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Parthenon
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Empire St Bld

Alaska glacier
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LaBufadora
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BlarneyStone
Disney Paris

Named for its monk founders, Munich means "The Monks." But these monks knew how to party: they brewed beer big time, which is
why Munich now is famous for its beer and beer halls. And while it doesn't have any Wonders, Munich's also famous as a launching point for one of the most famous Landmark castles in Europe: nearby Disneylandish Neuschwanstein.

Neuschwanstein Castle This wacky King Ludwig II built Neuschwanstein. Yes, wackz: even the locals call him "Mad King Ludwig." The introverted Ludwig liked to build huge castle-homes, invite actors and musicians (he uh had a thing for Wagner) over for late-night parties, and sleep all day. Hmm, sounds like he's ahead of
his time - if he were living in Beverly Hills today he'd fit right in. He even has a good mysterious death (he was taking a walk with his doctor around a lake, but didn't come back. Investigators found him and the doctor dead in 2-foot deep water. Call the CSI team.) Anyway, it's a good thing Ludwig was so mad cause he had an obsession for building fairy tale castles, like Neuschwanstein (literally, New Swan Stone). It's said Neuschwanstein is the inspiration for the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty's castle. And yes, you can see the resemblance. So if there were no Mad Ludwig, then no Neuschwanstein, no Disneyland castle. I hop a 2-hour Panorama Tour bus ride (41€) from Munich to check it out. The castle is stunningly perched up in the mountains with views of the countyside and a high waterfall that Ludwig must've loved to show off to his actor groupies.

Other Munich landmarks:

Marienplatz. The Marienplatz is basically town square, with the old Town Hall facade and glockenspiel (clock tower), and a columned statue. Tons of tourists pour through here, while locals shop at the nearby hip n trendy pedestrian mall.

Haufbrahaus: I grab lunch at the famous beer hall landmark,the Haufbrahaus, a few blocks from Marienplatz. I eat a traditional lunch of Weisswurst, or white sausage (moist, not too fatty). I find out afterwards it's white cause it's made of veal, and sometimes calf brain and spleen. Yummy. A saying goes "Never let the noon sun touch the Weisswurst" so it's only served at breakfast, even though we have refrigerators now. So I'm happy the Haufbrahaus serves it up when I stop by a few minutes after noon.

BMW Museum. Munich's famous for it's traditional museums, but museumed out, I instead head straight for the BMW Museum and factory. The cool-architecture museum features BMW's original airplane engines. If you're watching Millionaire tip: BMW actually stands for Bayerische Motore Worke (Bavaraian Motor Works). Then BMW started to build motorcycles and a few race cars that performed well in races, then moved into cars. I wanna check out the factory, but tours have to booked a few weeks in advance, so instead I head over to the nearby...

Olympic Park. Most Olympic host cities let their parks get run down, but Munich's kept its venues, turning them into a concert venue, park, and even a skateboarding park. I ride the superfast tower elevator to the top for a view of the city.

Munich Life  

NIGHT LIFE: I´m staying at my former co-worker Martin´s place, and since he´s a Munich native, he recommends the night life.  We go to this huge night club/bar complex called the Art Park.   Randomly we meet up with this Canadian traveler David, and marketing dude Jason from Washington D.C., just cause we hear each other speaking English.  Our multinational posse decides to check out this club KW and meet some German locals who are pretty friendly.  Note that German dance floor rules are different:  just solo-step or solo-flail to the house beat and you´re OK.  No picking up, just dance.

Food: Munich food is like our ball game food: sausages and a bazillion types of beer. Instead, I try the apple-water drink that tastes like sparkling cider. I also grub on some aweseome chocolate truffles at Dallmyer, the locally famous deli/chocolatier/wine shop. The apple truffle melts like chocolate apple pie, crust and all, in your mouth.

Clothing: Fitted shirts, pre-faded jeans, like in LA or NY clubs. A lot of the Munich teens wear American flags on their T-shirts, jeans, or purses (I guess to be cool) walking down the street or at the clubs.

Efficient. Germans are famous for being efficient and punctual and it's true. The subway is ontime. The Inter City Express train looks like it was designed by Ikea. The post office is even open til 8 pm (which I find out is new: the law recently allows/requires all shops to close at 8 pm). Germans are also good at machinery, like cars (BMW, Audi, Mercedes factories are all within few hours from Munich), and machines: I even find a self-serve ice cream machine and fresh-squeezing orange juice machine. There's also this new Smart car that´s´about half the length of a regular car, to let drivers squeeze into tight spots. Looks like a Happy Meal toy to me, but hey, it´s energy efficient so more power to ém.

Next stop: Madrid!

I crash at my former co-worker Martin´s place.

Another view of Neuschwastein.

Some Americans fly to Munich to order their BMW´s directly from the factory, saving a few bucks even after modifying bumpers/lights for the U.S. and shipping.

BMW got started with airplane engines - that blue and white logo represents a propellar.

The energy efficient Smart cars are half the lenght of a regular car so Europeans can squeeze into tight parking spots, and save on gas, which is 4 times as expensive.

We don´t have that: High tech self-serve ice cream machine.