We spent the entire day in Munich today. The last time we were in Munich, we didn’t see any of the city; we were only here for a company tour. This time, we had a nice, casual to walk around, shop, and take pictures.

When we arrived this morning, a tour guide took us around the city, showing us places of historical significance and other notable things in the city. We started at the Rathaus, the town hall, which happened to be playing its Glockenspiel. This only happens a couple times each day, so we were fortunate that we arrived when we did. It was very cool watching the Glockenspiel play its mechanical show that had historical background; for example, the jousting knights was a reference to a royal wedding that occurred between a French and a Bavarian family.

After the tour was over, I went to a butcher for lunch. I ordered Debrecziner, this is a type of sausage with roots in Hungary that is popular in southern Germany and Austria. The Debrecziner was delicious and I will have to buy more at some point before I leave Germany. Shortly after, I went to a bakery and had a pastry with my lunch. This may be my favorite thing about Germany: ordering fresh food from small butchers and bakeries. In my experience, they are both very reasonably priced compared to restaurants and are also high quality.

One of the last things I did in Munich was visit the campus of TUM. This is a large university in Munich. From what I saw by walking around, it reminded me a lot of the University of Pittsburgh. TUM had a lot of old buildings that reminded me of the architecture I see on Pitt’s campus. It also had a large green space which reminded me of the Petersen Lawn at Pitt. Compared to Augsburg, TUM is much more similar to Pitt’s campus.

I had a lot of fun sightseeing today in Munich. I made sure to get plenty of souvenirs for my family back home.

Tschues!

Nate