June 14- What Happens in Munich when it's not October?

The next three days we get to spend in Munich. The tour is set up around summer festivals, and those tend to go down Thursdays through Sundays, so we have a couple blocks of days off here and there to go exploring and become thoughtful world travelers. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wants no such thing. And so the weather is awful. I was pretty excited to come on this tour for a handful of reasons, and one of them was finding out what those fabled, beautiful European summers are all about. So far, my memories of past Minnesota springs/summers beat out European summers days hands down. And that’s without me being completely romantic about my home town and forgetting about the absolutely unbearable humid summer days that make me want to slit my wrists (which of course I would never do. Obviously, every true Minnesotan knows that on those truly insufferable summer days, that if you slit your wrists, the wall-dense humidity would push moisture into your lacerations instead of letting any blood out, and you’d die of hypertension. Which I hear is no way to go.)

The first day there’s actually an extended break in the rain, so I go on a pretty nice exploratory walk with James. We talk about heavy, soul searching things- Rilke would be proud. Then James gets infatuated with taking pictures of the turtles in the park we’re strolling around. Apparently, there are no wild turtles in New Zealand.

As James is shooting his brains out, I spy a duck-looking bird with a wad-of-gum-looking growth on it’s bill; it’s swimming around like it’s wound up wrong. One of its legs is just kind of flailing about behind it in the water and not really propelling it anywhere. I feel bad that it’s hurt, until I see others doing the exact same. It must just be an attention grabbing technique to make sure onlookers don't pay all their attention to the turtles.

At the end of our stroll through the park, I hit up my first beergarden. I don’t quite get what the raving is all about. There being no-one there probably didn’t help, but really, it’s just a shack that serves beer surrounded by a whole load of tables for people to pound their beers at. Sitting in a parking lot with an OE 800 in a paper bag is about as exciting, if not a little bit more so since I guess I could get a ticket. Sitting in the grass of Chicago’s Millennium Park legally sipping wine and listening to jazz flow from Pritzker pavilion is definitely more enjoyable. Maybe it’s just this particular beergarden. I was planning on giving another one a chance, but it rained for the rest of our stay in Munich.

I haven’t seen any of the amazing graffiti yet that people talk about. Sure, the ghosts and the sign re-appropriating are cool and all, and but not exactly mind blowing.

I was pretty excited to see my first Space Invader piece though-

(and if you haven’t seen “Style Wars” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, get on it yo). The addition of the mustache and diarrhea definitely complete this piece.

I don't know what the artist was thinking leaving them out in the first place. Maybe I can arrange for a little graffiti tour when we’re back in Munich next week. IF THE WEATHER DOESN’T SUCK.

To compensate for the unsavory weather, we cook an awesome nacho dinner. Far as I can tell, there are no cheap Mexican restaurants in Germany. Scratch that, far as I can tell there is no cheap Mexican food or ingredients in Germany. Even finding tortilla chips and beans was a task and required exploring several supermarkets. America, it’s little moments like when I’m in the grocery store desperate for beans and tortilla chips that I truly, deeply, madly miss you. Even Tabasco is 6€ a bottle.