München, Germany

Play in a fountain. It's good for your inner child. (Boy in Munich, Germany)

Okay, I’m on the train to Paris. 2 hours left. 2 hours and 1 minute actually. Another actually – you’re supposed to write out numbers one to ten. Like that. That’s okay, I’m no good at English anymore so I can do what I want.

It’s interesting how sometimes I feel more creative on the computer than when writing on paper and then other times the opposite is true. At least I think it is interesting. You don’t have to. Yes you do, you’re reading my blog, you must be.

On to the subject: Munich. Awesome. It was awesome. One of the coolest cities I’ve been to in terms of things to do, things to see, things to drink (kidding, I actually only had one beer there, a good Hofbräu Weisse (white) beer, unless you count the alkoholfrei beer after the race…) A Brazilian guy I met in Linz who plays pro basketball in Spain told me that there is research indicating beer is actually better post-workout than sports drink! I couldn’t make that sentence up. Writing it makes me feel good actually, more because of the Brazilian Spanish pro basketball player I met than the beer vs. sports drink thing.

Right, back to Munich. My goodness there are beautiful women on this train. Oh, umm, yea, I saw most of Munich on foot the first day I was there. Which was cool considering I got there at noon. Yep, I missed my train at 6:53. I was able to use the same special priced 19 euro ticket, though, thanks to… my impeccable German, maybe? Doubtful… Found a great market. Ate a dish with olives and sheep cheese. Ate a lychee that Grace, a friend from Linz, said she loved. It was good. Ate another fruit that was really weird from Thailand. Then I had possibly the best bread I’ve ever had. It had pumpkin seeds in it. It was some bio/natural/something healthy bakery at the market. Wandered around a lot and found the USA vs. Ghana game at a vegetarian restaurant/bar called Ogawe or something similarly weird. This is were I had my beer with some kind of eggplant enchilada like dish that was extremely good. La Ola it was called. That matters. Slept 10 hours. Thank God, too, because the two nights previous were so packed of farewell partying I couldn’t take it anymore.

Woke up 2 hours (I mean two, don’t I?) before the 32nd München Stadtlauf (city run) which was at 11:00. AKA – it was hot. I’m not going to say it was Louisiana, but I was really used to not having much heat, and this wasn’t like that usual feeling at all. I heard the numbers 6,000 and 10,000. For sure on the 10,000, but I’m pretty sure that was either for the half-marathon or the entire event. That’s the number of people registered if you didn’t gather it from my simply throwing numbers at you. I told myself I was shooting for something between 40 and 45’. I ran a 42:38. That’s the kind of shape I thought I was in. It wasn’t the best of days, but wasn’t the worst. I told myself I was going to try not to race too much. I needed to run 70 minutes total that day, so I couldn’t completely kill myself of the extra 20-30 minutes following the race would be hell. Don’t worry, they were still hell. Ten minutes before the race a sentence popped into my head that sounded a little like, “I’m going to kill this thing [the race]”. Genuine thought. So the whole, don’t race too hard kind of went out the window at some points. No one passed me. I was happy about that. I love the feeling of seeing someone in front of you and knowing you are going to beat them. You’re going to catch them, pass them, and be happy about it. How could that not be satisfying? No there were no handicapped people in the race for those of you who answered the question. Another thing that was cool about the race was that we ran though the city some into the famous Englisch Garten. There is a small river that runs through it and people can surf on a wave at one point. It’s the biggest inner-city park in the world. I was pretty beat after the race. I only know this because when I was on my extra 28 minutes I started seeing those really bright spots in your eyes you see before you pass out from heat exhaustion/stupidity. Excellent workout indicator.

I didn’t get recovered really until around 14:00, you know, after my free massage and all. On I went to “BMW Welt” (World). It was free to get in because it’s actually a dealership, but the place was seriously incredible. I didn’t go to the museum because it was 8 euro, but the facilities around there concerning BMW are bigger than large (see photo album). Up the Olympia Tower. 187 meters up (613 feet) gives a pretty good view of everything. On a clear day you’re supposed to be able to see the Alps, but it wasn’t clear enough. Still, good views. Now the best. The Germany (I’m in Munich, remember?) vs. England game. Wow. Watch this video of people celebrating the 2nd goal.

Then I found the 25th München Film Festival. Went to buy a ticket, it was sold out. Asked for another. Sold out. “I’ve got an offer for you. A lady said she didn’t need this ticket anymore so I can give it to you for free if you…” “I’ll take it.” The movie wasn’t bad either besides the fact that it was serious and was about an adopted boy who finds his mother, leaves his family and also adopted brother to move in with her and her new child, then spontaneously stabs her to, what he thought was, death. She survives and tells him in court that she is sorry for ruining his life. He responds, “I’m glad my mother is alive”, which gives the movie’s title. 3 years in prison…

Bed time. I went back to the hostel only to be woken up at 04:00 by two drunk people, both of which decided it was a good idea to have sex while 5 other people were in the room. Thanks dorm room style hostel. I had to laugh though, after the girl asked the guy what was wrong and why he wasn’t “ready”.

Anyway… I worked out this morning at a really nice gym for free and boarded the train to Paris. Lots planned to see in Paris. More than excited. Rosetta Stone French, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Grammar.

Au revoir,
Mathieu (I had to – it’s French)