Old Retired Guy Blog
July 4 - 8, 2010
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Munich (Page 5 of 6)Ok, so we finally made it to the Englischer Garten. It was a beautiful sunny day and as we began our walk through the park we encountered what I'm sure everyone would expect to find in the middle of Munich ... surfers. Surfers? Yes, surfers! A small man-made river named the Eisbach flows through the park and is a tributary of the Isar River. Just past a bridge near one end of the park the Eisbach forms a standing wave about 1 metre high (that's roughly a yard high for you non-metric types). This has become quite a popular surfing spot.
One surfer at a time rides the wave. Since it's a standing wave, the surfer just rides back and forth across the narrow river until he or she wipes out. Then the next person waiting on the shoreline hops in and has a go at it. I don't think that the river was more than about 20 or 25 yards wide. A lot of people stood on the bridge or along the river bank and watched. Did the Beach Boys know that Munich is a surf city?
The Englischer Garten is huge and although we wandered around for a few hours I'm sure that we only saw a small part of it. Parts of the park were open grassy areas where people relaxed in the sun or played frisbee. Parts of the park were wooded with trails winding through the cool shade. The trails were well-used by walkers and cyclists. There was a very large beer garden where we stopped to have lunch and relax. After lunch we walked a while longer until we were able to once again lose our bearings. Several young women were walking past so I asked if they spoke English. Fortunately, they were able to set us back on the right path and we eventually made our way back to the center of town.
Hunger struck once again so we decided to go to the very popular Hofbräuhaus for dinner. This little place seats about 1300 and has been around since the thirsty Duke of Bavaria built it in 1589. It's not a good place to go if you're only a little thirsty since the beer is sold in 1 liter mugs (that's about a quart for you non-metric types). I had some kraut and sausages and we both drank some dark beer and listened to a rather loud oom-pah band. I think the only Germans in the place were the employees.
When we left the Hofbräuhaus we walked past many sidewalk cafes with their television sets poised to show the semi-final World Cup soccer game between Germany and Spain. Even though most stores were closed, many of them had TVs playing in their windows so that passersby could watch the game. We watched the game from several locations around town as we walked back to our hotel. Unfortunately, Germany was on the defensive throughout most of the game and even though Spain only won by a score of 1-0, they had dominated the game. Having seen the victory celebration a few days before in Rothenburg, we were curious to see how Munich would celebrate Germany's victory. Unfortunately, there was no victory to celebrate.
'Munich' |
