Scott's Visit

We often say if we had more friends and family living closer, we might just stay in Germany forever- this being the part we miss most from back home.  It is no surprise then that we get really excited to have visitors from home.  Having guests distracts us from that feeling of being different and reminds us we have accomplished a lot since coming here.  Plus guests give us an excuse to get off our butts and go out and explore the city!  Therefore, we were really glad to have Scott, my childhood best friend, here to visit for one week!

Scott arrived on a Saturday morning and is the first person I have ever seen defeat jetlag (including our three attempts at it).  I’m not sure what it his secret, but perhaps not sleeping at all on the flight over here was the key.  His flight was delayed an hour which kept us from racing across town to catch the Munich TSV 1860’s season opening soccer game.  No problem, instead we started the city tour early. 

After an obligatory lunch stop for Döner Kebap (future guests take note) we walked the tourist trail through the city center.  Every time we visit the city it gives that same feeling one gets when returning to their elementary school, the place just feels smaller and smaller.  It seems like it used to take 4 hours to walk through Munich, now it feels like 30 minutes.  After Scott wore us out (still without sleep for something like 20 hours), we rested up at home with some Olympics on the TV.  I must say the German coverage was not nearly as exciting because the German athletes are not ALWAYS winning like the US.  That, and probably because the coverage was in German!  We capped the night off with a giant beer and pretzel at our local Hirschgarten (future guests take note, again).

On the following cloudy Sunday morning, we gambled that the weather would clear up and went out to Lake Starnberg for a swim.  Smart move because we the sun came out just as we arrived, and we beat the crowds.  Being in the Olympic spirit, Scott and I played water polo while Julie just floated away in her toddler size, “Dora the Explorer” looking floatie.   However, playing water polo led us amateurs into swallowing a bunch of lake water, which I found to be more unpleasant than salt water because the earthy taste lingers for hours.  Bring a toothbrush next time.

We returned home in the afternoon and Scott and I took the 20-minute bike ride up to Olympic Park, which was hosting their summer festival.  This is the perfect bike ride in my opinion (future guests, your itinerary is being written right here).  Coincidently, this marks the one-year anniversary where Julie and I came to Munich for our interviews and then escaped to the festival to contemplate our future lives over carnival food.  

Scott and I had a bratwurst, went up the Olympic tower, and spent 30 minutes touring the park festivities before a dark, dark storm rolled in.  And there we were, like our childhood all over again, riding bikes through the rain.  This was one of the biggest storms I have seen in Munich, and we were forced to take cover under a nearby apartment building.  Not to let their lunch plans be spoiled, a family sharing our shelter decided to have their picnic right there on the cement ground next to us.  Eventually it cleared enough to safely ride back home.  We reached the edge of the storm to find a perfectly sunny day waiting us at home.  We ended the evening with another trip to the biergarten and more Olympics.

On Monday we (without Julie who had to work, and without the dogs because the hike was too difficult) went out to hike an Alp.  We were delayed in our departure though because it seemed Rita might have seriously injured her leg.  I’m not sure what happened, but she was in pain and unable to fully walk on one back leg (in hindsight perhaps a bee sting or minor sprain).  Eventually she seemed like she would be ok, and since our vet was only open 4-6 pm, we couldn’t do much now (some things really do shut down here in the summer break).  

We hiked the peak of Wendelstein, a place Julie recommended after her work’s team builder there.  We knew we were limited on time because of Rita and the vet so we set a pretty brisk pace.  Initially the plan was to hike a bit up and then turn around to get home.  The weather was perfect and we were making such good time we just hiked all the way to the top with 3,000 foot elevation gain in 2.5 hours.  The best part about hiking up mountains in Bavaria is that awaiting you at the top is a beer hut.  So we enjoyed the beer we worked so hard for and some incredible views before taking the gondola back down to the bottom.  This is probably my favorite and most memorable hike I have ever taken (if only because most hikes don’t end in beer).  See for yourself:

Scott spent the rest of the week on his own before returning home.  Unfortunately, I do have to work sometimes. But we accomplished a lot in three days.  Come see for yourself what you can do here in a long weekend, if only you can beat the jetlag.  We looooove having visitors!