One week left to live... Spending it in Munich!

After much rending of hair and gnashing of teeth, I have decided that the best thing for me to do after my stay at the uni is to pursue the career insted of the insanely good quality of life that can be found here. It's a hard choice that I've been putting off for months, and one that will leave a huge hole in my soul.

Though I've done a relatively good job in avoiding the phenomenon of "the inertia of being local and not discovering more," there are several things I haven't done since coming to town. I still need to visit the Frauenkirche, still have to climb the tower of the church above the Viktualienmarkt & some other small things.

If you had one week to live and had to spend it in Munich, what would you do? What is truly indispensible? I thought about this, and realized that many things I would suggest could never be put into a tour book. I'm wondering what other people would suggest (because I would still try them in order to minimize regret).

This is my list of local (surprisingly non-touristic) Munich pleasures that will never leave my soul -- feel free to add:

Visiting as many beer gardens as possible with good friends.

Chestnut trees in full bloom on a sunny day.

Hearing nothing but the wind in my hair, zooming silently through the sun-dappled forest trails that parallel the Isar between here and Kloster Schäftlarn.

Going to see less-than-mainstream concerts at the Muffathalle and hanging out with the weird Muffatcafe crowd afterwards.

The Neues Arena theater - with its postage stamp-sized screen and and the feeling that it's always about to go out of business; -- has cool original language non-hollywood films and a small but cool audience.

The English/German Stammtisches at the Augustiner Biergarten.

Standing in the middle of a rapeseed field.

My apartment with a window view of the mountains, the english garden, and surfers.

Dancing to techno music with kiddies half my age and not giving a fuck about whether or not I fit in -- and waking up from a music-induced trance without even having taken any drugs.

Saturday morning breakfasts at the Viktualienmarkt -- "grazing" on foods I'd never tried before until I'm all stuffed and full and happy.

Training with Olympic medallists and bundesliga-level judoka in Grosshadern.

Haunting the classical music and jazz section of Ludwig Beck.

Altbau cafes on sunny weekday afternoons when no customers are there.

Walking home through the beauty of Haidhausen or the Glockenbachviertel at 5 in the morning, with no traffic or passers-by to distract me from my thoughts.

The lack of violence, even in situations when copious amounts of alcohol and large local crowds are involved.

Music stations that play more than just hip hop or classic rock.

Climbing the DJ pulpit at Zoozie's and lasting 5 minutes before somebody noticed.

The jogging stretch between the Deutsches Museum and the Isarring -- especially the suspended wooden walkway downstream of the Muffathalle.

The Alter Simpl (my alltime favorite even from my first week here), and the owner who still recognizes me from 4 years ago as the guy who was too drunk to rollerblade 3 meters in 2 minutes (that was the length of the car I was holding on to).

Roaming the Unihauptgebüude at the end of the semester, crashing departmental parties and being welcomed in regardless (We started with Physicists at 4 pm and wound up with Religious studies types at 7 am).

Call-a-bikes -- before Deutsche Bahn took them over.

Triumph ads. *weeps into hands*

I'd just like to ad...

I don´t get it? Are you leaving MindsEye?? That is sad!!

Well, I have been thinking about it all week to tell you the truth.. its my last week and this is what I have to add of things that are a must do (well some of them are seasonal so I guess you can´t do them all in a week):

- dinner at Italian-Seafood restaurant at Olchinger See.. followed by a walk around the lake and feeding bread to the fish (really) and the ducks.

- Mini Golf at olympiazentrum

- Invite yourself along to a crazy French party and just sit back and watch... one of the best nights I had in Munich due to some solid 80's robot dancing styles...

- a mid-morning (kid free) bike ride throught the "country side" to the local lakes here near Groebenzell..there is a series of bike trails that lead to amazing turquoise lakes. lots of cute little ducklings... aww cute.

- picking the cute little flowers (which are actually weeds) while going for an aftrneoon stroll... or alternatively.. having the cherry blossums blow from the tree so it looks like its snowing..

- picnic lunch at botanical gardens.. take tram 17 from Hauptbahnof afterwards take a stroll around schloss nymphemburg

- take the walking tour from Marienplatz. . passing hofgarten, national theatre, odeonsplatz etc...Bubblylady is your girl to tell you where to go

- taking a cute kid to get an icecream and just enjoying watching him eat it...

- asam kirche off sendlinger tor... just ask Bubblylady... this is the nicest church I´ve ever been to. Sit in on a service. Even if you don´t believe in God it is a truly spiritual experience.

-altepinoteque ?? spelling!! I would recommened reading up about some of the peices before you go inside and finding out a little about your favourites. There is a book available there which describes all the history of most of the paintings. It really is too much to take in on one visit.

- Shiva Indian restaurant. I just like it there.

- Fruhlings Fest crazy rides and yummy choc coated strawberrys

- gluhwein and shots of vodka on the snowy streets for end of fashcing party in Munich

-Englischer garten or Hirshgarten for the obvious beer, bredzell and obadza ?? spelling??

Things that I never got to do but REALLY wanted to do:
- iceskating- you can do it anywhere but I really wanted to do it here
- legoland
- neuschwanstien ??spelling
- frauenkirche (I still can´t figure out how to get there..did I just admit that??)
- deucthesmuseum:
- olympia tower by day and by night...

Why am I leaving???
Sorry for my shocking spelling I´m in a rush...

Great piece Mind's Eye: given me lots of ideas You have covered most of my 'Hauptbeschäftigungen' in Munich, but here are a few more:

- Climbing Olympiaberg on a clear day with Föhn for a perfect view of the Alps or a perfect sunset.
- Browsing Music in Saturn / Müller im Tal for hours where you can listen to the music before you buy (will be checking out Ludwig Beck though)
- Walking from Neuhausen to Nypmhenburg through all the old villas, walk in Nympehnburg, cafe in Back Haus and taking the tram back
- Asamkirche on Sendlingerstr. Most OTT church in the world. Check out the Death as a golden skeleton with a scythe in the porch.

Lovely lists. The only one I'll add is being west of the Frauenkirche (the old botanical garden is a good place) and watching the towers of the Dom catch the evening light. Perfect.

Just a couple: (see I do like Munich really!)

- The beer. Being able to drink Helles all night.

- The first time I was in Munich, arriving by U-Bahn and everytime I came out of a new U-Bahn station being presented with another impressive building, road, tor or statue. Quite stunning in the autumn sun.

having a bbq at the Isar, best weather conditions now, if ur bringing a warm blanket!
Just stroll around the city, there are great walks you can walk enjoying the city without looking like a tourist.

I love the sunday afternoon in the beergarden at Seehaus at a table just at the water so u can actually mouth feeding the ducks! maybe it's a girlie thing though.
It will be nicer on a midweeks morning, on sunday it's always packed.

Isn't that the Kunstlerviertel? If it is I walked through there at 1am when it was snowing like mad January. Fabulous experience and only up the street from me.

Not sure what the streets are but it is that area to the left of the street down which the trams run in the direction of Nymphenburg.

EDIT: Romanstraße after looking it up

Redeem my payback points in Kaufhof!

Keydeck: aaaaah, my alltime favorite Trimph ad! *dies happy*

Presh: I left Tuesday. It was all such a rush that it hasn't sunk in emotionally, though when it does and when I've dealt with some other small personal details I'll slowly stop haunting this list. Fortunately, I treated every day for the last 5 years with wonderment as if it were my first and last here. I couldn't do everything I wanted, but given that I tried my damndest to drink it all in, I can sleep knowing I gave it all my best.

Good list yourself -- I never did make it to the Pinakotheken, but they weren't ever high on my list.

Granny: I too have Paybackpunkte that will run out. I collected them religously even after discovering that most of the goods for which the points could be redeemed were cheapie crap.

I have a list of small regrets, but almost all of the city-related ones can be addressed by a quick half-day sweep through town on my next visit. The people-related ones are a different matter, but those fall into a different class of challenge and are not geographically self-limiting.

"The way to live a long time -- oh, a thousand years or more -- is something between the way a child does it and the way a mature man does it. Give the future enough thought to be ready for it -- but don't worry about it. Live each day as if you were to die the next morning. Then face each sunrise as a frech creation and live for it, joyously. And never think about the past. No regrets, ever."
--Lazarus Long

I find throwing Euro 1 cent coins at the fish in the lake at the English garden should not be missed, if you score a direct hit, they float, not sure why they do that, but it's fun all the same.

Me

P.S. Any one got any small change they could lend me?