Munich, or how I learned to stop worrying and just drink beer

Hallo From Munchen,

We've been in the city for four days so far, and all I can say is that I'm blown away. Today was the first day that we didn't have to go to work and it yielded quite the reward. Our schedule had been thrown off a bit by the time difference, but yesterday and today were the first days that had a natural flow to them, as my body has started to get used to the 9 hour change.
We celebrated a bit hard on friday night. Having gone to the market to buy food(and beer) for the place, we definitely began to feel that this is our home. So to prove it, we drank like the germans drink. Augustiner Brau is the only beer that Munich doesn't export and it enjoys quite the reputation because of this fact. It is THE beer of choice for all the locals from what I can tell at this juncture. Everywhere you look, people are walking around with a bottle in their hand. No laws about drinking in public here. The passengers of a vehicle can even drink! Anyway, we got a case of this beer, 20 .5L bottles for 12 euro, and started in. Our apartment is right near a major night scene that is frequented by many people our own age, so we made dinner and enjoyed a few cold ones before heading out to find the local dive bar.
Beers in hand, we started down the street. We ended up at a small place that we came to learn has a reputation for the best late night sausage and fries(wurst und pommes frites). There we met a handful of locals who were very willing to help out with our many questions regarding the local scene. After a round of beers and some conversation we decided to head back to the house.When we arrived we opened the apartment's previous tenants CD collection and reveled in their taste for American classics. Bon Jovi was a big hit as we finished off the last round of beers for the night and went to bed.
Waking up to the light that was pouring into my room was not too much fun, to say the least. But not having seen any real "touristy" sights, I was eager to get out on the streets and cruise on my newly purchased Peugeot road bike, and hit the streets I did. In german tradition(from what we understand), breakfast at the house contains toast, juice, cheese and a selection of cured meats. Weiss Wurst(white poached sausage) is also common, but we have not been fortunate enough to find it. So having a light meal in my stomach, and a sweet new bike, Parker, Allen and I met downstairs to see the sights. Armed with a map, a camera and a bottle of water, we headed north to the english garden.
Englishen Garten is very similar to Central Park in NY in size, but the quantity of plant life and sheer number of bike paths to meander through made it quite the fresh experience. We road for about an hour and a half, stopping for the quick photo op. when we felt the bug. After exhausting ourselves, we felt it necessary to get our first taste of the beer gardens. We stumbled upon the chinese tower garden(don't ask why it's chinese) to find germans packing into picnic tables, hoisting full LITERS(Mas Bier) of beer, eating 14" pretzels thick as could be, and listening to a full live german band playing bavarian classics...so we followed suit. It was hard to imagine that this could exist peacefully in America, and it probably never could. Something straight from a german stereotype, that you truly have to see to believe.
With our bellies full and our heads slightly off kilter, we mounted our bikes and headed out of the park. It was about 4:30 pm when left the garten, a bit early to call it a night, so we broke out the map and trekked north east towards the olympic center. The slight change in our attitude made for a blur of munich businesses as we left the modern part of the city and traded it in for subtle hills and cottages that surround the Olimpium Zentrium. We road around the center, saw but did not make it inside BMW's headquarters and museum, and watched the street artists perform for hordes of asian tourists(the first ethnic group we had seen). I'll just say that roller-blades have never left the german people, but skateboards are few and far between. Having just about enough of weaving through packs of families and camera wielding asians, we decided it was time to head home.
We arrived home around 7 pm and put our bags down before going back downstairs to eat at the cafe that we live 5 stories above(in germany it's the 4th floor as they don't count the ground level as a floor...and we don't have an elevator). The meal was a great way to come down from the crazy exercise we had from riding our bikes for nearly 5 hours. following dinner we all crashed out for an hour or two before I awoke and hit the streets once again in search for internet. I went back home and invited Parker and Allen to join me in the plaza down the street for a beer to end the night. The plaza is a roundabout with a garden and fountain in the middle. Young people hang out, drink beer, and talk in the garden and on the stairs of the theater which faces inward towards the plaza. Our beers lasted us quite a while while we wound down from a busy day and discussed some of the unique characteristics of our neighborhood here, as opposed to LA.

I've got a new german cell phone that is on a prepaid basis. You can call me for 9 cents a minute by dialing 1016868 before dialing 011-049 to dial our of the country, followed by my cell number, 0176-76399525. If you call me it's free for me.
all together now: 1016868-011-049-0176-786399525. I know this sounds crazy but you should be able to get ahold of me.


Curtis