To Munich, with love

Circumstances change and things that seemed incontrovertible turn out to be more malleable than first thought. For instance, I thought that summer in Munich started in May. One drizzly, single-digit degree month later and I was found still waiting for sunshine. Another key belief was that I would be in Munich for at least a while longer. It turns out that this was an assumption rather than a given. England calls me back and as such the great Munich adventure, my life here and my blog will all have to end.

And then just as these decisions were made the sun decided to come out.

As I pack up my things Munich has erupted into summertime glory. Blue skies wake me up every morning and the 30 degree heat makes the midday environment extreme and the early evenings sublime. It has never looked better, more enticing, more worthy of occupying a slot on the countless Best-World-Cities-to-Live-In lists. And I have to leave this place in a few weeks. It seems almost unjust.

But there is something to be said for a deadline (as I find out every fortnight, when I race against the clock to submit this blog) and thus, I have a bucket list of things to do in and around Munich. Some are definitely achievable, for instance sneaking a God’s eye view of the city from Olympiaturm on a low demand weekday should be easy enough to tick off, however, some other things remain highly improbable e.g. fitting in a nifty weekend to every major city in Europe seems unlikely. Meanwhile as I redirect my mail and prepare myself for another caged mouse routine at the KVR, I intend to fill the rest of my time with making the most of Munich.

And to top it all off I have a few friends visiting. The deadline exists as much for them as it does for me as soon there will be no Munich sofa for them to kip on after I leave the country. Thus, I have a number of visits in the last few weeks of my time here and as such need a list of activities and restaurants to showcase the best of the Munich experience within the space of a weekend. Here is my finalised list:

How to make people fall in love with Munich in 6 Easy Steps

1. Although beautiful buildings may impress a tourist I believe love begins in the belly. If a city wants to win over a visitor a scrumptious meal earns brownie points more quickly than walking through the pretty. Thus, I begin most tours of Munich at the Viktualienmarkt. No matter the dietary requirements of the visitor there is something to be had from the myriad stalls filled with cheese, fruit and honey. Not only are the wares of superior quality but the whole marketplace is delightful to look at, populated as it is with almost as many flower stalls as produce. Even the raw slabs of meat in the parade of butchers’ shops are aesthetic, their appearance as intense as that of a Van Gogh painting in fifty shades of blood red.

2. After tanking up on herby sausages and fresh strawberries the natural next step is to walk the 100m past the facing churches of the Holy Ghost and “Old Peter,” curve round past the statue of Shakespeare’s Juliet, with her overfondled “lucky” golden breast and through the gate of the Toy Museum masquerading as a fairy castle. This visual overload is nothing in comparison to the ensuing view.

First the ornate facade of the Neues Rathaus comes into view with hundreds of awe-struck tourists gawping from the square in front of it. As you get subsumed into the crowd on Marienplatz, the two viridian pepperpot towers of Frauenkirche appear in the background. It is an arresting vision and European Old Town architecture at its very best. Every visitor I have shown round this city does a double take at this sight, as I still do every time I walk this route.

3. This is the point when most people are won over by Munich. From then on it is just a question of how far you will fall in your love for this city. I certainly feel for every hundred metres of avenue up from Marienplatz to Odeonsplatz I become more and more enamoured of the city, such that by the time I am in the manicured gardens of the Residenz I feel the need to call up my mother and squeal at her “it’s so beautiful! Munich is so unbelievably beautiful!”

And it is not just beauty on offer. Continuing walking past the Hofgarten through the affluent streets of Lehel and you will see museums, outdoor cafes and even a surf spot. The eternal wave of the Eisbachwelle marks the entrance to the English Garten with a line of wetsuit clad surfers, who jump into the churning green waters one after another to practise and impress. This city has everything except the sea and even then, it will go to extraordinary ends to make sure Münchners don’t miss out.

4. And then you are in the English Garten proper. Mile after mile of green space rolls out before your pacing feet or bicycle wheels. It goes on and on with lakes and beer gardens scattered amongst the landscape to provide respite and variation from the ongoing green. Accompanying the pathways is the river Isar, which snakes through the greenery, carrying its ice blue waters all the way from the Alps to the airport. The English Garten does not feel so much like a haven from the city but a separate world entirely.

It feels hard to leave the tranquility of the English Garten but the blow is softened by the buzz of Schwabing and the neighbouring districts. Cross east to west and you can traverse the quirky Olympiapark complex, taking time to glimpse the mountains from Olympiaberg, one of the tallest hills in Munich.

5. Take the appropriate pathways and you will find yourself at Schloss Nymphenberg, another extraordinary place in Munich’s ever-expanding list. Suddenly in the midst of a crush of streets the vista opens out onto a Baroque Palace, almost as unexpected a sight as seeing an alien spaceship. There is city and then there is an Italianate Palazzo. The mind boggles.

6. With free entry you can saunter through the palace gardens and wind your way past the pagodas and swans to the essential end to the Munich experience. Welcome to the world’s largest beer garden, Hirschgarten. Sit on a bench and down your litre of beer and unctuous “halbes hendl” (half a chicken). While away the hours feasting on knuckles of pork and brushing thighs with a barrel-bellied Bavarian. That is yet another facet of Munich, as iconic as the towers of Frauenkirche or the serenity of the English Garten.

This itinerary seduced me to the charms of Munich, as it has done every visitor I have taken round. If you ever come to Munich might I suggest you try at least a few of the places above? I guarantee you will fall in love too.