Yesterday - Tuesday, April 14th, Day 16 - might just have started with one of the biggest adventures of all: washing my laundry. I packed exactly enough socks for two weeks, so I was officially out of clean socks as of Monday, and decided it was time to take drastic measures and figure out how to use the washing machines in my building. Simple, right? No...think again! It took me about 30 minutes to figure out where the heck I was supposed to put my laundry detergent. I would be embarrassed about this, except for the fact that everyone else I have talked to has said that it took them just as long to figure things out. And it's not only the other JYM-ers who don't know how to use the machines - I asked a couple people who passed by if they knew how to use the machines, and they couldn't help me either...one had only been here for a week, and the other always does laundry at home. After causing a minor water spill by opening the wrong valve, I finally got everything going, and by the time I had to leave my room for the day, I had clean, dry socks. Oh, the simple pleasures of life!
I'll also throw in a little German here and point out that "to wash the laundry" is one of my favorite German phrases: die Waesche waschen. It just has such a nice ring to it. Ich habe meine Waesche gewaschen. I still don't like having to actually do it, but I like talking about it.
I had the entire morning off (hence the time to attack my laundry) and then at 2:00 I met up with a group at JYM to do a Raetselrallye - a scavenger hunt around the city. We were originally supposed to have the Raetselrallye the first week we were here, but it was raining, so it was rescheduled for this week. My team (me, Shelby, Kathryn, Nicole, Mark, Caitlin, and Gabrielle) had the theme "Muenchen Kulinarisch" and so we ran around town finding and trying some of Munich's noteworthy culinary attractions.
First we were sent to the Viktualienmarkt, where we tried the Schlemmermeyer weisse Bratwurst:
We ran into this cow along the way, and I just thought it was interesting:
Also at the Viktualienmarkt, we tried the Essig-Gurken, which were kind of sweet pickles:
A few stops later, we found the famous Munich Hofbraeuhaus:
An interesting tidbit that we had to find out was that the waitresses' aprons are all red, and if a waitress's apron is tied on her right side, it means she is married; if it's tied on her left side, it means she's single. In case anybody ever needs to know.
This guy wasn't part of the scavenger hunt, but he's the second human statue I've seen since being in Munich. I don't think I had ever seen one before coming here:
This was also not part of the plan:
I have no idea what the bird ate to make its poop look like that, but it was gross. Luckily, I could just throw the water bottle away, and it missed everything else other than my camera bag, which I've mostly been able to clean...
We stopped in several smaller shops as well, and JYM treated us to a few fancy-schmancy chocolates and some other treats. Eventually, we made our way to the historical Royal Residence area, where we saw some more of Munich's most famous sights.
Residenz Muenchen:
Die Feldherrnhalle:
St. Kajetan-Theatinerkirche:
The Residenz-Festaalbau:
We had to check the prices for one of the museums (the Staatliche Sammlung Aegyptishcer Kunst - the State Collection of Egyptian Art) and were a little confused by this plastic curtain, but it ended up being okay to go through it...I have no clue why they keep it up:
There were also some pretty gardens in the area:
Back through the gate to Odeonsplatz:
It took us nearly three hours to find everything on our list and answer all of the questions, so once we were done, we all headed back to StuStadt via Muenchner Freiheit, where we ate a quick dinner. That was pretty much it for my night...I made plans with Kathryn, Jeff, and Nicole to go to Regensburg today (Wednesday) and otherwise called it a night.
Only one more post until I'm caught up again! Coming next: my trip to Regensburg!
Cute jacket!!! I should buy one for myself!!
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