65 things I know about Munich

Just for the sake of it...

01. It's very close to some rather large & impressive mountains.
02. You don't need to speak German (or Bavarian) to live there quite happily.
03. 10% of the population is Turkish.
04. Sandwichs made with soft bread rolls are hard to come by.
05. The beer is great!
06. Any area of grass is likely to be full of dog shit.
07. "The Never Ending Story" was filmed there.
08. Matjesfilet is raw pickled fish. It is not nice.
09. There is a specific method to eating Weißwurst.
10. Never cross the road against the pedestrian lights if a cop, elderly lady or a parent with child is nearby.
11. If you're just looking for a signature or to hand in a document, feel free to skip the queue in banks.
12. Winter gets very cold.
13. You can get into trouble for referring to a policeman as "du" instead of "sie".
14. The headquarters of BMW are there.
15. If you walk to the left of people it freaks them out.
16. Dressing up in leather shorts and slapping your male friends on the ass is perfectly normal during festivals.
17. The beer is great!
18. There are too many taxis because extras were put on during the 1972 Olympics and never gotten rid of.
19. The 2006 World Cup will be held there.
20. Müncheners don't like to cause a scene and never complain in restaurants.
21. 6'3" is not particularly tall in Munich.
22. There is a nude sun-bathing area practically in the city center.
23. Don't expect an apology if someone bumps you in the street.
24. When you get close to a Münchener you've made a friend for life.
25. People are not openly patriotic and rarely sing along to the national anthem because overt nationalism is frowned upon.
26. Polo-neck sweaters are very popular.
27. People spend a lot of money on eye-wear.
28. Weasel-like animals called Marders live in the city and chew the brake-cables on cars.
29. Elderly women are fearsome.
30. Offices don't have much in the way of air-conditioning.
31. You should look someone in the eye when saying "Prost!", otherwise you risk 7 years bad sex.
32. Every New Years Eve people watch a short B&W film called "Dinner For One". It's in English with English actors, yet nobody in England has ever heard of it.
33. People go surfing on the river Isar.
34. A mullet is referred to as a "Prole" after the word, Proletariet.
35. Munich is sometimes referred to as the northernmost city in Italy.
36. If it's your birthday then you should bring a cake into work to share with your colleagues.
37. On St.Patricks Day (March 17th) the main thoroughfare is closed to traffic for a parade. The Irish are the only nation whose national day this street is closed for.
38. If all the singles in the city got partners and moved in with them, 30% of apartments would become vacant.
39. "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" was filmed in Munich.
40. People separate all their rubbish for recycling even though many refuse collection firms just bundle it all together again.
41. Lederhosen does not specifically refer to the traditional Bavarian costume but any leather trousers.
42. The Reinheitsgebot brewing law had more to do with taxation than ensuring the purity of ingredients.
43. "Schloß Neuschwanstein", near Munich, was the model for Disney's magic kingdom and also appeared in the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".
44. Adolf Hitler was not German but Austrian.
45. Mozart was not Austrian but German.
46. It is against the law to wash your car in the street.
47. The beer is great!
48. Most individual apartments do not have numbers. They go by your name and the house number.
49. Officially roller-bladers do not belong on the pavement or on the cycle-path.
50. In 1980, 13 people died as a result of a bomb attack at Oktoberfest
51. If a menu offers "calves head with an ox eye", it will be slivers of beef with a fried egg on top.
52. Children there are more respectful of adults than in Ireland or the UK.
53. If you say "Gesundheit" to a person for the 3rd time in a row, then their next child will be a girl.
54. There is a creature called a "Wolperdinger" which has webbed feet, antlers, wings & long fangs and is about the size of a rabbit.
55. Public transport is superb.
56. The choice of mens shoes is not good.
57. There is a statue in Munich of the man who invented the Oxo cube.
58. In November there's a warm period caused by the Fön where many people get headaches.
59. It's quite normal to live in a rented apartment all your life.
60. The artificial hill in the Olympia Park was primarily made from rubble extracted from the U-Bahn system.
61. You can be fined for giving someone the finger.
62. There is a very serious shortage of student accommodation in the city of Munich.
63. By law, every office must have a view of the sky.
64. Pressing your thumb against your forefinger has the same meaning as "fingers crossed"
65. You may have 2 parties per year in your apartment (as loud as you want) and nobody can do anything about it.

66. It's so much more fun since beans moved here.

Beans, you obviously have far too much time on your hands !!

I'm kidding!!!

I've always found it is the eldery ladies who always break this rule.

The hill near Olympiapark in Luitpold Park is made primarily of the rubble of bombed out houses during the second world war...

whoops

Great list! Keydeck would you mind if I sent that off to some friends of mine who don't live here? Although I think Kathy's right about number 60.

Kathie, yeah ok, I just checked up on it and it was actually made from both the rubble from bombings AND from the construction of the U-Bahn.

Showem, sure.

Beans, make your own list

Didn't mean to correct you Keydeck, I thought we were talking about two different hills! I was just reminded of the interesting point when I read your post and thought I'd share!!

I totally agree, but the one that made this list was probably enjoying no.5, 17 and 47!!

I've no problem at all being corrected. Makes me a better man and a more convincing bullshitter every time. Thanks

67. and fish occasionally comes on a stick...

There's a joke in there somewhere, but I'm far too ill for that kind of thing today...maybe another time

ewww

#39, 63 & 65: really?

Doesn't #65 depend on your rental contract?

Randy, yes, as far as I know.

Sweaty, sorry, Betty, as far as I know it doesn't matter. It's like the rule that says you may not have a normal BBQ (holz-kohl) on your balcony. Word is that you can actually have one per summer and nobody can complain.

Seems a lot of the quirky laws have little get-out clauses here and there.

Where the statue of the OXO guy?

I like your list too, Keydeck. Next time, can you make a list of some of the rules/clauses that your familiar with?

#45. I knew Mozart was clever, but being a citizen of a country that didn't exist until 80 years after he died is really impressive.

The Germans like to claim him as one of theirs but most people call him Austrian, he was born in Salzburg after all.

not too bad, astroboy, you´re right, Mozart never has been a German, but during the period he lived, Salzburg belonged to Bavaria.

Shame they didn't get him to write a few Oktoberfest songs then.

yes, what a pity, he seemed to missed it abount 19 years, sometimes life treats you badly ...

so Mozart wrote "Ab in den Sueden" and was referring to Austria...that makes sense

belgians tend to claim ludwig van beethoven as well, although the country was founded in its present form in 1830 (so as far as I am concerned, the germans can have mozart if we get beethoven)

I have to agree about the old ladies and the shoes (not a good selection for women, either).

What is thing in November that causes headaches? I've only been here 10 days and have had a headache on every one of them. Were you kidding about that? I read something somewhere about dry air and thought that might be the culprit.

And can you come up with any explanation for that funkyass platform in the toilet bowl? Seriously, it is the only thing I don't like about living here. Everything else I see and experience makes me like the city more and more.

Okay, nevermind. Someone just sent me this: German Toilets

Not so sure about the technical aspects of it Michnic, but the Fön is a wind coming down over the Alps which is very dry and does cause headaches and make people more grumpy than usual.

Victor, no idea where the statue is. But his name was Baron von Liebig and before anyone tells me he didn't actually invent the Oxo cube, he was there in the beginning of the whole shebargle and so I'm acrediting the invention to him.

I've just received this interesting little snippet by mail...

37. On St.Patricks Day (March 17th) the main thoroughfare is closed to
traffic for a parade. The Irish are the only nation whose national day this
street is closed for.

What's more, the Siegestor is traditionally only marched through by
victorious armies - other parades pass around the arch. Adolf H. never got
to march through the Siegestor. But the St. Patrick's Day parade doesn't give a monkey's. It marches straight on, under the arch, the scent of waiting Guinness over-iding all other concerns.

And of course, on the national front ("National Front"? - hmm), there's the fact that the German national side wears green as it's second strip in recognition of the fact that Ireland were the first team to agree to play them after WWII.

The föhn winds are typically caused by an area of high pressure building up (usually in a basin or valley of a mountain range or between ranges). The high pressure causes cold air to sink, and eventually the air is forced downslope. Compression effects cause the air to heat as it's forced down, at various rates depending on the local topography. Could be up to 10 grad per kilometer or worse. As it heats, it dries out - by the time it reaches sea level - it can be very hot, dry and gusty, with a significant amount of pressure.

Isn't it spelt Föhn? And btw it translates to 'Hair Dryer' which could give a hint to it's effects.

31. Bad sex is better than no sex, right?

35. Monaco di Bavaro

58. Yeah, foen, that's complicated to explain, but essentially yes, you get very dry air falling from the northern side of the alps. This situation occurs when in Italy (or south of Alps ) there is a low-pressure system and in Germany there is a high-pressure system. I used to get headaches too, more than likely b/c of the rapid change in air pressure.
The cool thing about foen is, you get beautiful, clear days in spring and winter making the Alps stick up like sore thumbs! Also foen is most distinguishable by the wavy-pattern like clouds.
(I didn't wnat to be too scientific).

64. Thumbs inside fist!

34 - Prole.

I thought it was a "Vokühila" as in the first two letters for each word: Vorne Kürz, Hinten Lang

You're right Karambos - Fokuhila is what I heard.

Of course there's no umlaut in 'kurz'.

Sorry for being the spelling Nazi

oh, yeah. You're right.

Excellent, two great classics of modern cinema in Munich. Das Boot and the Chocolate Factory! Is it possible to visit the set of the factory, and maybe see an oompa-loompa or two?

That movie was fantastic - I've never seen such pissed-off looking purple dwarves on film before. Gene Wilder looks like he's ready to molest the children at any second! And that creepy ride through the tunnel on the river of chocolate with film projected earthworms! And That Andy Warhol-ish living room and t.v. set; really cool pad. Talk about a 70's psychedelic film experience!

Apparently the front of the factory was the Munich Gas Works, but I've no clue where that is (or was). Any ideas?

Can't seem to find where the Gas Works was.

But here is 83 things I know about Wonka.
Wonka Facts

-there is no spoon

I was thinking last night about this. If this is true then if only a fraction of the people on this board had at least one party a year, we could have a party every week with no worries.

I beleive the Oxo cube inventor statue is near Marienplatz somewhere.
I seem to remember someone mentioning it when I was around there once.
It is entirely possible that I'm terribly confused of course.

Steve

Right, a prize for the first person who can say exactly where the statue is. Challenge extended!!

What's the prize, first?

It's a Sur'prize'.

a steaming hot pile of munich's finest dogshit perhaps?

Oh, so it's something everyone'll be trying to win then

Dunno, I've never eaten in Wokman

I know

Whats it worth?

P

Give it up and I'll buy you a pint at the rugby over the weekend.

ok then I'm easily bought.

The process of Beef extraction that Oxo uses was invted by German chemist Baron Justus von Liebig and the Belgian engineer George Giebert. Of course the company was known as "Leibig's Extract of Meat Company" which was then known as Oxo.

on Maximiliansplatz there is a momument to the chemist

[img]http://www.munichtours.de/sehenswertes/denkmal/bilder/liebig.jpg[/img]

He was quite a famous chappie in Munich circles. see here for more details about the man

P