Finally!! I can travel!
We’re officially allowed to go 300 miles and stay overnight so I had to make the most of it and get out of this barracks room. After back and forth deciding where to go, then having to change plans because of bad weather, I ended up with Munich.
€65 round trip train tickets, $35 hotel room right across from the Hbf station, armed with a list of things I’d like to see, I managed to get roughly 28 hours of activity time!
My favorites to start off:
The weather was PERFECT when I got in. I was so thrilled to wear shorts and a tank top comfortable all day until sunset. It was hot actually; Much warmer than I was expecting, definitely needed some sunscreen for my shoulders to help limit additional sunburn.
I had my list of Apple map favorites and recommendations from friends to make sure I could see the highlights and off I went. By the end of the first day with 12 hours in the city I clocked nearly 10 miles of walking already.
My first stop was the Hi-Sky Ferris wheel hoping to see views of the city like the big one in Vegas. Unfortunately it was closed. I made my way west back toward the city center and walked along the Isar river. The walk was nice on a side bridge and through a park area. Lots of people enjoying the nice weather in the river bed.
Stopped to walk around the Friedensengel, a statue of a golden angel on a column noted as a monument to peace. This reminded me a lot of Berlin because you had to walk underground from across the street to get to this point, which had a tunnel full of great painted artwork.
From here I wondered down to Eisbachwelle which was recommended to check out. Surfing, in Europe, in mostly land locked Germany, in Munich, on a river .. what a combination. Its open year-round, but if it’s anything like the water at the Epplesee lake I was at the day before, this water is ice cold. Nonetheless was fun to sit and watch for a while, tons of spectators watching this unusual sport at such an odd location.
I continued down the trails through what opened into the Englischer Garten. It was packed with people sunbathing, playing badmitten or frisbee, and enjoying a beer with friends. The river runs all the way through the park so some people were floating along in tubes and kids were playing in the water. It was such a nice, chill area everyone was taking advantage of. I also saw the Monopteros, a Greek style temple that seems to be an important landmark. Not impressive, but I’m not easily impressed with architecture and at this point I wasn’t walking up that hill to see it any closer.
I made my way to Odeonsplatz, a plaza area with beautiful old buildings, and more of the surrounding streets. After breakfast Sunday I went back to the Odeonsplatz (grouping for organizational sake, but definite difference in the sky) where a black lives matter event was being set up which was humbling to see happening right here, far from what’s going on back home in the states that I see online all the time. A reminder that we are all human and when our hearts are in the right place we can come together for solidarity, support, and a common voice.
Olympiapark – The best thing about this trip, hands down!
I booked a tour to walk on the roof of the stadium spur of the moment roughly six hours before I did it and turns out it was absolutely incredible. I sort of became obsessed with Olympiapark after learning about it and spending quite a bit of time here for both the inside and rooftop tour. The Olympic Stadium, or Olympiastadion, was the number one thing on my list to see for this trip. I’ve been interested in the 1972 Munich Olympics ever since watching Without Limits, my favorite movie, which depicts my running idol Univ. of Oregon legend Steve Prefontaine run at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The movie also recognizes the Munich Massacre terrorist attacks where 11 Israeli athletes were killed in their dormitory building during the Olympic games. Lots of history here beyond just the medals in various athletic events.
If you don’t care about random facts about the area, skip over this section, but I loved it and it’s my blog so I write what I want to remember! Olympiapark entails the sports facilities including the stadium, the aquatic center, recreational hall, tower, and event hall, a lake, trails, aquarium, Olympiaberg hilltop, and other park features. It was beautiful Saturday, packed with tons of people in paddle boats on the lake, running, and biking the trails.
From some angles the roof looks like netting, but it’s actually a combination of cables connected in a crosshatch form with plexiglass on top, connected with rubber strips. According to a video we watched before the tour, this was an architectural feat at the time of design, so much so that the engineers didn’t even know how it was going to be done when the designer from Stuttgart came up with the idea. Much of the following information is from the INCREDIBLE tour guide I had Saturday night. I was the only English speaker out of the group of six people so they split me off and I essentially got my own one-on-one tour. Mega Win. The engineers made a smaller design to figure out how to make the actual roof to scale and gathered more materials than needed because they didn’t know how it would work. Legend has it, after completion and removing all but one of the support beams, the crew went to the hilltop as the last beam was removed and watched the whole thing sway back and forth for over eight minutes before finally settling, which remains in place today.
There was no red or brown used in the Olympic theme color palate in order to avoid association with political agendas and propaganda. This, along with building the magnificent park area, was intended to tell the world that Germany recognized their faults from the war and was now a welcoming and good place to visit again. The hilltop which overlooks the whole park was, or rather still is, a pile of war debris rubble moved here from the city center after bombings destroyed much of the city. During the design of the park this was included to cover in grass to avoid the eye sore and reminder of war. One of the primary design aspects was reusability of the park. This meant everything should serve a second and successful purpose after the olympics was over in order to host future events and continue to welcome people from near and far. This design specifically hosted open and inviting facilities which was done by building into the ground so people didn’t feel small standing next to them, rather they felt like part of the design and event when they entered an arena. This was specifically supposed to be opposite of the olympic stadium from the 1936 games in Berlin, built more like a colosseum with streets directly to it, which was taken advantage of during that time for political agendas, speeches, and military parades. The original design didn’t have chairs so in 2002 these multi-shaded green chairs were added which is supposed to resemble the rolling hills of green grass around the park and on the hill.
Tour start up the ladder and ramp to the rim 
*from tour site for reference 
*from tour site for reference
After my tent rooftop tour I met up with a peer stationed close by who I’ve only previously chatted with on Instagram. It was super unique for me to meet up with someone on a trip, especially someone I didn’t even really know. But it was nice to have someone to socialize with considering I truly never talk during my solo trips other than to order food or ask for directions. We went to Hofbrauhaus, one of Munich’s oldest brewery halls. In a very not German fashion they told us to drink our beers faster because they were closing at 1030 and didn’t serve food. So we were rushed out to find a new place and much needed dinner. In true German fashion however, we found a kebab shop and sat at some outdoor tables at a different closed restaurant. What an adventure. I got to my hotel at midnight just in time because the storm came in hard the lightening and thunder rattled on for a while. Glad I took full advantage of the wonderful day before the bad weather came.
Out of practice
For the second and last day I planned to check out of my room, drop my bag at a locker at the train station, get breakfast, walk around some more on my way back to Olympiapark for my 60 minute inside stadium tour at 2 pm, head back to the station for my 4:45 pm train and rest on the way home. Easy right? I quickly learned I’m out of practice on my traveling, crazy good luck, and timing organization.
The day went something more like this:
I got up, dropped off my key at the front desk and walked across the street to the Hbf. I walked right past the lockers, more than once, then found them and put my bag in. I grabbed the coins in my pocket and was a little short the 3 Euros. I went to grab my wallet for more coins and… I had forgotten my wallet in the safe in my hotel room. Luckily it was right across the street but what an inconvenience. At this point I had someone waiting on me for breakfast so it wasn’t awesome timing. Considering I couldn’t lock up my bag and then go to the hotel and bring something back to the locker because I would have paid for just a few minutes and have to pay again, I put both bags on my shoulders and briskly walked back to the hotel. The kind lady gave me my key and I retrieved my wallet and my Apple Watch I forgot I had also put in the safe. What a relief. Now back to the train station. I found closer lockers which were both smaller and more expensive. I didn’t have 3 Euros earlier so I definitely didn’t have 4 now. I find the lockers for 3 Euros again, place the bag inside, insert coins. Conveeenientlyyyy it won’t accept 20&10 cent coins. So I walk into the Subway that’s just a few steps away. The guy, very disgruntled, tells me he’s not open and can’t exchange my coins. So I walk to the book store next door trying to keep an eye on the locker with 2.5 euros in it and my bag. Exchange two 20 cent and one 10 cent coins for a 50 cent coin and finally get the dang locker closed. Achievement unlocked, or locked rather. (Nothing was funny about this at the time but is a good pun to use now)
I hurried the three blocks to breakfast. Finding, seeing and entering a California Bean restaurant in Munich, Germany, is odd; But also lovely! Enjoyed a good breakfast and coffee while bantering about leadership, promotions, and general Marine Corps nonsense.
I had to make it back to Olympiapark for my afternoon tour. I walked up to the same ticket booth and the guy looked at me with a questioning gaze and asked if I had been there the day before. I had, and it was nice he recognized me. He was very nice and helpful both encounters.
I waited for the tour and, per usual, was the only English speaker. I can’t much blame tour guides wherever I go because I’m convinced if these people came to America we wouldn’t be able to speak other languages, especially not so fluently, but it does make enjoying tours harder because when it comes to my part everyone else doesn’t care, seems like it’s a waste of their time, and they always laugh during the German portion but I never do so clearly I don’t get the same information or references. In some ways I get my own tour; In some ways it’s inconvenient and annoying.
USA Gold Marathon 
I always find my way to Lane 4.
I thought this tour was 60 minutes, this is where part of the day goes sour again, because it was 90. Which is great if you aren’t trying to figure out how to make it three miles across town on multiple train lines, get your bag and food, and on the train all in the next 60 minutes. So we finally finished and I took off. Walked to the closest station, took a train one stop, walked off the train right across the platform to another train for five stops, and this is where things go south yet again. Here I note: these ‘cheap, convenient, short term’ storage lockers really should be a good thing but they were tough for me, they’re even tougher when you don’t have the necessary coins.
I went to the locker and discovered my key didn’t work. It also said I owed 3 more Euros. Which now in hindsight I realize it was correct because the locker was only good for six hours and I was past that, which makes me wonder if the 4 Euro lockers were for longer and would have saved me 2 Euros in the long run. Well, again I didn’t have the coins. I didn’t have any cash actually. So I had to find an ATM, then I had to break a 50 Euro bill so I got a croissant and water. Then I had to exchange the 5 Euro bill for coins. I got back to the locker, paid it again and retrieved my bag. Success. Then I had to figure out which platform my train left from. The train didn’t leave for 40 minutes so it wasn’t on the screen yet so I had to walk around to find a different screen with more information. Then I realized I really needed food before I sat for 2+ hours on the way back. So I got a slice of pizza, located my train, found my reserved seat and took a deep breath. The train left 10 minutes later. What a whirlwind of a day. Out of practice for sure.
In all, Munich was the perfect weekend trip see something new once some restrictions lifted.
It was definitely better than Berlin and because of the Olympic history and tour I liked it more than Stuttgart. It feels small, has lots of green parks, is clean for a big city, and people spoke good English, and I did all but one thing (didn’t know it was available) to maximize my visit in such a short window – because we all know I don’t go back to cities, instead I wear myself out and happily cross it off my list for good. Would definitely recommend, and considering it was the cheapest trip I’ve taken, I have nothing to complain about!
So, Live; Through Travel 