As promised, here is a summary of my trip to Germany over Easter 2018. This time, I was able to get away for 6 nights and had decided to spend the entire time in Munich, Germany. I didn’t go back to the cities I lived in the past, my “hometown” of Freiburg as well as Stuttgart, where I went to undergraduate and graduate school. Why? There are certainly a few reasons, but one of them has to do with my beloved football club, FC Bayern München, just wanting to be close to where they are located after having watched and followed them from far away for most of my life (yes, there is a football junkie in me…)

I had been to Munich several times before but those visits had somehow escaped my memory, so it was time to go back there and soak it all in. I spent 6 fun days doing various things, from doing touristy things like indulging in art, opera, culinary delights to just being a football fan. I think, I can say those were rather diverse activities…

Food:

The food was fantastic there. Southern German cuisine is delicious anyway and I had my fair share during this trip, including two visits to “Andechser am Dom” near Marienplatz. The Schnitzel with cranberry sauce and potato/arugula salad was so delicious, I forgot to take a picture before digging into it…so here is a picture mid-meal, as well as one of some fabulously creamy, yet not greasy Käsespätzle (a cheesy southern German homemade pasta dish.) It included not only homemade Spätzle and cheese but also roasted pear slices and crunchy fried onions. It was arguably the best of its kind I ever had.

Another culinary highlight were the Nuremberg sausages, or Nürnberger Rostbratwürstl at “Nürnberger Bratwurst Glöckl am Dom.” Herb sausages grilled to perfection served with sauerkraut. Amazing!

I also had some good Italian food, including this spaghetti in a sweet tomato sauce or pizza with spicy Salsiccia saugage and an Italian orange soda

Arts and Culture:

Munich has a lot to offer when it comes to arts and music. Among the many museums, there are the Old and New Pinakothek, as well as the Pinakothek der Moderne with focus on sculptures, paintings, furniture, cars and many other things of modern times. I visited the latter and was at once fascinated by the huge arrow display hanging over a big staircase

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The entire space and architecture served as part of each artwork. Even the ladies room was interesting

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The Bayrische Staatsoper is known as one of the world’s best opera houses and it did not disappoint. On Easter Sunday, I went to a performance of Munich-born composer Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos.” Singers, orchestra, production, costumes, lighting, just about everything were top notch. It was a production of minimalist approach: stage and costumes kept mostly in black, with innovative use of lights. The incredibly difficult vocal solo parts were mastered mostly with much grace and skill and the acting of the ensemble, coupled with the use of interesting costumes was effective. The orchestra’s individual parts, especially the solo-cello part and woodwind section were superb, and the relatively large piano part was handled with a high degree of professionalism and mastery. The opera’s juxtaposition of tragedy and comedy was performed well and in all, it was nice to be back sitting in a real opera house (which can not compare to seeing/listening to an opera in a concert hall or on DVD.)

The lush and gorgeous rooms next to the balcony sections with it’s chandeliers evoked the image of ballrooms from centuries past

Football culture: FC Bayern

A whole other aspect, maybe the opposite side of the fun and entertainment spectrum in Munich has to be its football culture. FC Bayern Munich is not the only football club there, but the 118 year long history of this traditional football club has many stories to tell and a huge number of trophies to show. I myself became a fan of this club when I was about 10 years old and have followed them ever since (with a few interruptions during my time in the US, which was due to lack of information pre-internet days…) As a kid, I followed their matches mostly on the radio, sometimes on TV. Once I saw them play at a stadium nearby during a friendly. Fast forward to more recent days, I decided to become a member of this club and so it was only logical that I show up there at some point.

When I decided to take this trip and settled on dates, I realized that the perhaps biggest Bundesliga home-game of this season would happen while I was there. Given the fact that all home-games sell out in minutes at the beginning of the season, I knew it was impossible to get tickets to this game. As the league title is already all but certain at this point, it wasn’t a game that mattered terribly in terms of scores, but any duel between FC Bayern (FCB) and Borussia Dortmund (BVB) has a special meaning to fans from both sides.

So, as I wasn’t going to see the match at the stadium, I looked for a place to watch it with other fans of my club. As the city slowly but surely filled with yellow away-team fans and red home-team crowds, I found a little place that was recommended by other fans online. The Fan Arena is a small place near the main station, a memorabilia bar of sorts. the entire place was very RED (of course) and no place on the walls and ceiling were left uncovered with some kind of FCB memorabilia or old photograph.

So, on game night, I sat there dressed in my club jersey and had fun cheering on my team as they won 6-0 to a rather hapless and inept BVB team. So it wasn’t a fierce battle or a nail-biter, but so what. Mia san mia!

The day before the game, I went to our team’s stadium, the huge Allianz Arena with it’s 75.000 seat capacity.

Inside, I only got a glimpse of the actual playing field but visited the FC Bayern Erlebnisswelt. It’s a sort of museum that covers the entire history of this club, houses its “Hall of Fame” with it’s 17 club legends (so far), all trophy replicas and of course the real current Bundeliga Champions trophy (last season we won the fifth title in a row, and soon it’ll be six!) The most recent star in the Hall of Fame belongs to my all time favorite player, Philipp Lahm, who was just inducted last year at the end of his career, so I just had to go there, be there and take this:

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At the adjacent Fan Store, I had to obviously purchase some stuff and take advantage of the members discount!

Tierpark:

Tierpark means animal park and such was the idea behind the concept for this zoo. As the weather finally began to show signs of spring, I visited this park located near the river Isar. Its grounds are quite spacious and make for a nice walk in the park. I saw some animals up close, though the wild cats (except the two tigers) were hiding somewhere, unfortunately.

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On my last day, I went back to the inner city one last time, walked through the market again, and finally made my way to the airport.

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Now I’m back “home,” though maybe I should say “I’m back here” instead. Even though I had never lived in Munich, Germany, its culture, language and people still feel very much like home to me. Germany does have its positive and negative sides just like any other place in the world. I couldn’t help seeing a football fan loudly singing a Nazi song with his arm raised forward, or the PEGIDA movement setting up for a rally at the Marienplatz. There are still people there who react weirdly to an Asian person, a reminder of part of my childhood there. But despite all that, it’s still the place I feel most connected to, at home and at ease.

Now I shall suffer through the effects of jet lag and the mountain of laundry…