So the day before I left, someone told me that we were expecting a storm in Berlin. A really big storm, someone said it was supposed to be a hurricane and I just couldn't believe it... I've never heard of a hurricane in Germany, MUCH LESS in December!!! I did a little research, and sure enough, it was a Category 1 storm (lowest) but still the satellite images were impressive. Here in Berlin, we had very strong winds, like 50+ miles per hour (80+ kph), and even stronger gusts, up to 115kph (70mph) were expected! So I prepared myself because I had set up a ride through the "Mitfahrzentrale", which is a service that people traveling to other cities can catch a ride with others driving to the same place, and you help them with gas money. Essentially you go on the main website, put in the town you're traveling from, then the town you're traveling to, and see if anyone has posted a ride. Anyway, the guy kind of flaked on me the afternoon before I left, but I didn't find out until 9:30pm, so I was left scrambling at the last minute to find a ride.
I did find another person driving to Munich, but never heard back... So I decided to catch the bus. Buses here are a newer concept, not like in the states. The buses are very comfy. When I was in high school, we often traveled to track meets and other sporting events, usually hours away, in these buses. So, I knew it would be just fine. And it's also less expensive than taking the train or flying.
So I packed up and headed out right into the storm. I had to walk to the train station at Alexanderplatz, full-on into the wind, had to have been 50mph+ winds. It was definitely a challenge! I finally got to the bus station and by that time it had begun to snow very hard. Add the winds to that, it was extremely cold and unpleasant! Hurricane Xaver was no joke! For Germany, this was a big deal, but it was NOTHING like hurricanes in the states. First off, we are about 150 miles inland from the Baltic Sea and even further from the North Sea, so whatever we got in Berlin was a shadow of what hit the coast. I got to experience the outer bands of Hurricane Gloria in Virginia in Oct. 1985, but Gloria was much stronger. Either way, it was exciting and snow began to accumulate on the ground a bit as we hit the Autobahn, heading out of town.
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| Coming into Munich |
Anyway, the ride to Munich was about 7 hours long. I rode a double-decker bus and had a seat in the second row in the upper deck. It was really cool. Most of Germany was in the grips of that and/or other storms that day. No kidding, on the way to Munich, we experienced 6 snow storms, and between them, the sun popped out... It was really weird that the weather changed so much in about a 400-mile drive. Cool experience, though.
So we left there and went to another small market in the courtyard of the Residenz (palace) a few blocks away and then down to the big market on Marienplatz, the center of Munich. I was in heaven! My last memory of Christmas markets was at this market in 1991. I was riding my bike home late, maybe 11 or 12 at night and stopped on Marienplatz. All of the vendors huts were closed, but the Christmas lights were still on, it was totally quiet and nobody around. You could still smell the candied nuts and spiced wine, and it had just begun to snow. I think that memory will stay with me until the day I die. It was wonderful.
The new market there was much larger than it was before. Still amazingly beautiful, the same sights and sounds and smells and the beauty that is Munich. It's such a wonderful place any time of year, but at Christmas, it just can't be beat! Then we walked all the way to Karlstor and rode the subway back.
On Saturday, I wanted to do a little bit of personal sightseeing. I went to see where I lived in 1990-1992 and it was so great to be home. It was still really cold and windy and figured I had better go grab a coffee to warm up and a bite to eat. My camera was telling me that the memory was full so I needed to delete some pictures off the memory card as well. I went to the street next to the one where I lived as I figured I would find coffee shop and sure enough, there was one. As I looked in the window, it occurred to me, this was the bakery I used to visit to get my Käsestangen on the way to work 20+ years ago! Even though it had changed a lot in 21 years, I was very excited it was still there!
I went to the grocery store in the neighborhood and then visited a farmers market on Mariahilfplatz. I decided to call my former landlord and he still lived there and still had the same phone number since 1990!! He wasn't able to meet on short notice, but we had a good talk. Then I decided to go up to the old Army base where I lived for a couple years while I went to the college there. Just before I left Munich in 1992, they had proposed extending one of the subway lines to the base, so it was really cool to step out of the subway station to right in front of the college!
It was amazing to be there at the base for the first time in so many years! Unfortunately the excitement wore off a bit to see how certain buildings haven't been used in years and how they are beginning to deteriorate. The university stands proudly on the corner, but empty, seemingly trying to maintain it's stature despite peeling paint and missing a letter in the name on it's side. It's not quite the same to see the name of the school looking like a toothless grin, saying: "UNIVERSITY OF M RYLAND". It really loses something without that "A". As I took the walk I used to walk from the school back to the dorm, it became obvious to me that the Polizei had taken over a large part of the base as their own. On the main road, the dorms seemed to be well cared-for and lived in, in stark contrast to what lie behind it.
When I first went to school, they had just opened the Student Union Building, a small, two-story building, now covered in vines and clearly unused in many years. The rest of the walk to the other former dorm halls went about the same, obviously unused buildings, falling into disrepair. How the strength and pride of the base has simply deflated, rusted and is now overgrown with weeds.
I am glad to report this was really the only negative experience I had during the nearly 4 days I roamed the city. After I left the base, I went home to upload photos to my laptop, then left again to see some more! I went to see the area where I worked. My employer had moved to a location nearby in a very beautiful old mansion right behind the Friedensengel (Angel of Peace) column. They seem to be doing very well to say the least.
During the first 24 hours I was in Munich, there was cold temperatures and a very strong wind. This made for a very cold time being outside the vast majority of the day. As I went by my old office, I decided to go to the English Gardens, where they have a large beer garden during the warmer months, and as predicted, there was a large Christmas market there, too! I got something warm to eat and continued on through this really beautiful park, stopping to check the view from Monopteros, which is a circular colonade atop a small hill, which has views of some of the higher steeples of the city and provides a view of the park as the foreground. Caught it at just about sundown, so I got some nice pictures from there, then moved on to try to find the surfing area. A couple years ago I heard about there being a place for people to surf on a part of a large stream that flows through the park. It was pretty impressive, especially because there were still a bunch of people doing it in December!
That night, there was a singles and campus event at the church, so I met Gerd and we went over and helped set up for the Feuerzangenbowle and movie night. We watched a movie of the same name and drank the drink which is similar to Glühwein. There was lots of good food, fellowship and darts and ping pong, too! It was a lot of fun and got to meet a lot of new people there. It was super encouraging...
In the morning, we were back at the church building for service. Apparently the traditional Church of Christ and our congregation meet together. The other really cool thing was, too, that one of my Berlin flatmates' grandfather has been a part of the traditional congregation for a long time and actually gave the communion message that morning. I didn't meet him, because I didn't realize the connection until after I left Munich and got home.
After service, everyone sort of went their separate ways, which I was a little bit disappointed by, but you know me, I always find a way to keep busy. I'm always on the lookout for a new adventure. So, I went back to Karlstor and walked down the Fußgängerzone (pedestrian shopping zone), through the market during the daylight (and sunshine!), through the "Tal", to the Hofbräuhaus, where I was able to sit down at a Starbucks and upload my pics to facebook and to warm up with a cup of coffee. Took lots of pics in this part of town as it is the oldest part of the city and the buildings are hundreds of years old and very impressive. Walked further down the "Tal" and past Isartor, to the Deutsches Museum, up past Gasteig and took some photos of the very beautiful public swimming and recreation center Müllersches Volksbad. Google it, its incredible in there! I also took some pictures at dusk from the bluff overlooking the river and looking out over the city a bit. So amazing!
Then I started to head toward a meeting place for dinner with Gerd and another brother was supposed to join us as well, but ended up not coming. Either way, we went to my favorite Greek restaurant in the world, Lucullus and had a great dinner, just like I remembered it. Food is excellent there....
Monday was trying to get some stuff ready so that I could market myself to businesses, but unfortunately ran out of time and energy. I think I had just done too much walking around the previous days and was just exhausted. I did get some great shots of the Theatiner Church and Residenz, once again at dusk. Beautiful!
So Gerd and I met up again that night after he got off work. I had just arrived at the Theresienwiese or "Wies'n", which is where they hold Oktoberfest. It wasn't nearly as big, but they had a great Christmas market there, too. I stopped to get a Wurst at a little hut and they said it was all their own cattle and everything was organic. They had a spicy red Wurst, which was amazing. I put some sweet mustard on it and was absolutely in heaven. Definitely far and away the best bratwurst I have ever eaten. It was incredible. We walked around a bit and I needed to sit down, so we went in a tent and there was a band playing, so we grabbed a beer and just enjoyed ourselves.
We left there and headed home and I needed to try to figure out how I was going to get home the next day. So I went onto the Mitfahrzentrale website again and found a ride from a very convenient location to... Alexanderplatz in Berlin! I contacted him and by early the next morning, it was confirmed. We met and had a great trip, just talked the whole way home, very nice and interesting guy. Come to find out though, it wasn't good enough that he was driving to Alexanderplatz, but actually to the hotel right on the corner by my apartment! He found street parking behind the hotel, and it was about 100 yards/meters to my door! Couldn't have planned that one better if I tried!!! Thanks, God! The other cool thing about the driver, after I got out and was collecting my stuff, he said that if I ever make it back to Munich, that I should call him to grab a beer with him. How cool is that? I was super encouraged.
Got back in plenty of time to get some grocery shopping done and still get to an appointment in the early evening. Tonight, my flatmates treated me to a holiday meal of baked duck, Semmelknödel (dumplings), Rotkraut (like Sauerkraut, but sweeter and with red cabbage), and I made an ambrosia salad, the best I could anyway.... The whole dinner was delicious. Now, I am tired, so I am going to wrap this up for the night.
One last thing... I am contemplating trying to spend some time in Munich to try to get some job interviews, my flight is booked to come home for Dec. 19, but I am trying to see if I can make it an open ticket so that I can make the best use of my time before I HAVE to come home, which would be Jan. 9. I really want to make this work, even if it means finding a job in Munich. The economy is way better there and my chances of finding something there seems to be much better there. Please pray for God to show his will in this soon. Until the next time. I should be updating again in the next few days what my plans are. Thanks!!!
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