München ist hässlich...
The men are ugly, the beer tastes awful, the weather's been attrotious, and as all the Germans add to the end of their sentences.... NICHT!
Oh my god, Munich is like a fairy tale. The weather has been absolutely beautiful. It's been like 80 every day and 60 every night, my completely ideal weather. I've been extremely lucky. I'm sure it's just making up for my first trip to Munich last November, when it was cold and snowed the whole time. We went and checked out the Englischergarten and went down to the Chineshienischer Turm, a Chinese pagoda made out of oak in the middle of a Biergarten in the middle of Munich. I got a mass of Weißbier and some Currywurst with Pommes Fritz. Yeah, that was hell. :-) I have a picture. I think it's going on my desk. :-)
We walked through the park by a nude park right in the middle. The locals call it "FKK", which stands for "Frei-korper" something or other, or "free bodies". The Germans have absolutely no problem with being naked, as long as it's where appropriate. I remember we went the first night to a local pool, much nicer than the municipal pools of my youth. The sauna areas were clothing optional, and believe me you looked more out of place with a swimsuit on than without. Oh, mixed gender too. It was very strange as an American, but when in Munich. :-)
Later on Thursday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the crazy weekend and rain were approaching, so we decided just to spend the day relaxing at a nude beach down by the Isar. Of course, there's a Biergarten right by it, run by a lovely eldery couple. Hey, when in Munich. :-)
I met the most adorable man from Regensburg tonight. We chatted along for awhile in German. Finally I said, "I have no idea if this translates into German, but in English we just say," and then in English, "What are you doing for the rest of your life?" He paused a second, and of course in a very German way, he said "Probably working for another 20 or so years and then retiring." "Falsch antwort," I smiled back. He smiled too. They're so literal here. :-)
So I was thrilled with the fact that I was able to get tickets for Sunday. It's the big tent day at Wiesn. I already have my Gutscheine for my Masses of beer. I don't have Lederhosen, but I am going to wear my "Kurzhosen" that I picked up in Cologne. Like "Lederhosen" (which just literally means "leather pants", but I don't have to explain to you what they actually are), "Kurzhosen" literally means "short pants". Like so much else, "Kurzhosen" are meant to signify the traditional German shorts (complete with the two zippers in front instead of just one), where as literally "Shorts" means what we know shorts to be. Viel Spaß. :-)
Oh and "Wiesn" is what they refer to as Oktoberfest around here. (It's probably a shortened version of the Thierenwiese, the name of the grounds it takes place on.) It's kind of the difference between "Coke" and "Cola". Everyone has Oktoberfest (Salzburg was preparing for their own when I was there), but "Wiesn" is the original Oktoberfest, the "real thing" as it were. Everything else is just a copy. :-)
Blogdatum: Freitag, 15.09.2006
Oh my god, Munich is like a fairy tale. The weather has been absolutely beautiful. It's been like 80 every day and 60 every night, my completely ideal weather. I've been extremely lucky. I'm sure it's just making up for my first trip to Munich last November, when it was cold and snowed the whole time. We went and checked out the Englischergarten and went down to the Chineshienischer Turm, a Chinese pagoda made out of oak in the middle of a Biergarten in the middle of Munich. I got a mass of Weißbier and some Currywurst with Pommes Fritz. Yeah, that was hell. :-) I have a picture. I think it's going on my desk. :-)
We walked through the park by a nude park right in the middle. The locals call it "FKK", which stands for "Frei-korper" something or other, or "free bodies". The Germans have absolutely no problem with being naked, as long as it's where appropriate. I remember we went the first night to a local pool, much nicer than the municipal pools of my youth. The sauna areas were clothing optional, and believe me you looked more out of place with a swimsuit on than without. Oh, mixed gender too. It was very strange as an American, but when in Munich. :-)
Later on Thursday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, and the crazy weekend and rain were approaching, so we decided just to spend the day relaxing at a nude beach down by the Isar. Of course, there's a Biergarten right by it, run by a lovely eldery couple. Hey, when in Munich. :-)
I met the most adorable man from Regensburg tonight. We chatted along for awhile in German. Finally I said, "I have no idea if this translates into German, but in English we just say," and then in English, "What are you doing for the rest of your life?" He paused a second, and of course in a very German way, he said "Probably working for another 20 or so years and then retiring." "Falsch antwort," I smiled back. He smiled too. They're so literal here. :-)
So I was thrilled with the fact that I was able to get tickets for Sunday. It's the big tent day at Wiesn. I already have my Gutscheine for my Masses of beer. I don't have Lederhosen, but I am going to wear my "Kurzhosen" that I picked up in Cologne. Like "Lederhosen" (which just literally means "leather pants", but I don't have to explain to you what they actually are), "Kurzhosen" literally means "short pants". Like so much else, "Kurzhosen" are meant to signify the traditional German shorts (complete with the two zippers in front instead of just one), where as literally "Shorts" means what we know shorts to be. Viel Spaß. :-)
Oh and "Wiesn" is what they refer to as Oktoberfest around here. (It's probably a shortened version of the Thierenwiese, the name of the grounds it takes place on.) It's kind of the difference between "Coke" and "Cola". Everyone has Oktoberfest (Salzburg was preparing for their own when I was there), but "Wiesn" is the original Oktoberfest, the "real thing" as it were. Everything else is just a copy. :-)
Blogdatum: Freitag, 15.09.2006
posted by Joe Carlin at 3:54 PM
1 Comments:
Well, I'm from Germany (lived here since I was born) and found your Essay very funny.
But there's one thing I want to correct. Not every German is an FKK (Frei-Koerper-Kultur, kind of culture of naked bodies) Fan. There are big regional Differences. Until now I didn't know that there are FKK-Beaches in Munich, but where I live (Eastern Germany) FKK is kind of normal.
I was born in a village near Cologne where nobody practises FKK. Not there and not in the wider environment.
Post a Comment
<< Home