Day 4: Munich Trip

With nothing on the schedule until 10, I gave myself the luxury of waking up a bit later at 7:30. I stayed in bed for a bit and then went to a local cafe before heading over to the meeting point for my 10 AM Munich bike tour. We covered way too much for me to remember or share here, but I'll share the pictures I took.

There is an incredible amount of Nazi history in Munich, which as the headquarters of the Nazi party, makes sense. Post war, the country decided that rather than just erasing the history, they'd flip it on its head. 2 fun examples:

1) Hitler was a failed artist. The Nazi headquarters is now an art school. Art classes are taught in what used to be Hitler's office.

2) Directly behind the former Nazi headquarters stands the Israeli embassy. A big Israeli flag waving defiantly

We saw a few more sites before going to the Biergarden in the English garden. Beer gardens originated in Munich and there's a fascinating history behind them, but more fascinating is the German word of gemutlichkeit used to describe them.

"Gemütlichkeit" in English can be understood as coziness, comfort, or a sense of well-being, often associated with a warm, friendly, and relaxed atmosphere. It's a German word that describes a feeling of contentment and sociability, going beyond simple physical comfort to include a positive, convivial environment.

We also saw the famous surfers of the English garden. We saw a few more sites and ended at the Ohel Jakob synagogue, ending our tour on a Jewish note.

After the tour I walked to the Auer Dult, a local vendor fair.

I biked back to the Jewish area and bought a ticket to the Jewish museum where I saw an exhibit on the Jewish history and a special exhibit titled "Third Generation" on the Holocaust and the trauma that passes on even to grandchildren.

I hung out for a bit in the Jewish museums cafe before going again to the kosher restaurant, Cafe Einstein. During dinner, I checked my email and saw that "My flight has been postponed" but since I booked through a third party website and since the airlines are budget airlines, I'm not sure which flight was postponed and I don't know from when to when; there was no information in the email. I checked online and I think the first flight is on time but maybe the flight from Heraklion to Tel Aviv has been postponed. Who knows - maybe I'll be spending shabbat in Heraklion.

After dinner I walked 3 minutes to where my next tour would be starting and saw this guy. It's an upside down world

The tour was the ghost and spirits tour; a walking tour around the haunted sites of Munich where we'd also be given a few shots of spirits. We'd hear about monsters and ghosts and at one stop were even interrupted by the clanging of pots and pans by the modern day village fools. (Zoom in so you get the punchline)

On my Asia trip with Avi, we developed a travel philosophy. We never wanted to go to a place where, after the trip, someone could say to us, "Oh you went to X, you must have seen Y." In other words, anything worth seeing in a certain place, anything known or iconic, we'd made a point to go to. So, even though it was 9:30 PM and I was tired from long days of activities, I biked 20 minutes to Olympik Park. Munich is one of the best designed cities for biking BTW; bike lanes everywhere and tons of people traveling that way.

I saw the Olympic tower, was impressed by the size and scope of the area and the arenas, but couldn't really see much else. But, I went and now no one can ask how I went to Munich and didn't visit the site of the Olympic games.

I biked back to the apartment and got ready to go to sleep with an alarm set for 1:40 in the morning to make it to the airport in time (or way ahead of schedule).

Munich has been an incredible, quick trip. I booked almost all of it the night before and in the airport on the way here and I filled every day to the max. I'm mixed about solo traveling; I got to do what I wanted to do and fill my days with as much or as little as I wanted, but I also would have much preferred to have had my experiences with a friend alongside me. I'm a social person but there's a difference between trying to socialize with strangers on tours or out in the streets and going somewhere with a group of friends and introducing yourself at pubs, concerts, tours etc. while also having your friends alongside you. I do think a week was the perfect amount of time for solo traveling; you cram a lot in and experience a city, but you don't have to go too long without being around people you love.

Definitely a worthwhile and exciting pre-army trip but I'm excited to be going back home to Israel.