Observations of Munich

First off, let me give kudos to my wife for being so great at keeping up with the blog and getting posts and pictures up usually a day after we come back. I’m generally ready for a ‘vacation after the vacation’ and would put this off far longer.

But I thought I’d chime in with some of my own comments on our recent trip. I was expecting Oktoberfest to be a huge piss up, which it was, but I wasn’t expecting it to be much more than that. The city of Munich was cool – it’s the 3rd largest in Germany (after Hamburg and Berlin – I wouldda though Frankfurt was bigger, but apparently its just the airport and finance that is huge there). Munich is known for having a very high standard of living, which becomes apparent as you walk around town and notice how many ;yuppie’ style shops and cafes there are. The city itself was heavily bombed (71 air raids during WWII) so many of the buildings are new-ish, though they were all built in traditional architecture (for the most part) so the town doesn’t look ultra modern (like Glasgow does).


The subway in Munich is pretty good, but man, it just feels German. The trains are old-style boxy cars with 1940s/50s wood paneling finish inside, and the doors need to be manually opened by flipping a latch and pushing it (complete opposite of high tech Tokyo). That said, the trains were really comfy since they are big and a pleasure to ride on. We bought a 3 day pass, but the system is all honour based (like GO transit), and we were never checked the whole time we were there.

Germans, at least in Munich but I suspect this is true of most of the country, are really good about being bilingual – everyone we met spoke at least broken English, if not better. And as Astrid said, everyone was really friendly (except for that waiter at lunch who Astrid D had a row with!).

Despite the fact the festival is underpinned by the primary activity of drinking beer, it is very well run and fairly pleasant given the sheer size of the event. In 2010 Oktoberfest will celebrate 200 years since Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) was married and the first Oktoberfest festival occurred, so the Germans know a thing or two about managing the worlds largest fair. I’d highly recommend you check it out sometime if you can – 4 days was a good length of time to go – any longer and your liver wouldn’t be too happy.

Syd.