I must make a few confessions. 1) I did not take this picture. I snatched it from the internet like I could have in America. I was here this weekend, and many days last week, but I am still unable to post pictures (hopefully soon). 2) I lived as a tourist this weekend. I have prided myself on living a mostly German lifestyle, but with Max and Anja in Berlin this last weekend, and with a house full of Americans prodding me, I joined the tourist throng by visiting Marienplatz on a weekend night.
Marienplatz is the city center of sorts, complete with the old Rathause (town hall, above), and plenty of touristy Bavarian restaurants, bars, and biergartens. On Sunday, after spending the afternoon at the Deutsches Museum, a place one could easily spend two weeks looking through, we made our way to the famous Hoffbrau Hause, which is a stab at traditional Bavaria. It is a massive building, filled with: 1) smoke, like you are in a house fire, 2) picnic tables, because everyone sits with everyone else. There are no private tables, it is an ongoing party, 3)liter biers. You heard me, they do not serve anything less than the huge liter bier steins, filled with really, really good bier. We partook of good food and drink for an hour or two, and then we made our way to the biergarten inside the courtyard of the Rathause (above), where we stayed until very late in the night. We met another American and then some Italians, and we had some more Bavarian delights, all the while listening to a live band, playing both traditional and contemporary music. We were loud, danced, drank, ate, and had a great time with some very nice people.
The American 4, as I have since dubbed them, left early enough the next morning that I did not even see them off. I feel for them, because I slept until noon the next day, and even then I did not want to get up. 5 am must have come really early. Thank you guys, if you read this, for not waking me up to say goodbye.
Hopefully the internet will come up in the house today, but since it is not yet, I have to go. I finished Steinbeck this morning, and today I might begin either A Farewell to Arms or The Beautiful and the Damned. Any suggestions or preferences between the two?
Tchus!
They are both great books. You should definitely read them both.
Sounds like you are having a great time!