At Arnulfstrasse 102 stands the A&O Hostel of Munich. This past summer I participated in an exchange program through German American Partnership Program (GAPP). Along with nineteen other students from my German III class, and two teachers, I embarked on a trek of a lifetime.
We hosted our students in late October, early November. The German students stayed with us for about two weeks, then went to Chicago for a week, then flew back home. On June 6th, we left small town Minnesota to fly with IcelandAir to Frankfurt, Germany. We stayed with our host families for two weeks, then set out to explore southern Germany and northern Austria. Our last stop of that amazing, and wet week was Munich.
Munich is a very big city. I live in the country. I don’t like big cities, but Munich is the only city I would ever want to live in. I felt at home. The best part of the experiences I had in Munich was Mike’s Bike Tour. On the corner of Hochbrüchen and Bräuhaus Straße, near Marienplatz (home of the famous Glockenspiel), we started out on a tour not to be forgotten.
We started with a big group- some other groups were there- then we split into smaller tour groups. The young man who explained to everyone what was going to be happening was extremely energetic! He was the perfect tour guide, but he was not ours. Our guide was named Shelby. He was so much fun! He was excited about what he was doing and where we were going. He was very knowledgeable about all the sites we saw in Munich. He answered all our questions thoroughly and completely. He didn’t leave anything out.
My favorite stop was the Englischer Garten (English Garden). Shelby told us about how a king wanted the people to love him, so an advisor told him to give them a gift. The people received the English Gardens. The people were granted the freedom to use the king’s hunting grounds for them selves- 1.4 square miles of grass, trees and a lazy river. We also stopped at the Chinesischer Turm to eat. We “stole” the Hofbrauhaus mugs; instead of returning them and receiving two Euros back, we just kept them!
Shelby also informed us about the significance of the statue in Odeonsplatz (in picture), and lions on each side, and the gold bricks in the cobblestone behind. There are so many details in the city of Munich, we only were able to discover a few. I think that going with Mike’s Bike Tour was exceptional! If you ever go traveling to Munich, I would strongly suggest going on one of MBTs!
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