Munich

Munich

The second city I’m going to write about is Munich. I can’t delay talking about Munich for it was the first city I visited in Europe and a city I empathize with a lot. I lived there for almost six months, went back thirteen years later and I still felt at home.

It was the year 1995. I was twelve years old and I was very different from now. At that time I didn’t like change (a thing that has changed with time) now I get bored when I don’t see change instead. Anyway at that moment I was more introverted, at the last minute I didn’t want to leave Maracaibo for six months, because when you are that age, six months is toooo long. Nevertheless, Munich was everything a city should be. I could get to know something that I had only heard about before… an organized city. I got to know what it was a society based on punctuality. I t was also a tidy, interesting and friendly city.  In Munich, at twelve years old, I could go out anywhere by myself using the underground, in Maracaibo I couldn’t go around the corner without a grown up.  I know what you’re thinking, that I’m making a bad impression of my country. Actually I love my country and I adore my city, but at that moment it was inevitable for me to compare when the only thing I knew was my home city.

In 95 I was in Munich with my parents and my sister. Luckily, my father who had made his doctor degree in Germany years before, already had friends in that country.  I can’t write about this trip without talking about Herman Drewes, or like my sister and I used to call him “Uncle Harry”, he was our host and he showed us many places and many things about German customs, during our whole stay.

In 2008 when I went back for two and a half weeks, I felt really happy. The same first day I find out there's a celebration at Marienplatz for the recent championship of Bayern München, I got to see all the players  who were celebrating in front of the crowd at the balcony of the city hall, it was the best way to start  my trip to Munich, without a doubt.

Walking down the streets that I knew by heart, even if I hadn’t step a foot on them for more than thirteen years, it made me smile. I’m sure that more than one person looked at me and thought –Why is this crazy guy smiling? But it was a great feeling, my memory started to work, when I walked through places like Marienplatz, Odeonplatz, Frauenkirche, Stachus etc. I could even recall the conversations that I had had with my father, while I walked through the same places thirteen years later.   

When I was twelve I witness a great experience called “Oktoberfest”, and going back to Munich for the Oktoberfest is something I have on my “to do list”. Oktoberfest is the world’s most famous beer festival and where you can see Germans and tourist getting drunk from very early in the day. So when I didn’t have the age to drink alcohol I was in Munich during the Oktoberfest, later when I had the age, I was in Munich but it wasn’t Oktoberfest. Obviously I still have to go to Munich DURING Oktoberfest.  And steal another beer mass … yes another one.

My suggestions if you’re visiting Munich start with trying the baverian food, all kinds of sausages and my favorite the leberkasse. Also going to the Olympia Park, Deutsche Museum, drink a mass of beer at the Hof Brau House or any biergarten, if there is good weather. You can’t forget if you pass near the entrance of the residenz at Odeon Platz, there are some Lions holding some shields with a lion head at the botton, you have to touch the lion’s head for good luck. You can stay there for a while and see how other people, who pass by, even if they’re in a hurry, do it too.

Maybe when I talk about Munich I’m a bit subjective, since it’s the city I lived when I was entering in my teenagers years, but definitely it’s one of my favorites and one of the cities where I feel good and where I’d like to live. If you haven’t been there, try to go… specially during Oktoberfest. 

Twitter: @MauroHoyer