a break.  For the two of us, very exhausted and jet lagged, it was a little much.  Luckily, we’re going out tomorrow, sans Traudl, and going back to take pictures and go to all my favorite spots. 

We did have a treasure of an experience inside the Frauenkirche though.  At this time of year, Germany is erupting in Christmas—more on that later—and there are many Christmas concerts going on.  We stopped inside the Frauenkirche, one of the symbols of Munich, and got to hear the choir warming up.  It was truly magical.  The choir was singing Handel’s Oratorio, accompanied by a full orchestra at the end of the nave in a beautiful gothic church, lit by candlelight.

Then we came home and ate Lebkuchen (german gingerbread) and drank hot tea and ate Christmas cakes.

Beautiful ending :)

Tomorrow we’re exploring more of Munich and heading over to Augsburg for the Christkindlesmarkt (the Christmas market)

Bis spaater, I need sleep.