Munich, Germany 2

munich.

happy 500th post! i feel ancient.

after a two and a half hour drive from stuttgart, we finally arrived in munich. we dumped our luggages into our hostel and made our way down to the city centre marienplatz. i guess it was a blunderring case of being at the right place at the wrong time- this being saturday, the only day shops were opened for this easter weekend.

the streets were teeming with locals cum tourists, hoping to gain a slice of retail action before religious interest took over, thus we were pretty much shoulder-rubbed and elbowed across town.

when we finally managed to pull ourselves away from shopaholics anonymous, we realised there was the lunch crowd to deal with. although it was a satisfying moveable fest, the entire process from waiting for the table, to waiting for our orders to be taken and served and evetually, waiting for the bill left me bursting with anxiety to re-join the retail opportunitists.

looping in and out of the main street took us to Maximilianstraße, where haute couture and even hauter cars reigned. bentley? checked. ferrari? ditto. the porsches, mercedezes and bmws lined streets in silent unison, as if daring less than chic wheels to park alonside them. well, like you would expect otherwise from car crazy germany..

since we completed downtown in a day and shops were mostly closed on sundays, we visited the Englischer Garten (english garden) but alas, after visiting the more spectacular retiro garden in madrid, english garden seemed mediocore by tourist standards.

highlight of the day belonged to Hofbrauhaus, munich's beloved beer hall, where over lunch, we soaked in the part-traditional part-gimmcky bavarian heritage.

though hardline traditionsalists may scoff over this circus affair, lunch was an entertaining affair as bavaria seniors proudly don their leprechaun-ish outfits and sometimes even dance along to the rhythms of live music.

with much time to spare, we visited the Olympiapark- a mini town within a town. it wasn't particularly awe-inspiring but the view from the hills above was invigortating enough..

would you shaked your head in distress if you found out that my munich purchses consisted of instant noodles and asian cookies from a chinese supermarket? i was surprised by how well stock this chinese supermarket was and couldn't resist a mini spree. i even found 'bin bin,' japanese crackers that i loved back in singapore.

i do feel that munich was a little overrated. two days was more than enough and i was glad to be back in stuttgart.

off to the library!