Bouldering & beer in Bavaria

From Italy I went by train to Munich, where I have friends - a German couple I got to know while living in Amsterdam. I have not seen them in a few years, so it was very good to do so again.
My friend, who is doing his PhD at the tech university of Munich, had arranged a desk for me at uni for my first two days in the city. That way I could be a bit professional again, going there with him in the morning and work efficiently, while seeing the city of Munich in the afternoons.


I guess Munich is in Germany what Milan is in Italy - richer, cleaner and more modern than most parts of the rest of the country. From the houses, cars and prices you could tell that this is the city where all rich German people live.






However, the Bavarian culture is known for being quite laid-back and cheerful, and I especially loved the regional Bavarian law that you can bring your own food to the beer gardens and beer halls if you choose to sit at the tables without cloths! Unfortunately I did not get to try this fully, since the day with good weather when I had the opportunity to pass a beer garden, the outdoor serving was closed because of the early time of day. But of course I tried a large, Bavarian beer, typically drunk from an oversized tankard, on another occasion - though without bringing my own picnic.




Otherwise I mostly walked around in the city centre, seeing beautiful Bavarian buildings and (of course) getting to the top of one of them - the huge Gothic Rathaus. From there I got an overview of the city and all its churches.

I also paid a visit to on of Europe's biggest city parks, the Englischer Garten, an enormous area with wide-stretched fields for dogs and children to play in, some small lakes full of park birds and little canals - everything crossed by walking paths and bordered by trees.






































And one evening I accompanied my friend to a newly opened climber's gym and tried bouldering for the first time in my life. I scraped my knee and got rather bruised (which apparently happens not only the first time, but regularly even when you become a skilled alpinist) but it was fun, and I swear the muscle soreness after this session has just about left me...

So, for me Munich was mostly work and work-out - which may have been exactly what I needed after lazy vacation days in Spain and an ice-cream a day in Italy. And, truth to be told, Munich is probably not the most exciting city to visit as a tourist. But it was perfect for my itinerary, and seeing old friends is always nice, wherever they live.

Saturday lunch time I left by bus to go to the Austrian alps - how I enjoyed rainy days in Salzburg I will let you know next time.

Venetian waters

The Paris syndrome is known as the sickness where Asians - mostly Japanese people - become so depressed that they try committing suicide when they see that Paris is bigger, dirtier and louder that they expected, and not at all the romantic paradise they imagined from movies. Did I feel this way about Venice?

No. But I have to admit I was a bit reluctant going there - when everyone claims something is wonderful, I almost always get disappointed. And the truth is that I had been warned (by several men) to go single to Venice, because the romance in the air would make me feel alone... Well, that wasn't a problem either.

I only spent one and a half day in the city, and assuming you don't want to go to every museum and see every detail of every piece of architecture there is to admire, that is actually enough. Venice is probably perfect for a weekend away.

The famous Piazza de San Marco I honestly found more grand and impressive than truly beautiful. But what I did enjoy was the opportunity to catch yet another view from above - going up the free standing church tower to overlook the city was amazing.

The city is indeed as romantically old and beuatiful as you would expect - but it is also quite worn down, and quite repetitive. After a while you feel like you have gotten the full hang of things - tiny street, piazza, church, canal, piazza, church, canal... and so on.

And apart from the beautiful views, the city does not really have a lot more to offer. Being probably the most touristy place I have ever visited (Paris, Rome and Amsterdam are far behind here), the only thing you can do apart from sightseeing is super expensive, very luxurious shopping.

For a day on my own, though, just walking around enjoying the sunshine and taking photographs of nice views, it did live up to my expectations. The city is actually small and perfectly walkable, so no need to buy the overly expensive visitor's tickets for the boats. But walking here is good exercise - every now and then you would have to do a little stairway up on and over a little bridge, and even more often you would have to turn around, walk back and try a different street because you hit one of all the little blind alleyways suddenly ending by a crossing canal.

Venice is definitely worth seeing, but for cities on water I must say I prefer Amsterdam... not only because it is my second home town, but also because of the much greater diversity and variety, the cultural vibe and - of course - the Dutch gezelligheid ("coziness").

So Venice, I am glad I came to see you, but I don't think I will miss you very much.

My upper-middle-class life in Milan

In Milan I had the luxury of living a very privileged life, staying with an Italian friend and her family in a spacious apartment quite close to the city centre. Thanks to a very good bike sharing system, I also got to see several parts of the city with my friend as a guide. I even went on the back of her scooter - but the Italian traffic was a little intense for me to feel absolute trust, even though she was a good driver...

Milan is not known to be the most "beautiful" of Italian cities - it is not classical and well-preserved the same way you see in Rome, Florence or Venice. But it is a truly fun and active city, and despite its top position at finance & fashion, putting its inhabitants in a somewhat superior position to the rest of the country, it struck me as a surprisingly calm and stressless city. I suppose it still bears the stamp of the Italian happily-enjoying-life mentality.




My friend invited me to come see a ballet performance at Teatro alla Scala, and that's an opportunity you just can't turn down. She had an old teacher with connections who had managed to get us good priced tickets. At La Scala, when it is not sold out, you can in the break of a show switch your cheap ticket for more expensive, presumably better, places for no cost. This was a one act show, though, but I got to learn that Italian women are good at getting what they want... My friend's mother went early and persuaded the super serious-looking theatre staff to switch our tickets. We ended up sitting in the front row. And after the show, this impressive woman on her own initiative negotiated with a very strict young man to let me into the gallery, to see the splendours of the theatre a little from above! I don't understand Italian completely, but it definitely sounded like she used my being Swedish as a reason to get in there...

However, Milan does not only have classical opera to offer - there's also display of more modern forms of art, for instance a gallery showing pictures painted with fluorescent colour and therefore glowing in the dark. And just like in Spain, graffiti and street art is quite popular and well done - this motive I found just next to the church at Colonne.

When it comes to architecture, I guess Il Duomo and the piazza in front of it should be called the city's hallmark. Even though I certainly don't have a weak spot for Gothic churches, I of course wanted to climb the stairs to the roof and look at the view. Doing so you actually walk around on parts of the pitched roof. But, since the city is a mishmash of ages and architectural styles, crammed in side by side, the view is not nearly as breathtaking as some of the other views I have collected earlier on my journey.

Staying with a friend and her family under more than comfortable circumstances for five days, sparked my productivity and I spent large parts of my days working.

Early on the Sunday morning I got up and took the train to the small town Desenzano del Garda, just by the Garda lake on the way to Venice, that would be my next stay. But I wanted to spend a few hours by the lake - unfortunately the weather was not at its best, and most of the day it was cloudy grey and raining just a little bit. I managed to sit by the lake for a while anyway, after the very nice staff in the café at the otherwise closed railway station had offered me to keep my heavy backpack in their storage room. I also walked up and down the quiet streets of the little town, through small parks and piazzas, and was a little bit stared at since I was obviously more or less the only tourist this time of year.

 

In the afternoon, after having a nice cappuccino and picking up my backpack at the railway café, I headed on towards the promised land of Venice. Can something so widely praised actually live up to its reputation?

I'll soon let you know.