My Recycled Life

ICH BIN GLEICH AUS DEUTSCHLAND ANKOMMEN!

Hallo!

I have just arrived back from my trip to Germany.  I wanted to write things down before the memories were dulled by the passage of time.  To start with, it was a fantastic trip and very productive and successful for me, personally. 

I arrived in Munich last Sunday.  After a comfortable and uneventful flight overnight from Chicago, I made my way to my hotel on the U-Bahn.  I took a quick nap.  I didn’t need to much because I had actually slept some on the plane.  Actually, more than I have ever before.  I fully blame this on the dramamine tablets that I took with a half-bottle of wine.  My dear friend Kelly called me and we made arrangements to meet on Leopoldstrasse at a Kaffeehaus.  We went to dinner at L’Osteria, which is a Neopolitan-styled pizzaria and is very nice.  It was awesome to catch up with her.  We spoke mostly in German, which is amazing to me because when I met her about two years ago, she spoke no German at all.  I feel partially responsible for her development, as I taught her some German before moving to Munich from Chicago.  After dinner we walked to Sophie-Scholl-platz and sat by the fountain and talked some more.  I then walked her back to her apartment in Maxvorstadt.  Then I decided just to walk back to my hotel in West Schwabing.   It was fantastic to be back in Germany.  I went to sleep at a decent hour and then had a free day the next day.

This is Monday.  The weather was terrible; rainy, cold, and windy.  Never-the-less, I wasn’t going to waste my free day.  I went to the Deutsches Museum.  This is perhaps the world’s largest technical museum.  It has exhibits on just about every aspect of technology: All manner of transportation, machinery, agriculture, optics, space travel, aviation, materials science, mining, fuel, bridge-building, you name it.  The primary reason for my visit was to see the collection of historic musical instruments, which is probably one of the best in the world.  I took tons of pictures and stayed for the live demontration of the keyboarded instruments (of which there were many).  I will post a video of one of the demonstrations.  It was super cool. 

After a quick mineralwasser and buying some grapes from the fruit cart, I hightailed it back to Marienplatz.  I was to meet Kelly for dinner, but I got there quite early.  I heard the bells of Alte Peter ringing and decided, why not go to church.  St. Peter’s is the oldest church in Munich and perhaps the founding structure of the city.  It definitely predates the actual founding of the city.   I’m guessing it goes back to about 1100 or 1050 AD.  The present building, though, is not the original, as it has been expanded and added-on to over the centuries, not to mention the massive damage from the war.  In any case, the decor inside the church is absolutely sumptuous.  I picked up a Lobgesangbuch and was actually able to follow the mass pretty well and sing the hymns, too. 

After mass, I went down Senglingerstrasse to meet Kelly at a fabulous vegetarian restaurant called Prinz Myschkin.  I had ravioli with sheep’s cheese and spinach and it was really yummy.  Later Kelly’s boyfriend James met us there.  James in Australian and really funny and nice.  We had dessert there and then walked back to Marienplatz and around the back of the Neues Rathaus down Weinstrasse to see the archeological dig happening there.  Then we walked to Odeonsplatz and then on to their apartment.  I took a cab back to the hotel from there as it was quite late and I had to work in the morning. 

Next day: Tuesday.  I took the train to the office and met with a lot of different people.  I always love to catch up with old friends there, and always see people in the halls that I know and say hi.  One special meeting was with a team I’m working with.  I told the team leader, Andreas, that I really would prefer to speak in German as much as possible.  The team is made of all Germans and German-speakers.  I actually had the entire meeting in German and was able to keep up and express myself well.  This is the first time that this really has happened to me.  In all earlier attempts at speaking the language with colleagues, they would tolerate about two sentences and then switch unceremoniously to English.  Everyone was really nice and were totally tolerant of my speaking German, albeit not totally fluently.  I had lunch with the team and had further discussions. 

I visited Kelly in her office and met her officemate.  I was really impressed to see her interacting on the phone and with colleagues totally in German.  I’m really proud of her!  That evening I met Kelly and James in the Englischer Garten.  We took a walk down the Schwabingerbach and then to the Chinesicherturm for the Biergarten.  I had a nice Hellesbier and a big pretzel.  After a bunch of talking and laughing, we walked back to Schwabing.  I then walked back to the hotel and stopped at the gelateria for a scoop of Heidelbeeren gelato.  Good time had by all. 

Wednesday through Friday was the international conference which was the primary reason for my trip.  The days were fine and I saw a lot of people that I hadn’t seen since last year.  They come from all over the world are all pretty nice.  We had dinner at a Thai restaurant with the whole group.  I was able to sit with Andreas and coverse with him in German all night.  Tina joined us too (more on Tina later).  I had a great time.

Thursday night was our group “activity”.  We had a historic tour of the Altstadt of Munich.  Our tour guide was dressed in a black cape and hood and carried a large battleaxe and a lantern.  She was totally wacky, but very nice and really knowledgeable about Munich.  Unfortunately, the weather sucked.  It was rainy and cold.  I learned a whole lot, though.  At dinner at Hackerbräu, I was able to talk to her more and ask all my questions that I did not get to on the tour.  She told me that it was really refreshing to have a guest that was so interested in the history.  I could tell she really enjoyed talking to me and that someone appreciated her. 

Friday night was really fun.  After saying goodbye to Kelly (she was going to Budapest), I made arrangements to meet with Gina and her friends out for the evening.  I went to Andechser am Dom to meet them.  Much to my surprise, this guy Dave was part of the group and called me over to the table.  I went to Oktoberfest with him last year.  He’s American.  There was another guy, Jody from Scotland, and Patrick from Germany and Gina and Hisa from Chicago.  We all had a couple of beers and nosh at Andechser and then set out. We went to this wierd Bierstube in the side of a building on the street and had a pint.  We met this cool guy from Vienna who was travelling alone to London.  At this point, we started getting stupid.  I also found out what it means for someone to give you a ”strawberry milkshake” and what “crop dusting” means.  We had quite a laugh over Hisa’s re-enactment of her using the urinal that Gina has in her apartment. 

It was a special “shoppingnacht” in which all the stores and restaurants in the Altstadt were open until midnight.  We went to this Australian pub and had some more beer and talked to these guys from Berlin.  As it was getting more crowded and hot, we went to the Shamrock in Schwabing for Karaoke.  That was really fun.  I didn’t sing in the mic, but was singing the whole time from the floor, and had more beer.  It was super fun!  We then walked down Leopoldstrasse towards Münchener-Freiheit and got some pizza.  Hisa and Patrick took me back to the hotel in the cab.  I had a fantastic time.  It was amazing. 

Saturday was my planned day at the Botanical Garden.  I had told Tina about it she was interested in coming.  She drove down to the hotel and met me and we took the Straßenbahn across town to Nymphenburgerplatz.  We ate lunch together at this cool traditional Bavarian restaurant.  I had home-made noodles with “Reherl” which is a Bäyerisches Wort for a kind of wild mushroom, or “Waldpilz”.  It was really good.  Tina also never forced the switch to English.  I really appreciated that.  We then walked through the grounds of Schloß Nymphenburg, which is one of the Wittelbach’s palaces.  The grounds are gorgeous and filled with swans and ducks and birds of all sorts.  The Botanical garden is on the other side of the palace.  We were able to see the greenhouses, but ran out time.  I really loved it there and will definitely go back if I have the chance.  

Then I had a totally unexpected surprise.  Tina asked me what I was doing that evening, as I had to fly back to Chicago the next day.  I told her maybe getting something to eat and going back to my hotel.  She invited me to stay with her and her husband in their home in the South Bavarian countryside near the Alps and also go to their town’s Oktoberfest.  I was so pleased to go with her.  I was able to pack and check out of the hotel and drive with Tina to Penzberg.  The views of the Alps on the way there were gorgeous.  I really wasn’t expected mountains that big so close to Munich.  Yet, there they were.  I met Jan, Tina’s husband, and he was so nice.  They both made me feel so welcomed and at home.  We had grilled vegetables and potatoes outside for dinner.  I was just having a great time talking with them, but then it got to be time to go to the Oktoberfest.  To be honest, I really didn’t feel like going, but Tina’s friend was waiting there. 

Let me tell you, and believe me when I say that, on arrival I was totally in shock.  From the description that I received, I thought there would be maybe an oom-pa-pa band and some chestnut trees and bier out under the stars.  I actuality, there were carnival rides, games, and a huge tent with a band playing all kinds of modern German and American songs.  They were really good too.  I was not prepared for the sight of about 1000 German young men in lederhosen, and girls in Dirndls all standing on the tops of tables and the benches under the tent, screaming, singing, dancing, drinking, and jumping up and down.  It was like a well-run madhouse.  I don’t know if it was my American sensibilities, but there was something about the mix of teenagers, binge-drinking (drinking age is only 18, and I don’t think people were really checking for IDs) and carnival rides that didn’t seem like a very good idea to me.  We found Tina’s friend Klaudia (Klaudi) and her friend, Bobsi.  They were totally nice, too.  Klaudi gave me a big hug, even though she didn’t even know me! Almost everyone had lederhosen and dirndls.  I cannot overemphasize enough the amount of hotness that was there.  It was like a casting call for a new Bavarian porno or something.  These guys were freekishly hot.  It was like a Abercrombie and Fitch photoshoot come to life, but with native dress.  I, of course, set myself to drinking.  Everyone was singing and having a great time.  I even knew some of the German songs, and before long was fitting in, even though I was likely the only American there.  This was echt bäyerisch!   I really had one of the best times in my whole life! 

When we got back home, Tina and Jan sang a song for me, with Jan on guitar, too.  It was really good.  Jan had an early carrier as a child opera singer, mostly doing the drei Knaben in die Zauberflöte.  Tina also has an excellent, husky voice.  It was so amazing.  They also listened to some of my compositions on the internet, and were much impressed. 

We had breakfast outside in the morning and had it was delicious.  Soft-boiled eggs, cheeses and Bavarian pasteries along with a machiato.  Jan and Tina then drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes.  They invited me back again and said that next time, we would go into the Alps or to the Starnbergersee.  That would be amazing. 

Let me reinforce the fact that I was speaking German the entire time.  Sometimes I would have to ask what a word was or how to say something, but mostly I did just fine and it felt totally natural for me.  We were just friends sitting around talking and laughing like any friends would.  It was such a special experience for me.  I feel like I have made some new, REAL friends.  I can’t tell you how elated I felt during the whole trip and I can’t wait to go back. 

Bis später!