Haircuts and Churches

Haircuts in other countries are scary, but there comes a time when you really need one and just go for it. With shame, I browsed toytown.com, a site for english speakers in germany. I found a few good places yesterday, but the one I wanted to go to was closed. Barbers in Germany also take Mondays off...I never understood that back in the states.

Luckily we spent almost a whole day of class yesterday just on the topic of haircuts and what you talk about while you get one (to make small talk in German: Small talk machen). I felt a bit more confident today when after lunch at the Palace of Justice with Megan, I went and got a haircut. I was walking towards the place in the Sendlinger Tor area, but another place caught my eye. 9 Euro for a haircut and "ohne Termine" (without appointment) were on the window. I decided not to walk to the place I so carefully researched and went here. I only waited for a few minutes, in which I read many German political cartoons and didn't understand a single one. The barber beckoned me over to to the seat. We had a good conversation, in German of course, about Kalifornia and Arnold the former Governator. He was from Iraq and I naturally said I'm sorry about what we've done. He is the second out of two Iraqi people I've met in Germany who basically said he was and still is on the US military's side. Still a minority, I'm sure.

After the haircut I finally made my way to St. Paul's Church. Every day, I walked down Sonnenstraße to the Goethe Institut and could see some church a mile down this street contrasting with the very modern architecture of downtown Munich.

My walk to class every day includes this scene. St. Paul's is at the end.

I walked through the Turkish quarter of Munich to get to St. Paul's. It was my first time going through and the smell from the restaurants was glorious. I think it was because of this that I had a craving for (and eventually got) a Döner sandwich tonight. St. Paul's was much more than I expected. It is not a tourist site, just a normal church. They had banners outside advertising their Taize prayer tonight - pretty modern.

As I walked around St. Paul's taking pictures, I realized that some of it had been redone. It sucks knowing that my country bombed some of these beautiful structures. War sucks. A homeless man was sleeping in a sleeping bag in one of the many entrances. I walked to the only entrance open and was awestruck. Is this really a normal church? Only one other person was there, a woman that seemed to be a volunteer parishioner that kept things tidy for visitors. Enough talking - here are the pictures of St. Pauls:

One tower with many smaller towers making it look like a castle.

An awful picture, but the outside was full of grotesque-style statues

The confesional.

They had a video playing at all times on a TV about St. Paul's mission

Speechless

The knave was so tall that the click of my camera would echo all the way around

The spiral staircase up to the pulpit. The lady in the background.

Another spiral staircase up to one of the towers I'm assuming.

Bad picture - too dark. The organ was in one of the transept's choir lofts, not in the main one at the back.

It's nice being able to see something from far away, want to see it, and go to it. I am stealing this quote from my brother who knows the actual author, but "Legs are the best zoom lens." It's true and this impromptu walk alone makes me want to go to more places that are off the beaten path - that aren't touristy attractions, but attract me nonetheless.

After that I took a nap and then went out to the Goethe Treff, a Stammtisch (or meeting over drinks), with Cristiana and Berna. Dylan and Matt and many other met up with us. We then proceeded to a hookah bar to celebrate Vincente's (Brazil) birthday. Good times.

Bis bald,

Peter

PS: This weekend I went to a German Fleamarket at the Olympiapark and I have pictures. I will definitely be posting those soon, but I'm too lazy to write all the details of that long adventure. It'll happen soon...before I forget.