Munich

January 2008

I love Munich. I would move here if I spoke German. It was named the world's Most Livable City by the International Herald Tribune with highlights on infrastructure, ambiance, and work-life balance.

I arrived at Franz Josef Strauss International Airport in Munich on a Monday morning. It is about a 60 euro cab ride into Munich proper, at the Hilton Munich City by Rosenheimerplatz. There is an S-bahn station right next to it, and was an easy two stops to Marienplatz, the downtown and old town area.

I walked around the old town, stopping in at Frauenkirche, the basilica with the two famous onion domes. Very pretty. At 11am, noon and 5pm, the famous glockenspiel in Marienplatz does its little song and dance. It's kind of funny to see all of the tourists in the plaza staring up to the tower.After my first glockenspiel show, I wandered over to Viktualienmarkt, a permanent food market off of Marienplatz. I loooved it, I would be here every week if I lived here. Meat shops, cheese, vegetables, and I found this one like pickles and antipasti place. I was kind of hungry so I got a bratwurst, some olives and artichoke, and a mug of beer and had a wonderful little lunch at the tables.

After lunch, I climed the many many steps of Peterskirsche, or St. Peters, where I think I had my favorite view of the city. Really nice up there, spent a bit of time just walking around the tower and people watching in the market and plaza (though they kind of look like ants). I walked up north to Residenz and Hofgarten, then back down to meet my co-workers. Dinner was at an old fashioned Bavarian place, as many of my meals would be. See http://aki-eats.blogspot.com/ for a bunch of them.

Spent most of the week in meetings, with beer and food and clubs at night. Quite a fun town.

On Friday afternoon, a few of us took a train from Munich out to Kirchberg, which is a town by Kitzbuhel in the Alps. A cute little place with wonderful skiing (when it was snowing).

We returned Saturday night, and in the morning a friend and I went to Cafe am Beethovenplatz, which was my favorite place in Munich. It is in the University district and is in an old hall (looks like New England colleges), with high ceilings and cramped tables and a live classical piano and cellist. Just wonderful.