A Week to Relax

What? Me, relax?? I'm not sure I know how to do that, but I worked hard at it the past week. Monday, June 1st, was Whit Monday (the day after Whit Sunday, perhaps?), which meant that stores and offices were closed. Henry and I bussed our way to more greenery in Munich, and took a pleasant walk along the east side of the Isar River. My ultimate goal was finding a new ice cream shop to check out, and I achieved my goal, near the Deutsche Museum. I'm not sure of the flavor I got, but it was good! Our walk together, on a pretty afternoon, along a shade covered walkway, by the bank of the river, and licking tasty ice cream in a sugar cone, was just the right combination! Several people have suggested that I add photos to my blog, so here I am as a satisfied customer. The picture of Henry and me was taken at the biergarten next the Kleinhesseloher See in the Englischer Garten last weekend. (Also, check out the photo of hundreds of commuters' bicycles parked at the Eindhoven train station that I inserted in my posting, Lowdown on the Netherlands.)

While spending a couple of days just walking, choosing a park bench, and reading, I could reflect more on Munich, and more generally, Germany. Here are some observations--nothing especially deep, but different from what I have seen at home:

1. As I have mentioned before, Munich is filled with bicycles, and it can sometimes be hazardous just walking on the sidewalk. When I stop at a crosswalk in the middle of a long block and wait for the "Walk" sign, I have to be certain I am not standing within a meter of the curb, lest I be run over by a cyclist riding in the sidewalk bike lane! Before I cross the street, I have to look both ways to make sure I am not going to collide with a cyclist as I step across the bike lane and into the crosswalk.
2. I have also noticed many cyclists talking on their hand-held cell phones as they guide their bikes with their free hand. With elections this weekend (voting continues through Sunday, June 7), I should have suggested to the candidates that they pass a law banning cyclists from using their hand-held phones while riding their bikes. The distractions of other cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles are already enough to handle!
3. The Germans have either figured out by themselves, or implemented the development of others, how to save energy by stopping the continuous movement of escalators when no one is on them. We regularly see this phenomenon going and coming out of the Munich U-Bahn (subway) stations. As someone approaches the escalator, a sensor picks up the movement and the escalator automatically starts running in the appropriate direction. The same escalator can operate up or down, depending from which direction the person is approaching. Pretty nifty, eh?!
4. Munich drivers tend to be impatient and pushy, in a manner that brings to my mind drivers in New York City. Unlike New York, however, I do not see much jaywalking (perhaps because walkers need to contend with drivers AND cyclists??).
5. Parking spaces on city streets are at a premium, but many cars are small enough that if a driver is unable to parallel park in a parking space, he/she simply heads into the space on a diagonal, and leaves the car that way while he/she goes about his/her business. The car might sit a wee bit on the sidewalk, but it barely sticks out beyond the width of the other parallel parked cars.
6. Don't count on being able to use a standard American credit or debit card at a growing number of stores and restaurants. For example, our local supermarkets do not accept our Visa cards. Although we did not encounter this problem in Switzerland, it appears to be coming more widespread around the EU. German credit/debit cards contain a special chip which apparently permits the establishment to access personal information about the purchaser's bank account. If the establishment is unable to access the information, it will not accept this form of payment. I suspect the United States will eventually move in this direction, but not until certain privacy laws are amended.
7. Germans enjoy their football (i.e., soccer), as do other Europeans in their respective countries. In addition, Muncheners are very loyal to their local teams, particularly FC Bayern. The home games are sold out in the almost 70,000 capacity Allianz Arena, and the bars with big screen televisions overflow with loyal fans clad in FC Bayern shirts. Given our apartment's location in bar/cafe-rich Schwabing, we hear the cheers of delight up and down the street when the home team scores and the groans when the opposing team scores.
8. Football or no football, relaxing in the mid to late afternoon with a beer at an outdoor bar or cafe is very popular. Just ask for "Bier vom Fass" (on tap), and if you don't specify "kleine", expect to get the half-liter sized glass or mug. I haven't yet mastered which beers come in which of the many shapes of glasses or mugs, but there often appears to be a designated glass or mug for each beer. Getting into the swing of the neighborhood, we have occasionally stopped off at one or another local cafe for a pre-dinner people-watching session, with liquid refreshment.

The truth be told, I did not spend the entire week relaxing. I visited one museum, and mid-week, I continued my march through Bavarian castles. I took the two-hour train ride to Fussen to view the castle that inspired the design of Disney's sleeping beauty castle--Schloss Neuschwanstein. King Ludwig II, also known as "the fairy-tale king", commissioned the building of the castle as a re-creation of the world of Germanic mythology. In fairy-tale fashion, he had a theater set designer, rather than an architect, create the original blueprint for the castle. A big fan of the composer, Richard Wagner, Ludwig had walls and ceilings covered with murals relating scenes from Wagner's operas (e.g., Tristan and Isolde, Lohengrin). Wood carving in Ludwig's bedroom was so elaborate, it took four years to finish. After 17 years of work, only 16 of the approximately 50 planned rooms were completed. Ludwig lived in the castle for only about 170 days before he was declared insane and died under mysterious circumstances a few days later. As a child and later, while watching his castle being built, Ludwig spent time down the forest a piece at Schloss Hohenschwangau (his parents' "house" which Ludwig inherited). Although Neuschwanstein gets the big press, I personally found the tour of Hohenschwangau far more interesting than Neuschwanstein. Nevertheless, the building and setting together give Neuschwanstein a truly fairy-tale quality. The best view of Neuschwanstein is from Marienbrucke, a walking bridge over a deep gorge about a 15-minute walk from the castle (see photo). Despite the openings between the wood slats that provide the walking surface of the bridge and the several hundred foot drop into the gorge, I was determined to overcome my long-time acrophobia. My sisters probably remember when our family visited Royal Gorge in Colorado 43 years ago--the wood slatted suspension bridge crossing the gorge is over 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River; after several aborted attempts to walk across, I refused to try again, and my parents asked a stranger to drive me across. So, here I am, proving to myself I could walk far enough onto the bridge to be able to get a full photo of the castle. Yes, my legs were shaking and I was holding on as tightly as I could. What I hadn't bargained for, however, was that the two young Asian women I asked to take my picture would then ask me to take their picture! That required me to let go of the railing and move a bit farther along on the bridge, but I did it! No, I didn't walk all the way across the bridge, but I was quite satisfied with making it about one-third of the way.