This whole trip to Europe was sparked by an invitation to speak at a conference. Unfortunately, the invitation was later rescinded, along with the offer to pay for my flight and accommodation, leaving me with a non-refundable plane ticket to Munich.
There are worse things in life than being forced to take a European vacation.
I found lodging in Munich from a friend of a friend, arrived early Wednesday afternoon and promptly fell asleep until Thursday morning. I’m a little behind on my travel journal, so here, approximately a week late, begins my report from Munich…
Day 1
Friday was spent sightseeing. I meant to go to the ZAM, or Zentrum fur Aussergewohnliche Museen (Centre for Unusual Museums, including a chamber pot museum, easter bunny museum, and museum of scents). Instead, I discovered instead how tourist-unfriendly Munich is. I didn’t find the ZAM, but did run into the Viktualian Market (a huge expanse of food stalls, closed today for a national holiday), Marienplatz (tourist central), and David Beckham. Watching the entire block grind to a standstill to stare at him made me very glad that I am only a has-been D-list celeb.
The road to Marienplatz is a huge pedestrian thoroughfare, lined with shops. And with today a national holiday, the street was packed with people. Interestingly, since today was a national holiday, every single shop was closed. Apparently in Munich, people enjoy being outside just for the sake of being outside.
On my way home, I saw a crowd of people waiting outside a hotel to catch of glimpe of the other celebs in town for the evening’s MTV Music Awards.
For dinner, I stopped at a bar and ordered wienerschnitzel. I asked for tap water, which I got, but I was told I could only have a small glass since it was free. The picture doesn’t do the cup justice. It was marked as a 0.1 L cup, or approximately two shots of water.
