Great things about living in Munich

I have done my bit to moan on this site about how "bad" Munich is, but here I take a different tack:

Can anyone think of things about this city which are really good? I do not mean to sound like a Pollyana where everything is positive, but my Lady is always telling me I moan about this country (new verb: moanen: ich moane, du moanst, er moant etc). So I feel it is fair to redress the balance.

I will start a list here:

Good public transport,
Clean safe streets,
Tasty bread from Hopfisterei.
Some of the most stunning mountains in the world
Incredible skiing (and ski touring)
Wonderful mountain biking through forest trails,
Wonderful smelling forests
Rei Deer seen regularly,
Lecker Weissbeer,
Sunny weather,
Starnberger See on a weekday in summer,
Dantebad on a summer Friday afternoon for a beer and a swim,
Italy just south for the Renaissance stuff,
Prague just east for one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Please add more.

Jeremy.

So some of your favourite things about Munich are how wonderful other places (Italy, the Alps, etc.) are?

Here's some reasons why it's pretty damn good in Munich.

No Noddy, I was thinking more that it is the LOCATION that is great about this city. Actually I realised most of my list referred to things you see outside of Munich, so maybe it is the Autobahn south richtung Garmisch which pleases me the most.

As for the women, I forgot to mention they are one of the best attractions of this city, especially when you are lying amongst them on a Starnberger Lake summer day! However I don't need to get my hands on any of them as I have a gorgeous Münchnerin of my own! Although I am on the way to being married (Wednesday) and a father (one month to go!) I am still allowed to look at them!

floating down the Eisbach on a hot day
sitting at cafe roma in the afternoon to watch the posers go by
a halbes hendl and a mass of helles (almost as good as beer!)
cycling everywhere
the wies'n
the lange nacht der musik
after work party at reitschule
a 10-minute commute
girls in dirndls

Another two things about Bavaria (not just Munich)

Riding a bike through Perlacher forest evrey day to and from work.
Hearing Silent night sung in a midnight mass in a Bavarian village at Weinachten

No, three things (nobody expects the spanish Inquisition)
Jager Tee in winter, also gluwein after skiing.

Beer, cars, women.

And the fact that there is so little violence on the streets. I'm from the north of England and anyone who has had to live in Leeds 2 or 6 for longer than a few weeks or been to Newcastle/Leeds/Manchester for a Saturday night out will appreciate what I mean.

My positive thing about Munich for the day would be:

Dancing close with a beautiful woman wearing a demure Dirndl to a nasty groove in a disco, while she occasionally chugs a beer or puffs a cig with her beautiful dirndl-clad maiden friends.

There's something completely right about that juxtaposition between the old world and the new.

In general, things that are positive (besides that already mentioned):

• Athleticism - no Taco Bells in Munich
• Cops - look like friendly forest rangers
• Greenery - lots of it
• Natural blondes
• Getting by - easy
• Doner - tasty 'n cheap
• Public drinking - no hangups
• Physical puritanism - none
• Floßfahrt - cheezy but fun
• Deutsches Museum - Pretty neato
• Open-Air anything - amusing the creativity of starved fair weather activities
• Television - soft-core pornography (this appreciation lasts all of 2 minutes, though)
• Classical music - promoted. welcomed
• Architecture - interesting + gargoyles!
• Cops - so few of 'em. I have not yet had the experience in Munich that I did driving down the 10 towards Santa Monica when there were not 2, not 4, but 9 police helicopters hovering in slow formation towards downtown, truly an "Apocalypse Now" kinda moment.
• #1 - the more significant other

Agree about the Germans athleticism. They are generally very healthy good looking people. I worked on a US Army base for a year. they had all the American fast food chains - Colters, Taco Bell and Burger King. God were the women fat.

Gern where I live is phenomenally green and has loads of trees, and is right opposite Taxisgarten.

BTW what is Flossfahrt?

BBTW, Apocalypse Now is my fave film of all time, Randy. I just watched the Godfather for the first time and found Marlon Brando brilliant. IN AN you don't see much of his face - his contract stated that he must be filmed in darkness. So the GF is great to see him acting in.

A friend of mine worked at Rammstein AFB for a year, and thought it pretty amusing that a large majority of troops would refuse to try local German brew, and instead pay premium prices for imported American Budweiser. Ah, the depths to which people can sink in the name of pride...

Jeremy, Floßfahrt are the large wooden rafts with groups of drunken revelers and an oopmah band floating down the Isar in the summertime. It's fun to both stand on the banks and marvel at the merry seniors shouting to the classics; and to participate with a group and dunk everyone along the way (did it with the company this summer). After that experience, I think the Isar is at least 10% beer.

Yeah, both movies are classic greats. Check out GodFather II if you haven't seen it. No Brando, but DeNiro is great, and the sets for the New York scenes are amazing. It's cool how many good quotes have become popular from those two movies. I've yet to see the extended version of AN; looking forward to it.

Jeremy,

This kinda thing:-

Just glad to be out of London - people healthy+honest and cossetted by a generous wellfare state, apartments cheaper. I can say I'll meet someone and get the subway and arrive on time. I can ride a bike and not get killed by some tosser in a white van.

Not knowing or caring what's fashionable. Being a foreigner again.

Going back to the original topic thread, the most positive thing I can say about Munich is that I'm giving up a very well paid contract in another German town to come back and live in Munich. I love the place!

Yippee!!!, Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree...and all that crap.

Adding 2 more things to the list, after a trip back to Canada:

Bookshops that provide seats so you can browse in comfort, rather than squatting uncomfortably or leaning against books that others are trying to look at.

Restaurants that don't immediately bring you the bill the second you say you don't want a coffee or dessert.

Just thought of a 3rd thing:

Not having to "Please wait to be served" in a nearly empty restaurant.

You get those seats in Britain as wellshowem, but they have the added attraction of being served wih tea, coffee, and the like (you have to pay for it obversely).

That thread is old but really good
Was there not another one about what the good things of Munich are? without any negative comments? Can't these threads not be merged?

the beer doesn't give you a hangover :-) Augustiener YUM

You don't have to speak German

Even I could write a list as long as my arm about why Munich is a pretty good city. Its cold today, and I am looking forward to winter actually. I think winter here is superb. I cannot wait until the city centre carries the aroma of the stalls selling hot wine and pork-based snack products. Where I come from, a light 3mm dusint of snow is enough to bring the entire region into absolute chaos, but here, people are really good at handling winter, and it is beautiful in the woods near me when it snows or there is a good frost. For the past 3 years, my old dear has wanted me home for xmas, but I have not gone yet, and will not go this year either. Biergartens are fun, but for me, Munich is at its best in the winter.

On a warm day, the sidewalks are free from the cold shadow of skyscrapers.

Oh yeah, Christmas market and the Feuerzangenbowle and the of "gebrannte Mandeln".
What I like about winter is that Munich is to itself and there are not that many tourists. But I love summer as well. Not only for the beergardens (they are sometimes even open in winter on lovely sunny days selling hot wine).
@keydeck
Yeah, unbelievable that there are so many english speaking ppl living a complete normall life with no word of german. whereas you had the bonus of having a german girlfriend

You can live here pretty easily without speaking much German I reckon (or in some cases, just refusing to speak ), but it must be pretty damned hard if you don't understand any.
@Bubblylady
Biergartens in winter are superb. I prefer hanging around the wee huts though, or at least I used to. I need another dog badly

Close to the mountains.
Friendly people.
Being a foreigner again.
A transport system that works.

I could go on but now I have to drink some good coffee which is another thing I like here.

Hardly unique to Munich though.

If you leave your bike in the street at night, locked or otherwise, it will probably still be there in the morning. In fact, wasn't it the SZ that left 20 working bikes unlocked in different places round Munich and the last one was stolen after 3 weeks.

Warm, still summer evenings. Still 20C at 2am.
View of the mountains from the office windows (helpful reminder of priorities)
Sarcasm/irony that's regularly taken seriously

HUGE beers...

the price of a decent pint. sez me reporting back from edinburgh, where today I was fortunate enough to find a pint of (paulaner) helles, which unfortunately set me back £3.20 or the better part of 5 bucks

Standing in a supermarket in the beer section, thinking I'd like to try a few couple of new beers. Standing there for a few minutes thinking 70c is very expensive for a bottle of beer in a supermarket. Sudden penny dropping moment when you realise that is only 45p, and is about a third of the price you could get a much worse beer for in the UK.

Having a proper winter is definately good.

always thought that myself, but to my surprise there are oh so many ppl who don't have a glipse of german
I like the atmosphere in Munich, it is so relaxed.
I love having lunch in the beer garden and seeing touristjust next to bankers with laptops. I would love to do that, just move ur office in the green :9 Many beer gardens have WLAN. I like the contradiction in Munich as well, you feel like on the coutryside but still get provided with modern technique and compared to the rest of Germany, Munich people have a sense of fashion
I love strolling around town, just to see the stunning buildings etc