Munich... and Mozart

Munich... where to begin... ok.. well first off, I had a great surprise when i get a call from my friend Aimee Garcia from LA. She tells me she is thinking of a visit, this by the way is about a week before I was to be in Munich. She asked where I would be on the 24th and i said, "i dunno, somewhere in the south of Germany, maybe Munich you should come." Not two minutes later do i get a text saying that she is on the phone with the travel agent.. and another 2 minutes later, it is booked! WOW! so.. Munich with Garcia...

I had a day in Munich by myself which was great. I did their walking tour and learned quite alot. First off, the Child Monk, the Lion and Beer are the "symbols" of Munich. The huge wood tower thing, i forget the name, is a sign of affection / love. If you like a girl, you would put that large mast thing in her yard and when she wakes up and sees it, if she likes it and you, she will dance around it, if not, than nada and the mast is taken away. However if another guy likes the same girl, he can steal yours and puts his in its place.. And unfortunately, if she only sees his, she would have no clue about you. So, be creative and stealth! Also, I saw the Glockenspeil (i KNOW i spelt that wrong!) :-) it is this show that is put on at 11:00, 12:00 and 5:00 in the center of town in the New Town Hall. A little overrated in my book. You stand in the center of town looking up to the sky where the Glockenspeil is two merry-roung type shows, one on top of the other. The top one is a wedding of the kind of Baravia and his bride to be. There there is a mini jousting show. The one below it is of the Coopers dance and the Plaque or some crazy disease. Basically back in the day, disease ripped through Bavaria and the Coopers (who make barrels for beer).. figured out that the spread of disease had stopped, so instead of word of mouth, they came up with a kooky dance. And to this day the Coopers do that dance very 7 years in the square. And it is also on that little merry-go-round type thing in the Glockenspiel. Also, i learned how Hitler tried to start a revolution in Munich and Failed (known as the Beer Hall Push) at the HB Beer Garden. ..also, just outside the President's Palace, there are four lions, and when you rub 3 of them you get good luck, if you rub all 4 - that is just greedy... very interetsting stuff.

After the tour, i head to the park to relax, read and write. There I became amazing friends with this little butterfly. I mean she was fearless and quite wise. :-)

Later that night Aimee arrived. Shortly after, we headed to Tollwood, a local festival with ZERO tourists. It was fantastic, located just behind the Olympic Field, which was also amazing! the first thing we saw when we got there was this lady crawling across the stage. Aimee immediatly thought she was doing an interprative dance, i quickly advised her that, no.. she was just drunk! So funny! We ate yummy food.. i had this out of this world corn on the cob! I know, corn - really? - but yes. It was soooo delicious! and Aimee got this yummy veggie pita thing. Anywhoo.. Later we walked around the festival and met two guys from Munich where Aimee of course quizzed them on everything. They were laughing at us hysterically and gave us some great tips on what to see!

The next day, we did Mike's Bike Tour. It was so fun and funny! I volunteered to be "The Ass Man." basically, i bring up the rear of the bike group - obviously, since i am such the bike tour pro! :-) This bike tour was so much fun. We went through town and learned all the history of the major sights and the English Gardens (which is 4 times the size of Central Park) as well as the Isar River (i am sure i spelt that wrong, too!) :-) .. anyway, this river is BAD ASS! The current is so strong, it is the run-off from the Bavaria Alps. At one point in this river, there is an huge rock that cause the current to form a constant wave that surfers actually surf! And at night, they have spot lights so they can surf at night. Each surfer waits their turn and jumps in! UNREAL!! Further down this river, is a fun place for people to jump in! That's right! During the tour, Frankie, our Hawiian guide was like who's up for it! Aimee and I, along with a few others, were like Heck Yeah! So, since neither of us had our bathing suits, we stripped down to what we could and on the count of 3 we all jumped in! Since the current was so strong we had to follow strict directions if not.. we were gonners! So, after jumping in, we had to immediatly swim to the left where the current was stronger but less rocky and once we were about 10meters from the bridge we were going to go under, we had to lay feet first and head up like a board or else we would lose a leg or something b/c of the rocks and rapid under and after the bridge. Aimee of course was just enjoying the river when one guy was like, "Dude - Feet first! feet First!!" - Aimee in a panic quickly changed her tune and was laying the right way. After the bridge, the only way to get out is to grab onto a tree branch and swing yourself to the side and climb out! Amazing!! So, of course, we did it again! This time, we went a little further up the river and jumped in and about half way down, we stopped at a "pool" type aread of the river that was blocked off by a wall. Then jumped back in to the current and did it all over again! FUN!!!

After the tour, a few of us hit of the HB Beer Garden it was so fun, i will post the pic of all of us with the "Germans" when i get it!

The next day, Aimee and i decided to take a day trip to Slazburg, Austria - the land of Mozart and The Sound of Music. We had a blast! Mozart's house is Huge and he had a sister that was just as talented as he was on the piano, but was overlooked.. such a shame. Later, we headed through town to the castles and Squares!! Along with a few of the sights from The Sound of Music. :-) So beautiful! (I will get the names from Aimee, she was taking notes for me) anyway, there we saw amazing views of all of Salzburg. Unbelievable! After a little sushi dinner, which NO WAY compares to Roku, we headed back to Munich and packed up for our early train to Interlaken, Switzerland.