Munich with Mackenzie
Sounds like some sort of weird sitcom name. Munich with Mackenzie! But yeah, it was a really great time.
Mac flew in on friday at around 11:10 or so, i had class until 1, so we met at 1:10 in Marienplatz, the main square downtown. she wandered around before we met and took some sweet pictures of the downtown area. it was a beautiful crisp cold day, with really blue skies. perfect for wintertime sightseeing. i wandered with her into the main church here in munich (frauenkirche), but having lived in paris for the past 2 months, most churches/cathedrals aren't that impressive i guess.
We then walked down to Karlsplatz, generally absorbing the nice sun, even though it was fucking cold. aka 28 degrees or something ridiculous. she got to wander through some nice leaves, and we then decided it was time to eat. i took her to Augustiner beerhall, they used to brew beer on the site from like 1328 or something ridiculous, then stopped sometime in 1600 and turned it into a restaurant/beerhall. she got two Weißwurst (white veal sausages, which she described as looking like "dead fetuses floating in this hot water") with sweet bavarian mustard and a preztel, as well as a Weißbier to drink. really really traditional bavarian brunch or "zweites frühstuck". as gross as it sounds to have to peel the sausages out of their skins, it's actually really really good.
we then got to take a nice walk through odeonsplatz, the residenz garden, and the english garden. we stopped at a starbucks to get the christmas mix fix for mac, then she took a nap in her floor-bed, wearing all her clothes because she was cold and exhausted. it was pretty amusing. for dinner it was a cool cafe near the city museum.
saturday was dachau. i didn't really want to go, but mac really really wanted to see it, it was important to her, so i agreed. i'm glad i went. i warned her that i would probably start sobbing, which i came through on, though she did an alright job herself. "Arbeit Macht Frei" on the entrance to the camp was what did it for me. (the original gate that the prisoners used to enter the camp, 'work makes you free'). i think thats all that needs to be said. the memorials there were very tastefully done, and it was good to see a german schoolgroup there early on a saturday morning. they were probably freshman in highschool, but i didn't feel quite like they took the seriousness of the camp to heart. the weather was appropriately miserable.
we took the train barely into the city enough to change trains and get on the one to Andechs, a monks monestary. it was good fun, really hearty traditional german food and good beer. mac got a little tipsy after her liter (good job, you finished it all by yourself) and proclaimed her love for the internet. I showed her my favorite bar in münich when we got back into the city, and then we headed to bed.
museums on sunday were at first really lame, because the impressionism was closed at the neue pinakothek, but we wandered down to the pretty gardens at the Lenbachhaus, then walked to the Residenz and took the tour of the palace and the treasury. ps - WTF is the matter with catholic people. there was all sorts of really fucked up shit in the 'relics' room. like three DEAD MUMMIFIED BABIES inside a glass case, supposedly from the cleansing of Sodom or something. then all sorts of bones in ridiculously ornate gold and jeweled cases. like a fucking hand of some saint, a HAND...inside this gold case. not to mention the weird skulls on pillows covered in jewels. god it was weird. i did some research on wikipedia afterwards, there is apparently a relic (or was) of the "Holy Foreskin". Jesus's foreskin...and it was kept someplace in france...but it couldn't be validified that it was really his foreskin (duh). WHAT THE FUCK.
we ended her trip with some nice food from a stand in marienplatz, and then a really nice walk next to the Isar, the main river in Munich. her visit was really nice, and im glad i got to show off my tour guide/german speaking abilities.
Mac flew in on friday at around 11:10 or so, i had class until 1, so we met at 1:10 in Marienplatz, the main square downtown. she wandered around before we met and took some sweet pictures of the downtown area. it was a beautiful crisp cold day, with really blue skies. perfect for wintertime sightseeing. i wandered with her into the main church here in munich (frauenkirche), but having lived in paris for the past 2 months, most churches/cathedrals aren't that impressive i guess.
We then walked down to Karlsplatz, generally absorbing the nice sun, even though it was fucking cold. aka 28 degrees or something ridiculous. she got to wander through some nice leaves, and we then decided it was time to eat. i took her to Augustiner beerhall, they used to brew beer on the site from like 1328 or something ridiculous, then stopped sometime in 1600 and turned it into a restaurant/beerhall. she got two Weißwurst (white veal sausages, which she described as looking like "dead fetuses floating in this hot water") with sweet bavarian mustard and a preztel, as well as a Weißbier to drink. really really traditional bavarian brunch or "zweites frühstuck". as gross as it sounds to have to peel the sausages out of their skins, it's actually really really good.
we then got to take a nice walk through odeonsplatz, the residenz garden, and the english garden. we stopped at a starbucks to get the christmas mix fix for mac, then she took a nap in her floor-bed, wearing all her clothes because she was cold and exhausted. it was pretty amusing. for dinner it was a cool cafe near the city museum.
saturday was dachau. i didn't really want to go, but mac really really wanted to see it, it was important to her, so i agreed. i'm glad i went. i warned her that i would probably start sobbing, which i came through on, though she did an alright job herself. "Arbeit Macht Frei" on the entrance to the camp was what did it for me. (the original gate that the prisoners used to enter the camp, 'work makes you free'). i think thats all that needs to be said. the memorials there were very tastefully done, and it was good to see a german schoolgroup there early on a saturday morning. they were probably freshman in highschool, but i didn't feel quite like they took the seriousness of the camp to heart. the weather was appropriately miserable.
we took the train barely into the city enough to change trains and get on the one to Andechs, a monks monestary. it was good fun, really hearty traditional german food and good beer. mac got a little tipsy after her liter (good job, you finished it all by yourself) and proclaimed her love for the internet. I showed her my favorite bar in münich when we got back into the city, and then we headed to bed.
museums on sunday were at first really lame, because the impressionism was closed at the neue pinakothek, but we wandered down to the pretty gardens at the Lenbachhaus, then walked to the Residenz and took the tour of the palace and the treasury. ps - WTF is the matter with catholic people. there was all sorts of really fucked up shit in the 'relics' room. like three DEAD MUMMIFIED BABIES inside a glass case, supposedly from the cleansing of Sodom or something. then all sorts of bones in ridiculously ornate gold and jeweled cases. like a fucking hand of some saint, a HAND...inside this gold case. not to mention the weird skulls on pillows covered in jewels. god it was weird. i did some research on wikipedia afterwards, there is apparently a relic (or was) of the "Holy Foreskin". Jesus's foreskin...and it was kept someplace in france...but it couldn't be validified that it was really his foreskin (duh). WHAT THE FUCK.
we ended her trip with some nice food from a stand in marienplatz, and then a really nice walk next to the Isar, the main river in Munich. her visit was really nice, and im glad i got to show off my tour guide/german speaking abilities.
posted by Spencer at 12:59 PM
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