It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything. I think it’s been too long, so I’m going to bring the frequency back to normal (1-3 posts per week). I’m working on the rest of the story that ends with Roxana and me scoring an apartment in central Munich. In the next installment, our agent Wolfgang shows me the inside of the first apartment we were to view. But I’m not done with that, yet. In the meantime, this is a post about some cool things we’ve done during the past few weeks. I hope I’m as excited as you are about this.
Fruhlingsfest
“Fruhling” is the German word for Spring. And, as many of us know, “fests” were large oaken boats from the American Civil War. It goes without saying, then, that Fruhlingsfest is a festival that celebrates the beginning of Spring.
I’ve heard it called “small Oktoberfest.” I would get a little more specific and compare it to a beer-drinking 5k on the road to Oktoberfest’s marathon. If you’re a Texan, you can imagine the Texas State Fair with big tents and a lot more beer, but it only lasts a week.
Roxana and I went on a Friday during the celebration of “Bayern-America Friendship Day.” The “Hippodrom” tent hosted the celebration, so we went there and found a table amid maybe 1,000 other people. Soon, we were joined by three German girls. Soon after that, a German guy and two more German girls sat–we had a full table.
While we waited for our 1L mugs of beer, Roxana and I enjoyed some pretty fun conversation with the Germans at our table. I dutifully asked them why people in Munich seem to like light beer so much (they didn’t know why) and made a corny joke about Roxana being from South Texas. They asked us about Texas and Mexico and explained that they were stopping by after work to relax. Then, the beers came.
For the rest of the night, a German band covered German and American songs while everyone in the tent jumped onto the tabletops to drink and dance and yell. Amazingly fun. But enough words. Below are some pictures. Also below is a list of the American songs the German band covered. American setlists played by non-American bands in non-American countries are really interesting, it turns out.
The Setlist:
- Sweet Caroline
- I Love Rock and Roll
- Sweet Home Alabama (the tent went absolutely nuts over this one)
- Stand by Me
- Blue Suede Shoes
- Tutti Frutti
- Hey Jude (I guess the magic here is that neither country can take credit for it, but everyone loves it, anyway)
- What’s Goin’ On?
Enough Words. Picture time.
Music Festival In Dachau
Dachau is a small town to the North of Munich. Roxana and I went there to visit Carolina and Steffan, another couple. That night, a bunch of the town’s bars and entertainment halls hosted bands from different styles, but mostly rockabilly, blues and soul.
One of the more remarkable moments of the night happened during our walk from Carolina’s and Steffan’s flat to the center of town. Before, we had all been discussing the differences among our home countries (Carolina is Bolivian and Steffan is German). Carolina and Roxana noted many differences, but I mentioned that my experience in Munich and those of mine in Texas are pretty similar–that Munich seems to value the same things as the US, but to a greater degree. For example, in the US drinking tends to be a pretty democratic affair. Each person orders however much of whatever they want, and you just start drinking when you get your beer. It works much the same way in Munich, except every social activity involves beer. Compare those customs with those of Central and South American countries. If you don’t say “Salud” while looking directly at one of your friends before you drink your first drink, the roof collapses on your head and you die a sterile hermit in the nearest gutter (or maybe it’s 7 years of bad luck). The Chinese also have a custom that requires everyone to drink the same amount of alcohol during a gathering.
Anyway, as we walked toward the center of town, I saw the outline of a large structure over some trees (it was dark out). “What’s that?” I asked.
“That’s our castle.” Steffan said that way too casually, if you ask me.
Okay, so Munich is different from the US in at least one very important way.
Enough words. Picture time.
Neuschwanstein Castle
This was our most recent destination. Last Thursday, Germany had one of its 31 May holidays (exaggeration alert). This meant that Rox didn’t have to work, and I didn’t have class. A two-hour northbound train ride into our day, and we were at the base of the mountain that houses this medieval beast.
An astoundingly beautiful 40-minute hike up the mountain took us to the castle. I haven’t done my research, yet, but I do know a few things about it. Ludwig Maximilian had it built in a year between 0 and now. I think. It’s one of his vacations homes, but they never finished building it. I’ve heard that, when he was young, he went through a phase of obsession with building castles.
Enough words. Picture time.
When I visit, we are doing nothing but drinking beer and visiting castles and driving on the Autobahn.