Day 16: Sightseeing with Max

Sunday, my extra day in Munich. The plan had originally been to continue to Vienna on Sunday morning, but I just didn’t feel done. So I decided to stay one more day. After the incredible obligatory breakfast, Max took me on a Sunday biking tour of Munich.

Some railway romanticism – they do have an impressive railway system in Germany.

The tour took us to the Olympic Park, where the Olympic games so fatally failed to show Germany from its good, post-WWII side in 1972. Instead, a group of Israeli atheletes were taken hostage by a group of Palestinian terrorists and the whole thing just spinned out of control, leading to 17 people being killed.

Now, the X Games were held here, an international competition for extreme sports. The area was crowded and mostly closed off for the competitions, so the only things I got to see of the actual Olympic Park was a corner of the old stadium and the top of this tower.

Just by the X Games, there was another event going on, one which didn’t require a ticket. It was called the Tollwood Festival and was originally an event organized to promote organic and non-GMO food. Now, though, it’s held every year and there are other things being sold there too, like handmade jewlery and other trinkets. I bought a pair of earrings, a Greek salad and bread thing and a crêpe – non of the food really turning out to be what I expected because I thought I knew better German than I actually do. But it was OK. Food is always food: meant to be enjoyed.

It was really cool, though, this festival, with all the different food, almost all of it organic, and to see how big the interest for it was in Munich. The festival area was completely packed with people and I think an event like this is a great way to open people’s eyes to different and better ways of producing and consuming food. I wish we could have things like this happening in Sweden!

Max also took me through Schwabing, an area that could just as well have been Vasastan in Stockholm.

Pretty house. Many pretty houses. All in all, a very nice bicycling tour with Max.