Big Palaces, Blue Lakes, and Brothers Brewing the Best Beer

Sorry about the alliteration in the title...but I had to. Procrastination - I knew that I would stop blogging and my list of things to blog about would stack up. I thought about putting it all in different posts to break up the content, but what if I keep having crazy adventures...then I will fall further behind. So here it is...my last week in one GIANT post.

The first month came to an end way too quickly. All except 2 people from my class are going back to their countries or to another part of Germany.

Classes ended on Thursday with a party. People brought food from their countries or at least tried. I couldn't find anything American other than Snickers and Pringles....so I brought snickers. It got a laugh from some classmates. People also brought wine and champagne! Our teacher, Sabine, was the one pressuring us to open it. We all toasted, ate, and said our goodbyes. I already miss the people from that class a lot.

After we got out, Megan, Federico, and I went to Nymphenburg Palace, only a 5 minute walk from the Wohnheim. It was the Wittelsbach Family summer residence and consists of a three quarter of a mile long palace on 2 square miles of forest. Smaller palaces dot the forest and park, as well as lakes and canals. We started in the park, visiting those sites and the servant village. Here are the pictures:

Megan, Federico, and a small palace.

I can only imagine this place in the summer...

We stopped by one of the lakes. My lens hood created a nice accidental vignette.

The lake was frozen. Federico is testing its strength

Yet another small palace.

When I was uploading my pictures, I realized I took around 40 pictures of these swans.

Another small palace. How many are there?!

The back entrance to the actual Nymphenburg Palace.

Thanks Federico...

The palace extends another quarter mile on either side

After our little walk around, we sat down for some Glühwein (a seasonal winter wine with some christmasy spices in it). It was a gorgeous day to be out and about. We headed back to the Wohnheim where many were packing and getting ready to leave the next day. As a last dinner, we went to the Augustiner Bräustuben. I again sat at a table with people from Munich. It is nice to be in a non-touristy beer hall. A half a chicken and 1.5 liters of beer for dinner was greatly appreciated since I've been eating the small portions found in grocery stores.

We then headed out to Kult Fabrik, a spot where there are too many clubs to count. This was supposed to be the coolest and best time of the month because everyone was leaving the next day, but it was a bust. All the clubs were not bouncing. I also had a weird feeling that I had been here before. I then remembered that I was here 1 year ago and got 2 cigarette burns in a club, so I was already biased. We left the club center a little bummed. To keep the night heading downhill, the next train was in 98 minutes or something....so we walked. I checked the next day...we probably walked 2 miles across munich...at 3 am. We stopped at Stachus, grabbed a Döner, and took a taxi the rest of the way. The Döner guy recognized us from last time....I think that is a good thing?

I woke up the next morning and needed to find some redemption. I asked Megan and Erik if they wanted to join me on a trip to Andechs Brewery. Now...this monastery is in the middle of the German countryside, yet we were still able to get there with one train, one bus, and no problems. We did have an hour waiting for the bus at Starnberg (where there is Starnbergsee) and decided to walk into town. The lake is huge and was nothing short of breathtaking. Again, only pictures can help describe:

More swans at Starnbergsee

The bus from Starnberg to Andechs was also scenic as it went through the Bavarian countryside. The fields and hills were dotted every now and again with rural towns where the highest point was alwats the church steeple. Then, out of nowhere came the town of Andechs. The monastery sits atop a hill and is surrounded by fields. The sun gave the whole place a divine glow. We walked up the hill and started our tour of Andechs.

Beer cap tree trunk sculpture.

The Andechs maypole with Bavarian colors

Before I go on...I want to see if I can create a german word for "beer cap tree trunk sculpture." Here is it: Bierschutzkappebaumkabelskulptur. Spaces between words is inefficient...hah!

The church and highest point on the hill

The town of Andechs and surrounding fields.

The rococo-style church.

This above picture was part of probably the most eerie moment. We randomly went into a transept chapel and there was this plaque with Carl Orff's name on it. Megan and I were delighted seeing it because we were seeing Carmina Burana the next day. As I looked closer I saw that there was the day he died. The conversation went something like this
Me: "This looks kind of like a grave site or something..is Carl Orff's tomb?"
Erik (looking down): "Well, it looks like Megan might be stepping on Carl."
We all look down and see his name engraved in the floor as well.

I did research after and yes, we stepped on his tomb. Carl Orff was buried there simply because he wanted to. There is a summer festival of his works every other year, this year being one of them. Maybe I'll head down there for it. By the way, that motto at the bottom of the plaque,"Summus Finis," means the ultimate end or goal in Latin. Back to pictures...

A very somber grotto with religious relics

After viewing the grounds and church, we were ready to taste the beer. We went to the Bräustubel on site and had a great dinner with beer. We still had a few hours to kill before the bus came, so I whipped out some cards and we kept drinking and playing. There were some tourists in there but most of the people seemed to be locals and didn't care...they probably thought we were locals...I hope. The coolest thing about beer halls is the Stammtisch. You've already seen this word before in my blog, but I guess I should explain it. Whenever you go to a beer hall, you sometimes see a table reserved for a certain Stammtisch. It is a regular meeting of locals and they talk about a certain subject...politics, philosophy, literature, or just life. I never saw this before but Andechs had a locker for the Stammtisch participants to keep their Biersteins. Let's just say I'm getting a lot of ideas for a great beer hall in San Francisco.

A bad picture of the Bierstein locker

We walked down to the bus stop, and it was nice having the regular and always present German public transit system as the designated driver. Unfortunately, all the beer I brought home, I've had already....I think it's time to make another trip back?

The next day's plan was to see the Ninth and Carmina Burana. I woke up and headed with Megan to the fleamarket (for the second time!). I got one of those flute/keyboard things (I think it's called a melodica) and some old books in German, because they were cheap and looked really cool. I then helped Megan move from her apartment near Olympiapark to the Wohnheim for this month. We quickly changed into concert attire and met up with Spirros and Andres, who were also going. We made it to our seats as the orchestra was making that lovely tuning A - Good timing. It was the Czech Symphony and Chorus that were performing in the Carl Orff Hall at the Gasteig.

Now, I've been waiting to see Beethoven's Ninth ALL MY LIFE, but unfortunately, it was abysmal. I had to at moments close my eyes and try and think of my recordings of it a home. Maybe I'm being too critical. I should say that the soloists were the main let down. The french horn player was off-beat and sometimes flat. He also left out notes during some solos. The soprano attacked the high notes which led her to the wrong notes as well. As mediocre as it was, I still got the chills at moments and definitely teared up during the soloists' soul-lifting coda. After seeing the Carmina Burana being played, it was apparant that it wasn't that the Czech Symphony was bad. I believe that the Gasteig (the venue) made them add something quickly to the program because they thought Carmina Burana wasn't enough. Psh. They must have chosen the Ninth simply because it also uses a chorus and most of the same instruments (save a piano, tuba, double bassoon, and a few percussion instruments). But they redeemed themselves.

After the Ninth, the conductor came out and started the whole oratorio from memory, unlike the Ninth (further evidence for too little practice). Megan had studied the piece in a German class at BC and was telling me things about it. I've listened to it many times but seeing it live is so different. I thought that there was a solo countertenor...but no, the tenor and bass BOTH just used their falsetto.

For reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcxGS8U3Yxg

That is all I can post for now. Tomorrow's post will be about being passenger (unfortunately I do not know how to drive manual) on the Autobahn reaching 125 mph and skiing on Germany's tallest mountain.

All pictures, including the ones here and ones I did not put in the blog, are on this website:

Nymphenburg/Andechs/Garmisch