Europe Day 2: Munich

After landing in Munich, we went directly to the hostel and dropped off luggage in a luggage room, then left right away to Marienplatz (the old city part of Munich).



The old city is a very historical, touristy area. There are very few cars in the streets, and an interesting mix of modern tourist stores directly across the street from cathedrals.



We explored two cathedrals. Both were very impressive visually, but I have a hard time seeing myself being a member and regularly attending a church of that size. Both were undergoing some sort of restoration work and had tourists inside, yet both are also active churches. If I was here for more than 2 days, it would be interesting to check out a service.






Apparently you can go up in the towers for a fantastic view of the city...unfortunately, we didn't...oh well.


Very nice church, but the pillars would be awkward.






I think the Luther CFL hall really needs a giant hanging crucifix...



Following the cathedrals, we split up to find our own lunch and explore around the old city. We all watched the famous Munich glockenspiel in action, which frankly I did not find all that impressive...nor did most of our group. However, perhaps we were all missing something, since there were tons of tourists watching.



Most of the group had used an ATM for money, so they had euros to spend. I had traveler's checks and a credit card. It turns out that most of the little shops accept only euros in cash...so, after attempting and failing to cash a traveler's check at the Deutshe Bank, ended up eating on my own at McDonalds, which I am not terribly proud of. At least I got something German...a "Nurnburger," which was sausage links on a hard roll for a very reasonable 1.37 euros. I also found it interesting that the McDonalds had self service kiosks - insert a credit card, select your food, and pick it up at the window. Very efficient, especially since there were lines at the cash registers.



After lunch, I gave up and withdrew some money from an ATM, but then almost immediately found a tourist information office, where the nice lady told me to go to a certain cash shop a block away to exchange my traveler's check. Morals of my money adventure: (1) Look for tourist information...they are polite, helpful, and speak English. (2) Find somewhere to turn in traveler's checks as soon as possible...ideally before you need to eat.