These are a few of my favorite things

There are two sides to every city- the tourist side and the local side. Think about New York: do people who live there go to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island on the weekends? No. People who visit Minnesota go to the Mall of America, the largest indoor mall in the nation. People who live in Minnesota only go there when they're forced to.

My favorite things in Munich are not the tourist attractions. Sure, the Marienplatz is cool and the Hofbrauhaus has a certain charm to it. The Frauenkirsche, known as the defining feature in the skyline of the old city, frankly looks like two giant dicks (which is ironic, because "Frauenkirsche" actually means "Women's church." I'm thinking the architecht had a sense of humor.) My favorite things in Munich are the gardens: gardens of the castles, beer gardens, and the English gardens.

I went to the Residenz gardens today (I'll admit that it is a bit touristy) and here are a few of the adventures I had:

- I stumbled upon a movie set. There were thirty to forty actors in World War II era German military uniforms. I watched the actors get into their costumes for awhile before getting the courage to talk to one of them. He told me they're making a movie about the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch- Hitler's first, failed attempt at grabbing power. Hitler was imprisoned for his part in the attempted coup, and he used this jail time to write "Mein Kampf." The actor was very nice. I have no idea what his name was or if he was famous. What I do know is that he had very blue eyes and was kind enough to speak slowly and clearly so that I could understand him. The movie is going to be on tv in Germany next summer, so maybe I'll be around to see it.

-I saw a model doing a photoshoot for some high fashion clothing line. I did not go up and talk to her- she looked unfriendly, hungry, and bored. Frankly, I think it was stupid for them to have a photoshoot there- they had to keep pausing for people to get out of the way.

- I listened to a magnificent quartet of musicians play classical music for over an hour. It was the best concert I've been to in Munich. Little German girls twirled in time to the music- one of them was a ginger! Whenever I see little girls with red hair it makes me laugh... I know they're going to grow up to be troublemakers :) Part of the reason I enjoyed the concert so much was because I have played most of the music on piano before. I bought all three of their CD's for my parents- they were that good.

Ah yes, I've had some amazing adventures in this city. It is the only other city I've been to, outside of Minneapolis, that I could see myself living in. Sure the touristy stuff is pretty cool. The history here is amazing (Munich is celebrating its 850th birthday this summer. 850 years. That's ridiculous.) But the "living" side of the city is my favorite part. In two days, my favorite partner in crime will be here to share it with me :)

Tomorrow: running in olympiapark, dirndl shopping, using the internet at work, and hopefully something fun at night. We will see.



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