So Couchsurfing has saved me tons of money so far. Being able to stay at Brian’s and and John’s house in Kenya was through Couchsurfing. For those who don’t know how the system works…please look it up. It’s basically a backpacker’s community that connects backpackers. Sometimes you find someone who can host you a “couch” so you don’t have to stay at a hotel, or other times you can just meet up for “coffee” and get a nice frank orientation to their city. “Couch” and “coffee”, these two are the main concepts. Before visiting Munich, I posted a request for “coffee”. I do this under two circumstances. Either 1. I need help understanding the city, or 2. I’ll be bored so I need someone to keep me company. For Munich it was both of these reasons. I’m interested in the city but it’s too big, I have limited time, I don’t like tours, and I want to drink coffee. Couchsurfing solves all of these. So I met up with two couchsurfers, Claudia and Kampan.
The City
Though I did get a brief tour by the couchsurfers, I also joined a free tour. This is also a great system. Basically there’s a group of English speaking tour guides throughout Europe who gives out free tours every single day. Their aim is to provide an environment where people can easily join and learn about the country without having to pay for expensive private tours. So those who wish to participate just needs to go to the meeting spot at join the tour, which takes place couple times a day. Brilliant. Unfortunately I only found out about this system in Munich at the hostel I stayed at..so I missed my opportunity to participate in Amsterdam and Berlin. But then I had a general idea of what I wanted to see in those two cities, but in Munich, I was clueless.
The tour is a 3-hour walking tour, so we’re able to see the city while hearing interesting information about the city. The tour guide, Marcin, was great. Tours can be awesome because guides can input some interesting facts or episodes that we wouldn’t have access to if we came by ourselves.
Palace. The place where the tour started and the 2nd most overrated attraction in Europe (based on real data. 1st is the clock tower in Prague).
The English Garden. A massive garden/park a bit off from the center of Munich. It said on Lonely Planet that Europeans like to get naked like always and enjoy the sun during summer. Inside the garden are number of “beer gardens”, and local Bulvarians would come out anytime from morning to night and enjoy beer, sausages, and pretzels.
Just one of the many places included in the tour. This golden strip on the street was dedicated to all victims of Hitler’s aggressive dictatorship in the early days, even before the Holocaust. Munich is actually the city where the Nazi party was created and where the Holocaust was triggered. This is also the alley where Hitler was shot at 12 times, but managed to live thanks to his bodyguard who sacrificed himself by jumped on him. If any of those 12 bullets hit Hitler, every history textbook today would tell a different story..
Marcin. Our tour guide. An English man. Funny guy…I respect tour guides, how in the world do they manage to store so much information..
Carnival
Alright, truth be told: I am over 2 weeks behind. Terrible, absolutely terrible blogger I am. Good thing this blog will terminate as I reach back home simultaneously. During this trip, I take notes of titles of events as it occurs so that it will be easier to recall and write when actually deciding to sit down and update this blog. So I always intended to write about the “carnival”, but it’s been a while so I remember what happened, but what was going though my mind..
Anyhow, back to Munich. It’s not difficult to describe the city: beer. Everything evolves around this yellow, cheap, evil, disgusting, toxic beverage. By everything, literally, everything. The economy, the social life, the politics. People of Munich, or “Bulgarians” as locals prefer to be called, will find any reason to crowd together in one of their famous beer gardens and consume gallons of beer. Yes, like this
Claudia and Kampan told me that if I really want to see everyday Bulgarians, I should go to a carnival that was being held that weekend. It’s a two day carnival held only twice a year, and it’s concept is to bring together various cultures, food, and music within Germany, and of course, to drink beer.
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There were different tents, each with its own distinct atmosphere. We stayed in the Middle Eastern tent. Pretty much felt like I was back in Turkey.
The carnival was pretty cool, especially because Germany is the most multicultural country in the EU, also probably the most in the world right after the US and Canada. It was also interesting not just for the food and attractions, but to be able to see how Bulgarians with different backgrounds socialize and interact with each other. It was so multinational that it reminded me of Los Angeles.. except in LA excessive drinking and seashaw (aka hookah, aka water pipe) is rather frowned upon in society compared to Europe. People here were very open-minded and friendly. I mean, who would dance with random grandmas on the street..?
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