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We spent a week in Munich, checking out some of the neighbourhoods, picking couchsurfers’ brains and exploring some of the many cool corners of the city. It really seems like a place we’re going to enjoy living when we finally get it all together and “settle down”. I use quotation marks because one of the things that we love about the city is its proximity to places that we want to travel. Much to Brett’s delight it’s only an hour or so from the mountains, which should be great for outdoor activities in all seasons. Yes, that’s right, the Sydney girl is actually excited about going snowshoeing, cross country skiing and hiking on cleared paths (as long as there’s a log fire and mug of mulled wine at the end of those days). It’s also really close to some of the areas of Eastern Europe that we’re itching to explore.

Apart from all that Munich seems like a really liveable city. There is plenty of green space all throughout the city and the central area is compact enough to be able to walk to most places if you’re not in a hurry. Just about the only thing we’ve heard people complain about is the price of housing, with rent apparently being much higher than anywhere else in Germany. Other living expenses may or may not be higher, depending on who you talk to. Anyway it’s easy to see why people want to live there so we’ll just have to make it work.
On one of our days we took the S-bahn down south to a suburb we’ve heard good things about. It’s on the Isar River and seemed to have a lot of green space in the surrounding areas, according to our map. We fell in love with it, though this has been a bit of a theme for each area we visit in Munich. It was quiet, green and only 20 minutes from the centre of the city. To get home we walked for about 8km along the Isar and marvelled at how many other people were out enjoying the beautiful spring day. There were bike and walking paths everywhere and it seemed like everyone was out getting some exercise and having fun. The banks of the river were full of people with picnic blankets spread out, BBQs wafting enticing smells and crates of beer stored in the river to keep them cool. Further along we saw the nudist area, though it wasn’t discretely hidden away like I would expect. They were hanging out, in all their glory, just metres from the main path along the river. Some of them wandered around tending a BBQ but most of them just lay there avoiding tan lines.

Of course we also spent an evening at the Fruhlingsfest, the spring festival that’s kind of a smaller version of Octoberfest. It was cool, with a lot more rides and other festival things than I expected. Well OK it was mostly about beer but also some rides to make you feel ill afterwards. It was also cool to see how many people were dressed up in traditional costume, the dirndl for women and lederhosen for men. As is usually the case there were more women dressed up and there seem to be plenty of shops in town selling traditional clothing. We sat in one of the festival tents, huge spaces with lines and lines of tables surrounding a traditional brass oom-pa-pa band that played rousing music as we raised our 1L beers and swayed in time to the music. Actually we didn’t do too much of that but I can only imagine how crazy it must get during Octoberfest when the tents are full of rowdy drunks. I certainly wouldn’t want to be a dirndl clad waitress with cleavage up around my ears on one of those nights.

Anyway, today we left Munich and headed down to Fussen to see Neuschwanstein castle. It’s a beautiful castle from the outside and the interior was even more incredible. Built by Ludwig II of Bavaria it was started in 1869 and remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1886. A day before his mysterious/suspicious death he had been deposed from the throne on the grounds of insanity, though these days he’s simply regarded as an eccentric man who enjoyed art and music much more than the activities befitting a statesman. Ludwig II was a great fan and financial backer of Richard Wagner, and throughout the castle there are paintings of scenes in operas he composed. The rest of the decorations are mostly done in the style of the Middle Ages and it seemed he looked back longingly to the romantic era when kings ruled with the power of god on their side, an absolute power that was slipping from the grasp of the Bavarian kings. Whatever the reasons and sad truths of the melancholy king it has to be said he had a great eye for beautiful artwork, the lavish murals are surrounded by golden designs and it seemed like not a single space was left blank. All too soon we were being told that the tour was over and we were pushed, gawping, into the bright sunshine of another beautiful spring day.

Tomorrow we’ll do some hiking in the mountains around the castle, visit another nearby castle and wander around the town of Fussen before heading toward Stuttgart to visit my German relatives. Then, after six months of 24/7 time, I’ll finally have to say goodbye to Brett as he heads off to work in about a week. Maybe I can use my melancholy alone time to build a mini Neuschwanstein?

Tags: Munich, Neuschwanstein