Thursday 16 April 2009

GERMANY PART II.

PHWOAR finishing up with GERMANY! It would be so much easier if Molly weren't jabbering away on skype next to me but every time I say something mean to her she looks at me with little puppy dog eyes and I feel like I just drowned a young child and I have to take it back immediately. So, run down of the rest of Germany...

We arrive in Munich and are actually staying in a pretty shnazzy hostel... the Wombat, thankyouverymuch. We got to stay in the "Pink Wing" apparently, with a girl who didn't wear pants and a 30 year old woman who decided it was the best idea EVER to keep cheese in a locker overnight. Only slightly disgusting. And by slightly I of course mean really horrible. Sooo what did we do that first day? AH YES. We PLANNED to go to the old art museum (do NOT ask me to type out what it actually is in German... I feel like German is worse than French. Even though the French pronounce about half their letters, I feel the Germans add about twenty thousand extra unnecessary letters. Of course there is no need whatsoever for anyone to speak French, not even the French themselves. Take THAT Francophiles! SPEAK ENGLISH!). All right, so we were going to go, but turns out to get the student discount, you need your student ID... who would have thought? I tried to work my wiles my batting my eyelashes and speaking in an attractive tone, but apparently that doesn't work on 60 year old German women. Weird. I should have worn high heels and a short skirt, because some claim that is the automatic slam dunk for getting what you want. I prefer wits. 

So, instead we walk over to the park, which is HUUUUGE and home of the "surfer's wave," where guys in wetsuits (uuggh wetsuits. not fun. everyone should go to Virginia Beach, where you don't need a wetsuit and you might come across a mystery in the murky water!) "surfed" a "wave" in the river. It was a little strange, but interesting nonetheless. Also, NUDE SUNBATHERS! Again I said nude instead of naked. Meissel lesson. One of the few things I learned in art history (along with the definition of homoeroticism. Lies, I learned a lot in Meissel's class. LOVE HIM). It was so amusing, though, normally dressed people sprinkled along with people casually chilling without any clothes on... but I swear my mind is a movie, I always blur out naughty bits or they were all cleverly covered with a book or a shrubbery or a couple of pineapples or something like in Austin Powers. 

So, that was basically the first day... the next day we rush over to the museum when it opened, which was AMAZING. A ton of art from about the 15th to the 18th century, with an entire ROOM dedicated to Rubens (of course Molly's house has two rooms dedicated to Rubens, as she is a richie). Still just blowing my mind to see all this famous artwork in one place. I also find it so interesting how almost EVERYTHING from that period is religious. Lets you know where their minds where, I suppose... until we shoved everything to be secular. 

Then, the serious bit of the day... we joined a tour group to go out to Dachau, which is just outside Munich and was the first (and longest-running) concentration camp during WWII. This was a concentration camp/work camp, not a death camp (still had some of the "death equipment" though...), but it was still a very sobering experience to be there, listening to the statistics of who would be sent and why, and to see how and where and WHY they had to live there. It really makes me sick to my stomach to think of what human beings are capable of. However, it was also one of the most enlightening things I have ever done, I think, and I would strongly encourage everyone to go to one if they have the chance. I think it's so very important.... as much as you can read about something, see the pictures, watch the movies, it doesn't compare to actually being there. 

SO. Finished with Dachau, moving on to the NEXT DAY... oh gosh this is all so mushed up in the head. All this stream-of-consciousness is just so K10, I know, I'm sorry. That's why I'm never going to get a husband... bumms. So, next day is our day of WALKING. We start off going to the NEW art museum, basically picking up from where the old one left off... another amazing experience, because we had audio guides and saw work by Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugain, and my FAVORITE OF ALL TIME - Manet painting Monet painting someone else! IT'S A PUNCH IN THE TIME SPACE CONTINUUM. I CAN'T HANDLE THAT. Look I'm cool with you being straight but I don't want to SEE IT ALL THE TIME. Everyone, please. watch dorm life. 

After a quick lunch, we join another tour group for a free walking tour around Munich, which was a toooon of fun. I really love Munich -- it reminded me a lot of DC. The whole city feel, but not as rushed as New York (especially because there aren't any skyscrapers in Munchen and they actually have a height limit like in DC...). We just took in the sights, learning about the history of the city and a fair bit about the foundation of the Third Reich... another weird thing to experience, walking down the street and seeing where Hitler gave his first public speech, where the first shoot-out occurred, where a plaque was "commemorating" the Nazis who lost their lives in said shoot-out. Interestingly, Munich doesn't have any obvious monuments to WWII. Apparently Berlin is all out there with the monuments and the apologies, but Munich is a bit shyer. Munich clearly would not be an orange in the color personality test. Too introverted. 

So, after the free walking tour, we have a few hours (climb another tower OF COURSE. Every time we do I feel tempted to shout SANCTUARY holding a gypsey woman above my head as the evil priest guy tries to kill everyone in sight, but then I remember that a) I'm not a hunchback b) I'm not at Notre Dame and c) Jenny won't let me hold her over my head). That night, we participate in a BEER CHALLENGE around Munich, where a tour guide takes a group around to four different beer halls, teaches us beer songs and traditions, and provides us with some free beer, of course! sounds hokey but it was actually WAY too much fun. That's about all my lawyer has advised me to say, but I will say we have made a friend for life in Joel. Oh, Joel. He instantly won our hearts when we were calling for Molly as we usually do, in a British accent (MOLLLL-LAAY.. I may have stolen that from someone else).... and he joins in and then says "You sound like you're from London!" If you don't get it, you don't deserve to. If you do, welcome to the JOEL CLUB.


so, MUNICH IS OVER. The next day we went to Fussen.... oh GOD this is lengthy. I can't believe we've done SO MUCH. Fussen might be its own (short) entry later. calm down children. go play with your toy trucks in the meantime.

1 comment:

  1. 1. whenever you talk about art history, i think weird-as-hellism.
    2. i'm glad you're keeping up our classwarfaring in europe (they need it there).
    3. you're such a stereotype, andy!

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