Pete's Log: Das Neueste aus München
Entry #1396, (Life in General)(posted when I was 28 years old.)
So I've been in Munich more than a month now. So far I can't say that I regret the decision. I keep meaning to write an update, but I keep putting it off, so the number of things to talk about keeps growing. At this point, however, I think my Oktoberfest activities for 2006 are at an end, so that makes for a good milestone in my Munich life.
My job is going well so far. They've certainly kept me busy as I've already had business trips to Cologne (and surrounding area), Berlin, and within the Munich area.
The Berlin trip was probably the most interesting, simply because it was interesting to see how much the city had changed since the last time I was there. We had visited there once in the early 90s, shortly after the wall fell. At the time the wall was still standing in many spots and the difference between East and West was rather distinct. This time I saw no trace of the wall and East Berlin (at least the small portions I saw of it) blended in with West Berlin. Areas along the former wall which had stood empty before (to offer unobstructed sightlines for border guards) were now filled with modern buildings. There was still construction evident everywhere -- at one point I counted more than a dozen construction cranes visible from my location.
We ate dinner at Zur Letzten Instanz, the oldest resaurant in Berlin, dating back to 1621. Great atmosphere, good food, good beer. I drank a Rotkehlchen, a supposed Berlin specialty -- basically an amber lager -- which was pretty tasty. And speaking of tasty specialty beers, I also had a chance to drink some Kölsch in Cologne.
My social life in Munich has been rather entertaining, although it's been mostly in the company of English speakers. I found a great website -- Toytown Germany -- which caters to Germany's English speaking crowd. I started attending the ultimate frisbee games they organize twice a week. It's a great workout and afterwards they go to a Biergarten.
Oktoberfest. The event is 17 days this year and I've managed to go three times. That's probably about the right amount. I went on the opening day with a large group of people, most of them from the Munich International School, hence an English-speaking crowd. We got there at 8 am. Tents opened at 9 and we managed to squeeze into a tent and get a table. Finding a table in a tent on a weekend is no easy feat and they won't serve you beer unless you're at a table.
My second trip was to a reserved table of one of our business partners. This was my one Oktoberfest trip this year with a German crowd. By this point I was getting to know the words to the songs pretty well. Reserved tables also make life much simpler.
My final trip was this past Saturday, with a group of five American girls. Two of them were domers and I'd gotten in touch with them through Toytown. We got into a tent simply because they had inside connections. They close the doors to the tents to prevent overcrowding, so that was a good start. We were able to sit down at a reserved table for an hour before being kicked out by those who had made the reservation. The next couple hours were spent standing and wandering around looking for a spot to sit. We finally found one and got to know some Germans. I was asked to swing dance, but my skills were very rusty and so I did not impress.
Our final destination for the night was The Arc, an English language sports bar in Schwabing. I found our way there and to our dismay we found that the ND Purdue game wasn't being broadcast over here. We had to rely on text messages and updates during the Florida-Alabama game that was being played.
After the ND win, we played a game of beer pong with some of the other patrons of The Arc. I think I may be a little too old for such activities, but it was fun, despite losing.
Two of the girls had left during the game to catch a night train back to Vienna. The other three asked if they could sleep at my apartment, since their other alternative was to sleep in the Hauptbahnhof. I warned them that I had no furniture for them to sleep on, but it was still a more appealing option for them than the train station floor, so we headed to my place. Hopefully by next year I'll have furniture for Oktoberfest guests to crash on. I wasn't expecting to host Wiesn guests so soon.
The next morning I accompanied my guests to the bus stop so they could head back to the Wiesn. On our way out of the building, we ran into Frank who seemed a bit surprised and asked if all three of them had come out of my apartment. "Oktoberfest was interesting yesterday," was my response.
I had fully intended to meet up with my new Wiesn buddies again and then go to ultimate, but I was worn out something fierce. I lazed around at home all day instead.