A few thoughts on Munich

Despite the initial absence of H&Ms (because, to be fair, I have not seen a lot of the city and possibly if I had explored more than the 5 or so streets that I had travelled I would have seen one or eight of them), Munich is a better city than Frankfurt.

There are less beggars (although, as in Rome, the beggars here kneel with their arms held out, all the time. I am really, really sorry that they are beggars, but that is just humiliating for them.)

There are Belgian-style fries and waffles, and beer and pretzels everywhere. Salad is cheap (finally!) but dressing costs extra. In the market at Marionplatz there was one booth with pigs´ faces on sale (by the kg - and no, I don´t know if the price was good! Actually the faces were horrific. The cheeks and ears and eyes were gone, but the sweet pouting snouts were not. MUCH more disgusting than the body-church in Rome), and at the next booth there were little pigs fashioned from twigs and cord to make into a fall lawn display, even with little nametags with cute little piggy names on them (like Eliza and Bella). Such a contrast!

Newspapers and the Subway are the honour system (yes, I paid!), and everyone is really polite and friendly. Many more Germans and less immigrants from Africa or Asia. For once, the train station is not the sex district.

There are all sorts of pictures of Munich back in the day. "The Day" seems to have ended suddenly in 1929 and started again in 1945. There are no pictures of hotels of historic inscriptions or statues of things that happened between those years. I am split. Partly I agree with that. They don´t deserve to have a history from those years. Anything they would boast of would have to be Nazi-related. On the other hand, it is awfully convenient that they are allowed to erase16 years of history. And it is unsettling to see Dachau on the U-Bahn (subway) map.

Urban-planning wise, this city (and probably any city in Germany or Austria) is far superior to anything in Italy. There are elevators. In the suway, there is an escalator that runs both up- and downwards, depending from which direction it is approached. (I could not help pondering the fate of the poor escalator´s robotic brain if two people - one on the top and one below - were to approach it at the exact same moment. Chaos, no doubt.

At one point in this trip I made an important discovery (now, I am probably the only one who did not already know this, but I am still feeling clever). The word ALPINE comes from ALP. I just always figured it was amy mountains. But on the day I went with R to the nunners I was speed-walking in the rain back to the train, and I sniffed the heavenly air and thought,
"I love Alpine air. Especially in the Al...WAIT!" I have also realized that everything I love about Jasper and Banff (the pretty flowers outside the windows of the log cabins, the log cabins, the pace of life, etc.) is basically a copy of the real thing, which is here. I still adore our mountains, but the air in the alps, and it is so gorgeous. We passed though Innesbruck yesterday, which is right in the mountains, and it was so neat! I bet there is great skiing nearby (it is also great fun to take a train under a mountain. Mountians, hill, mountain, under under under under - hey, no more mountains?!)

Only 1:20 until the train leaves for Vienna. I mailed the books, but decided that customs would not appreciate the sentiment of the fake Prada, but might instead dwell on the tag proclaiming it as a real purse. It will have to be mailed from home. When I was at the post office I explained that I was mailing books and asked how much. She said it would cose 18.00€!! Yipes!! I explained again SLOWLY in my prettiest German that they were books and don´t cost that much (Belgium has no special book rate. Germany does. Looky what I know!) In the end it cost 4.50€, which is totally worth it to send 4 really good (and heavy) books to someone who will appreciate them (I hope).

I am nervous about tonight´s hotel. It is a budget hotel, which has gine both ways in the past. Could be simple and charming, could be crawling with evil.

(Did I mention, Expedia refunded me the money for the toilet-seat free night back in Antwerp. Refer to posts from Sept 11, 12. Free money, and I totally deserve it after that night!)