Some Odds and Ends

Here is my brief update for the beginning of week two in Munich.

Sunday morning I did some math on travel in Munich. To walk from my apartment to downtown Munich takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I know because I did this. It was a good walk though! I also did some math on transportation costs…

I was on two missions that morning. One was to avoid spending a lot of money on bus and sub fares while staying here through the summer. I figured investing in a used bike would be a good idea. Its cost would be equivalent to monthly bus fares. I would get exercise. I can take a bike to other cities in Germany through trains. And at the end of my term, I could sell it again for a decent price. On the recommendation of my tour guide from the previous day, I purchased an old seven-speed off of a bike touring company called Mike’s Bikes. In the US, I would expect to pay around $40 for such a bike. Here is cost about as much as a new US bike. I looked everywhere, and an affordable bike is pretty tough to find… at least in Munich. New ones with multiple speeds range from 300 to 2000 Euros! I purchased a used one for 110 Euros. Not bad in my opinion. It is NOT my jeep, but it has air conditioning very similar to the Wrangler’s!

Also while downtown on Sunday, I bought some big train tickets. I decided that since I’ll be away for Easter this year, I may as well go all-out and see the Pope on the biggest day of the year. SO… I bought tickets for a round trip to Rome for Holy Week. It. Will. Be. Incredible. I was just informed today from the Bishop’s Office that I will be able to obtain a ticket to the Easter Papal mass, so that was very exciting news! I’ll be posting more updates on this later.

Today was Monday of the second week of work. The learning continued as we began using software and placing sensors on cars. We were also hooked up with some super chic steel toes shoes! Yeah, I know… you’re jealous.

After work, I took my new set of wheels to buy a bike lock and visit Real. Real is the German equivalent of a Super Wal-Mart… only BIGGER! They had nearly everything you would ever want. AND they actually took credit cards! That was a big surprise!

That’s all I have for now!

Dachau

I planned out today’s plans last night, and when I read my daily reading from the “Little Black Book” this morning (reflection book provided by the Church for lent), I was not shocked to see the info section concerning a priest who encountered an experience at a German concentration camp. Although I didn’t visit the Buchenwald or Flossenberg camps where Dietrich Bonhoeffer was incarcerated, I did visit Dachau this morning.

The tour group left at around 9am this morning, and we took a train out to Dachau. It was only a 15 minute trip. We had an excellent guide and she gave a lot of good background on everything we witnessed while there. I took a class in my 1^st winter quarter at UC called Auschwitz testimony which focused on the holocaust. There was some deep material in that class, but let me tell you, there is nothing that substitutes actually standing where it happened.

Dachau was the first of the camps. Dachau was to be the “model” camp for the others and it was also the location where most of the men in the SS trained. Today, the training grounds are actually used to train Germany police, but the prisoner camp has been turned into a memorial site. This was NOT an extermination camp, but a rehabilitation and work camp. Well over 60,000 people died at this camp though. Through horrifying work conditions and the contraction of diseases, death was a normal part of the camp’s daily happenings.

The closeness of the event in recent history and its relation to the Germans today is much closer than I really comprehended before. We had a small tour group, so we exchanged names and a little background as the tour went on. When I mentioned that I was working at BMW for a term, an interesting theme was brought up. Many of Germany’s successful companies today survived the war because they utilized labor from those in camps. BMW was one of them… along with Siemens, Audi, and many others. Knowing something like that, I can realize why many Germans today are still very sensitive to these events within the last century. Points were made on how you see very few German flags in the front yards of citizens and how Germans make it a point to remember their history well. I mentioned this in one of my earlier Cologne blog posts.

The tour lasted well past lunch and ended in the crematoria. It was difficult to imagine such horrors occurred in the brick ovens not too long ago. It was a very nice day today too (65 degrees and sunny). That made it even harder to imagine all of the camp’s past realities. It was, however, a good experience… one I will not forget. I think back to when my grandpa entered Germany, and I have to wonder how he handled seeing some of the things he did. I’m not sure I would personally be able to do it. I give all the credit in the world to those who experienced WWII.

In the afternoon, I took a short pause for lunch before doing a walking tour over some of Munich’s Nazi history. We visited MANY buildings of great significance to the rise of the party and the operation of the war machine.

We began the tour at 3pm (same tour guide as in Dachau) at the east tower leading into the Altstadt. It was here that we stopped by the brewery where the Nazi party was first formed and Hitler became a member.

Our next stop was a location you are likely familiar with. It was the birthplace of the Nazi party as we know it. The policies and rally behind the party’s forward motion began at the Hofbrauhaus. This was my first visit to the hall since being in Munich. This time, I did not have a beer. It was hard to imagine such a political campaign beginning in such a jovial place.

The tour progressed with some really good background history on the party and Hitler’s rise to power. Munich was it. This was the city where Hitler made it all come together. It was here that the party formed. It was here that he convinced the public to join in on National Socialism. It was here that he created an empire and led the 3^rd Reich. At the end of the tour we saw many buildings used for NAZI headquarters during the war. Many of these date back to Roman times, but their recent past uses cannot be denied. As an American citizen, I have always understood what happened in Germany. Actually being here and standing next to buildings bearing shrapnel scars is something else entirely. It adds some pretty good depth to the words in the history books.

Today was a reflective day for me. It was a good day, but one of realizing the closeness of these events to home. I don’t always understand why things did or do happen in the world, but always trying to better understand humanity is what will prevent future tragedies from coming to be.

On a brighter note… three incredible things did happen today!

1 – It is my brother’s birthday. Wish him a happy birthday if you get the chance! I do wish I could be home to enjoy some cake and ice cream with him!

2 – I finally saw a Jeep over here!!! I miss mine. Hopefully the birthday boy is taking good care of it!

3 – Mass this morning was very nice. I took some pictures of Old St. Peter to share with the blog too. I got to visit St. Paul and St. John in the front of the church as well. That was a good start to the day.

BMW and Work

I’ll give a brief rundown of how my first week went at BMW. Everyone was up to speed until Tuesday evening when I last posted, so here’s the latest…

On Wednesday, we actually began work and learning. Learning consists of three parts… engineering, culture, and language…

Engineering:

The lab I work in uses a number of means/methods to do their testing. These are basically photography, lasers, and sensors. Using these methods, they can do dynamic testing (cars move/shake) or static testing (cars don’t move). On Wednesday, Micah and I learned the art of photography. To simplify, the idea is to photograph a car before and after forces are placed on it. After comparing the photos, you get an idea of how the car was affected. On Thursday, we saw how a car is analyzed using a scanning laser. On Friday, we worked on placing accelerometers (sensors) on a car and recording results in a dynamic test. Much of the details are beyond me, but I will certainly be learning a lot this year. The tests we use compliment my recent two quarters of class very well.

Culture:

I heard a few things about German work culture before arriving here. Some of the work-culture we studied in class was accurate, and some not so much. Here’s a bit of the culture…

Interaction - BMW has departments that work separately (as in most companies) but they do so within a “get it done as simply and efficiently as possible” schema. This fits the mold I anticipated. There is less red tape baring our department from helping another if they need a test run or a helping hand.

Chain of Command - The hierarchy operates in much the same way. We have a boss/supervisor, but he really doesn’t need to be bogged down by unimportant details. For example, in past companies, I have had flex time just like here. Show up when you want and leave when you want as long as people generally know when you’ll be here and that you get in your hours. The difference here is that I don’t have to record the exact task I accomplish at each interval of the day and how long it took me. In fact, there is no formal recording system. It is very honor system based, which I appreciate very much. SO… at the end of the day, the boss doesn’t see or deal with a work log. He sees results or he doesn’t. People stay or are dismissed based on what they do and not so much how long they hang around the workplace.

Hours – Work 35 a week, and you are gold. No need to sweat so much in a week.

Social Time – This was more of a surprise to me. The day tends to be much more social than I anticipated. I was banking on strict, no-nonsense German work. I have found that the department I am in is very relaxed. The entire day is social time really… as long as work gets done. Most don’t arrive in the office until after 8:00am. At 1:00pm we take lunch. Lunch consists of the feast prepared by one of 12 different food stations. Pasta, Wurst, Bavarian, Pizza, Sea Food, Asian, Steaks, and Greens are the main stations that come to mind. Lunch is BIG. At 2:00pm everyone breaks from lunch to grab a cappuccino (fancy right?). There are at least 20 cappuccino/coffee machines in the Café portion of the cafeteria. After coffee, it’s back to work for another 2 hours before quitting time. I’m cool with this structure.

Fridays – I experienced my first German/Bavarian company Friday. Okay… so every company I’ve worked for in the US has a typically Friday routine… jeans, doughnuts, more social time, and perhaps an early leave. Here was a little different. At 9:00am every Friday, our department does a Weisswurst breakfast. This is Bavarian through and through. Bavaria is known for their Weisswurst. Tradition says it is to be eaten before noon. On Fridays, someone in the department will prepare the weisswurst and perhaps couple of other varieties or wurst. Someone else will bring in large soft pretzels. Every individual is responsible for bringing in his or her own beer of choice. Beer at 9am! What?! It’s 5 o’clock somewhere indeed. I about fell over when I heard we were going to have beer for breakfast! After breakfast, we hit up the labs for a couple hours. At 11 o’clock we took a short 10 minute break for coffee and Kuchen (cake). At 1pm it was lunch. We were out before 4pm.

Colleagues – The co-workers here are very cool. Most are in their early 30s and single. A couple of them are married though. They are all VERY helpful. They will answer any question and will stop what they are doing to help. On Thursday, they invited us to a Biergarten for “Starkbierzeit”. This is a special time in the spring, during lent, where the German brewers brew a special dark beer. It begins on St. Joseph’s feast day (March 19^th) and lasts until Easter. The idea was that the Germans needed a “filling” beer to aid in the fast during lent. We all had a liter of the strong dark beer on Thursday and just enjoyed the company and fresh air for about 5 hours. This isn’t a weekly thing, but every once in a while, they will get together for such a night.

Language:

Every day is a crash course in German language. It is MUCH more difficult to listen to fellow Germans converse in the work environment. I struggle just to pick out words most of the time, especially when someone is speaking “Bayerisch” (the southern Germany dialect). I am getting better though. By September, I should have a pretty keen ear.

German Offices

Today is easy to explain…

8:30am – Depart for Residency Registration Office

9:00am – Arrive at office and fight giant crowd of foreigners

10:00am – Doors to office open and stampede ensues

10:10am – I grab waiting ticket and a form to fill out

10:30am – I am admitted to submit my form and brave the guy with the big stamp

10:45am – I am released to the foreign authority to grab another ticket and form

10:55am – I am admitted to submit my residency permit

11:10am – Guy with big stamp says I’m gold

11:15am – I grab a waiting ticket to pay 50 Euros for my VISA

11:20am – I pay for my permit and obtain a pretty stamp in my passport to work here until September

11:45am – Micah and I depart to sign our work contracts with BMW (now that we have work permits)

1:30pm – After a lot of reading, we depart to obtain our tax cards (which we need to be paid… this is important)

2:20pm – We arrive at the Munich financial office and obtain waiting ticket and a form to fill out

2:40pm – We are admitted to submit the form and brave the tax ladies

3:30pm – We obtain tax cards and head back to set up bank accounts

4:15pm – We arrive to bank 15 minutes late (they close at 4pm) and decide to set up accounts on Thursday

4:30pm – We call it a day!

So yes… if you ever though forms were challenging and burdensome in English, the German version isn’t much better. I’m just glad we have most of that out of the way!

…and now I’m done thinking for the day.

Work, Shopping, and Living – Immersion into Germany

Today was my first day of work. I’m not sure what happened overnight, but the clear skies went away and it decided to pour most of the day. Rain, rain, and more rain. We left for work around 8:45am, and by the time we had made the 15 minute walk to work, I was rather wet. It was perhaps good that we showed up early. We had enough time before our 9:30am appointment for my pants to dry. Dry pants are preferred on the first day.

After showing up to the front desk of a GIANT glass building in FIZ (Research and Innovation Center), we were greeted by our supervisor. It was good to finally meet the man we’d been in contact with for the past five months. He was very laid back and well spoken of by his colleagues. He brought us father into the building and showed us first where the food was and then where everything else was. Priorities are well in order here. Haha! The building is very impressive. It reminds me of something from the Jetsons or Star Trek! It had a very futuristic and ultra-modern feel. Glass doors slip open diagonally with the swipe of an ID badge. A central tower stood in the middle of a hub or outer offices. This was the brain of BMW. This is where the innovations are birthed and new products tested. Our supervisor explained where various departments of research resided, but I was pretty lost in the gravity of the atmosphere. Slimming business suits were worn by the management and darkly died jeans and corduroy by the engineers and researchers. Everyone seemed to be carrying around a cup of steaming coffee as they moved about the main floor like ants in a giant anthill. These were no worker ants though… they were very friendly and the culture appeared to be young, energetic, and embracing. On the ground floor were interesting conveniences for workers. There was a clothing and merchandise store, an I.D. center, a fitness center, a doctor’s office, and a car dealership where employees could buy their own BMWs. What?!? I thought Honda had a good spread. That was until seeing this small park of the entire plant! I CANNOT wait to see more! They informed us that we would possibly receive a free plant tour later in our co-op term.

After our initial showing, we were instructed to begin the paperwork. “Do what you need to do,” were the exact words of our supervisor. This included apartment leases, work contracts, citizen registration, work permits for immigrants, tax cards, tax confirmation, and I.D. badges. These all need to be done in a specific order in offices across Munich which are NOT close to each other. Talk about frustrating... I think a little more prep work on this bureaucratic nightmare would have done me well. In any case, I have it figured out now… I think. The Anmeldung office (citizenship registration office) was closed at noon today, so we’ll have to do that and the other paperwork tomorrow. I’m praying there are no hang-ups. These are fairly important for completion.

When we got back from attempting to complete all this paperwork, we were further shown the research labs where we would be working. Basically, we’ll be placing sensors on cars and observing what certain vibrations or impulses do the chassis, frame, and car panels. They had cars in this lab that weren’t even in public’s eye yet. AHH!!! This is going to be sweet! I didn’t understand most of the technical stuff, but the main purpose of this co-op is to observe and learn. I will be doing both.

We went to lunch with fellow lab workers. Most of them were interns as well. They were very welcoming and they introduced us to the largest cafeteria I’ve ever seen. Two floors of every type of food imaginable. We uploaded cash onto our ID badges and simply waved them past a machine to pay for the meal. Snitzel for me! We spent an hour at lunch and then the next 20 minutes drinking coffee in a separate café. They were not kidding about that 1.5 hour lunch break that Germans take! After eating, we went back to the department for some more instruction and explanation of the work done there. Our second supervisor then dismissed us early since we still needed to fill out certain papers before officially starting. Overall, the first day at work was awesome! …rain and paperwork aside.

Upon returning home, I decided I needed stuff for my dorm-like apartment. I made my way out to a local Flohmarkt (flee market / second hand shop) to purchase dishes and silverware. I struck gold! This is the way to go in Germany! I went to a regular mall at first and immediately decided… not for me. No, I will not spend 15 Euros on two plates… thank you very much. This Flohmarkt had cheap items that were about ten times more valuable (in my mind). Guess how much I spent on this antique dish set and metal cups?? Note the detail on the cups (I think I’ll call them goblets!)…

Five Euros! …and with a few other compulsory items, the bill for my new kitchen set was 15 Euros! I only need a pot and pan now. They lady at the counter was also very friendly. We chatted about living in Germany (she doubled checked the dates for Oktoberfest to make sure I would attend), and spoke in both English and German. She liked talking in English, because she wanted to keep her skills sharp. I’ll be checking out more of these Flohmarkts for future shopping. After this, I was able to make a trip to Pennymarkt for food-stuffs. Finally… affordable food! I went home and immediately made a sandwich. Yes!

So… food is squared away. Kitchen supplies are, for the most part, purchased. AND I was able to purchase internet from a fellow floor-mate for a fair price. I’m now officially connected. A lot went down today, so I’m wiped out. I can’t wait until this weekend and all of these small details are out of the way. I could maybe then think about some actual engineering… that’s why I’m here right? …right?? Well, maybe there is more to it that just that. It will be a great 5 months.

Not Living From a Suitcase

Sunday, April 3rd

I greet you know with my first blog entry from my new place of residence! I have been ready to unload that cumbersome suitcase for a while now. Whew… much better now. Let me catch you up from Friday…

Saturday morning, I woke up early to a nice breakfast downstairs. These youth hostels really do know how to present a good breakfast! Again, it was fresh bread, fruit, and cold cuts – a traditional German breakfast. I then spent some time on the web researching where the residency registration offices were and such. Micah and I were going to make a trip up to the BMW Wohnheim around noon, so I hit up mass at Alter Peter church around 9am. There are several VERY large churches in Munich’s central district. They are all also very old. Alter Peter was absolutely stunning, especially in the morning. The windows behind the altar were facing east, so the sun’s rays only enhanced the heavenly scene painted on the back wall.

At noon, Micah and I made the 10 minute bus ride up to Frankfurter Ring, where our apartment complex is located off of. When we arrived, I found that my key was already available for me! This was a surprise, as I didn’t think it would be available until Monday morning! We went up to room 321 and met my roommate, Peter. Peter is from Slavokia, so my cultural interactions seem to only get deeper as this trip progresses. He’s a pretty cool guy and I think sharing a room with him will work out very well. Unfortunately, he is moving out in two weeks after finishing a one year internship. He mentioned that he had had two previous roommates and that one of them was also from Cincinnati. It turns out that he actually roomed with one of the ICP participants from last year! Very cool! Since I didn’t have my stuff with me, I decided to move in the next day since I already had paid for the night at the youth hostel. I was also able to later get a refund for my 3rd night. That was a relief!

We arrived back in the Marienplatz district around 2pm and I ran some errands in the afternoon. At 6pm, Micah and I decided to try out a beer-garden tour offered through one of the groups down here. It was only 12 Euros and included three drinks, so we were game. Unfortunately, Micah had to duck out because of a bad stomach ache, but I went ahead and still went. I met some pretty great people on the tour. There were about 12 of us altogether. Many were from the US and a few were from Spain. One was actually from Bloomington, Indiana! I told her I went to UC and she said that she went to all the home games in the fall! When I told her I was drum major there, she immediately knew why I looked so familiar. Small world! Another gentleman in the group was from Minnesota. His family comes from Japan and Poland, and he was just returning from a trip to visit them after being in China to set up some plants for 3M. Big stuff. A third person was a student from a place close to Cologne. She knew four languages and studied business law. We had a good time conversing in both German and English throughout the evening. Good beers and good conversations.

In the morning, I checked out of the hostel and moved my stuff to my apartment. I then made a noon mass at St. Michael’s (another old church in Marienplatz). This church was under construction/restoration, so there was scaffolding and equipment inside and out. We must have gone to an Italian mass, because it was certainly not in English, German, or Latin!

In the afternoon, I headed back to my apartment to unpack and familiarize myself with the surroundings. With regards to the room… it is basically a Calhoun Hall dorm room with a kitchen and bathroom appended to the front. I suppose for six months and a decently low rent, I can tolerate that. I created a list of items I would need for my place (food, towels, plates, etc.), but immediately realized… it’s Sunday. NOTHING here is open on Sunday. Perhaps a few beer gardens, but otherwise, you are S.O.L. if you want to do ANY shopping on a Sunday… even in the busy parts of the city. Since I didn’t want to look like a poor unkempt college student, I decided to see if I could find someplace open that sold razors (the last two weeks have been bare necessities when it comes to such things, so I hadn’t shaved for a while). It was beautiful out today anyway, so a walk was merited. 65 degrees and sunny. AMAZING! I made my way down the street into the neighborhood and found a gas station that had razors and… AND… DR. PEPPER! I was so excited! I didn’t think they sold it over here! All I have seen is Coke products. I made the impulse-buy and had my first European Dr. Pepper. It satisfied, but I will say it comes nowhere close the good taste of a US Dr. Pepper… or the great taste of a Skyline Dr. Pepper. Oh how I miss such things.

Later in the walk, I discovered that the city district I am in is absolutely beautiful! Olympian park is breathtaking. Rolling hills, fine cut grass, and several ponds with streams attaching their outlets filled the park. Bike paths, running paths, and walking paths shot in multiple directions. Blossoming trees lined the walkways, and literally hundreds of families, couples, runners, and walkers filled the very large park. That is when I realized why stores being closed on a Sunday are a great thing. A Sabbath is a Sabbath for a reason. Kudos to the Germans for making it happen. In any case, I will be spending a lot of free time this summer in the park. It is literally 5 minutes walking distance from my apartment.

When I returned I spent the evening prepping paperwork for tomorrow’s first day. I have a lot of other small details I’d like to post right now, but I’ll wait until things develop this week and update as I get settled in.

Tomorrow's the first day! Wish me luck!

Into Bavaria

Friday, April 1^st

So last night after sending my blog, some of the guys and I went out for one final night in the Altstadt to enjoy a few rounds. Why not? It was our last night together and we were about to set off to the next stage of our journey. It was time to celebrate! Well, I’m not sure how “celebrate” turned into, “let’s get carried away night”, but when I woke up this morning, I had a pounding headache and my arm hurt pretty badly. When I finally gained some bearing on where I was at, I realized that I couldn’t remember much of last night. Worse still, I had some sort of marking on my arm. Oh no.

Okay… a tattoo is pretty big deal. So, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t one. It’s probably also a good thing that I just made up that entire story. And if that is the first time you’ve been fooled today, then shame on all your friends for not being good kidders! I personally know that I’m a terrible liar!

We checked out of the hostel at around 9:00 am this morning. I repacked that monstrous backpack and hauled it across to the train station where most of us heading southeast boarded the ICE 27. ICE stands for Inter-City-Express. This is the fast train. I had to take two going from Cologne to Munich; there was a train switch in Wurzburg. I have always been impressed with how we can lift a plane weighing thousands of tons into the air; I am now equally impressed with how we can send a VERY long train weighing perhaps 7 times that of an airplane down a set of steel rails at nearly 300 km/hr without so much as a single bump in the ride. The ride was smooth as silk. I was, however, a little apprehensive when thinking that the comfort on a train would compare to that of a plane. Well, I rode 2^nd class, and let me tell you… it made 1^st class in a plane look like coach. We had giant overhead compartments and space behind our seats for luggage. We had seats reserved, but since all the seats were not necessarily filled, we could move about cabins. Some were designated quiet zones (for sleep), and some were made with large tables build between them. We could easily play cards or work on our computers. Giant glass windows lined either side of the train, so the view was incredible as well. The return trip down the Rhine River was just as gorgeous as the trip up it. I’ll miss seeing that river for a while. It was probably my favorite part of the Rhineland.

I’ll give some testimony here as to why Germans are incredibly friendly. On my first train, I was using my German dictionary when the lady next to me asked if she could borrow it for something she was working on. After starting some conversation, I came to find she was earning her PhD and was traveling to Canada and Washington to study some Indian tribes. We had a great conversation before she departed at the Frankfurt central station. My second story comes after boarding our second train. My reserved seat was in a quiet cabin, where I ended up with a group of gregarious German women (and their one male companion) heading to Munich for vacation. They were all friends with children in the same kindergarten class. They had left their husbands looking after the kids for the weekend, and were on their way to having a good time for the free weekend. They immediately asked my name, wrote it on a paper cup, and poured a beer for me out of the mini keg they had brought onto the train with them! Not kidding this time! They were VERY funny, as they kept shushing each other since we were in the “quiet” cabin. So much for that! They spoke a little English, but we tried our best to carry a dialog in German. They spoke very quickly, so it was hard to understand every word, but it was an enjoyable and quick trip. One of the women thought the English translation of Munich was Morocco, so that had me quit puzzled for some time. They thought it was absolutely hysterical. They wouldn’t let me leave the train before trying some of their homemade schnapps either. My friends from the Cincinnati Germania society were not kidding when they said the Germans would be very welcoming! Gotta love the hospitality!

We finally arrived in Munich at 4:05pm today. FINALLY HERE!! Altogether the train ride was around six hours, but it went very quick and was enjoyable. It reminded me of my family’s RV trip in 2006. It was comfortable, and the sights were incredible. Seriously… castles, city walls, steep-pitched roofs, town churches, and terraces in all the valleys. These are everywhere. I expected this might be in Germany, but to see it is something else. I certainly look forward to more travel as we enter spring.

So anyway, Micah and I left the station in search of our home for the weekend. We chose a Catholic Youth Hostel just a few blocks from the Hauptbahnhof. Check-in was simple and the accommodations aren’t too bad either. The big difference is the communal showers and bathrooms. It’s a testament to how not all hostels are the same. Our third roommate is from New Zealand is on some sightseeing adventure, so that’s pretty cool too. That’s the closest to an Australian I’ve been yet! After dropping of our bags, Micah and I set out to do a little exploring in the central district. Munich is HUGE. I will definitely be taking the entire next five months to see as much as I can. Things don’t quiet feel as small and cozy as they did in Cologne, but the history and size of the buildings and markets are just as magnificent. At the end of our walk, we encountered an expansive farmers market. Butchers, fruit, vegetables, olives… wheels of cheese the size of… well, car wheels!

Before heading back to our hostel for the night, we had to sit in one of the beer gardens. It was far too nice out (perhaps around 60 degrees… light clouds), to pass up. And what’s more, who would travel six hours to Munich and not have at least one beer. The beer was dark and in more traditional sized glass. The Hacker-Pschorr was quiet delicious.

Tomorrow will likely consist of a trip up to the BMW district to scope out where we need to go on Monday morning. Later in the day, we may do a little more exploring. The real work starts on Monday! Until then!