Munich, Germany
Munich Connection
By Mar Nur
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2009

MUST EXPERIENCE. Mar Nur believes that, "speaking of beers, one must come to Munich to experience one of the biggest festivals in the world, Oktoberfest."

Wikipedia factfile; Munich or München, is the capital city of Bavaria, Germany. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg. There are approximately 1.35 million inhabitants within Munich. It is known as "the world city with a heart". It is a very a very modern, sprawling city with old and new buildings forming an interesting mix.  The city is well planned, with plenty of green space and bike paths. The subway or U-Bahn, criss-crosses the city, making moving from one place to another very simple.

Two things come to mind whenever I think of Germany: Oktoberfest and bratwurst.

Ahem!

After being held up in London for five weeks since the early part of May, with my birthday, then, looming around the corner, I was aching to discover what Europe had to offer, and so I booked a flight with Easyjet.  Within a blink of an eye, I found myself in Munich "Franz Josef Strauss" Airport, where, just as I expected, everything was written in German, though thanks to my overzealous preparation (and armed with a German-English dictionary), everything went smoothly, and I was soon on my way to Hauptbahnhof (central rail station).  It was around 11.00 AM, and I was very  tired after working overnight; plus my friend Oliver, who was joining me discover Germany, was not arriving for another six hours. I was starting to look like a zombie and wanted to be fresh when (he arrived and) we met, so I decided to check in at Easy Palace Station Hotel (Schützenstraße 7) and paid €18 for a bed in a dorm that was very well maintained, with beds that were comfortable and sturdy, so it didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

After a much needed sleep, I got up just in time to meet Oliver before the D-bahn train from Stuttgart arrived.  I was relieved to know that he was as excited to see me – and I thought he was even hotter since the last time I saw him in Gold Coast, Australia a year ago (or it could it have been because I was in drought).

That night, he took me out to check out the local scene.  It was a Saturday night, the perfect night to see how the locals party, so we went bar hopping.  Most of the clubs and bars can be reached by U-bahn (underground train), so we took a ride on one, getting off at Sendlinger Tor, which is close to the Oktoberfest grounds.
I have to warn you that beer is like water to Germans, so take it easy when drinking beer here.  You will not be able to keep up with them.  

Most clubs have dark rooms like the one you see in Babylon in Queer as Folk, so best not to stumble in there if you have had too much, otherwise you will be aching in places that you might not want to.

We started at Kraft@act (Thalkirchner Straße 4), a nice, chilled bar, and great place to flirt and marvel at the locals’ strong features, big biceps, and gravity defying butts. Germans are well travelled and know how to speak English, so it’s a great place to strike a conversation while sampling their house cocktails.  From there, other venues are in walking distance, such as Pop-As (Thalkirchner Straße 12), Prosecco (Theklastraße 1), and Morizz (Klenzestraße 43).   

Just before we totally got wasted, we decided to party the night away at the NY Club, located in Sonnenstrasse 25 – a very stylish and modern gay club in Munich, with plenty of room to dance and cruise around.  Let’s just say it never failed to deliver the goods, as newbies get plenty of attention.

Off the stereotypical gay scene, what else to do in Munich? 

Museums in Munich are dirt cheap on Sundays. Apparently, this is to  encourage locals to visit the city’s collections. Oliver paid €1.50 for each of us to visit Pinakothek Der Moderne, Germany's largest modern art museum. Designed by Stephan Braunfels, it opened in 2002, and the building, in itself, is spectacular, with the high ceiling and abstract design just breathtaking – the fabulous four-storey interior centres on a vast eyelike dome that spreads soft natural light throughout blanched white galleries; many walls are curved, gently leading visitors from one discovery to the next; and right angles are disrupted by diagonals. 

Of course, the collection is truly amazing.  You can find plenty of works of art that dominated the art world throughout the last century.  Hey, even the placement of fire extinguishers looked very artful to me!

Better yet, the museum allows photography in most areas, so please feel free to be trigger happy.

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