There is something great about arriving in a city and being completely disoriented... then through walking, and wandering, slowly discovering the place and getting a sense of the geography and orientation, neighborhoods and the little nooks and crannies that make the place special.

Munich has great bike lanes through the city, next to the sidewalks... every road, no matter how big or how small, same composition: sidewalk, bike lane, then street. differentiated by material, which I would often find myself wandering along to the frustrations of the cyclists. They would angrily spew something as they flew by, and I would follow with the customary ‘traurig’ (sorry in German).

I didn’t get to see too much. Just a couple of strolls in and around the old town. I was here for Oktoberfest. I’ve been to Munich before, and really love the walks up and down the river by the Parliament building, west of the old town. I did have a nice new discovery though... the St. Jakobs platz... what looks to be a new plaza with the Jewish Museum located within the created void. It was just very well done. New plazas are difficult to pull off, but the space was really nice, its scale, its materiality, its detail, and its cultural relevance. The trees would drop these hard little leaves onto the stone pavers, and as the wind blew through the plaza, the dried leaves would blow across the rough surface leaving a chorus of hollow little pops. The sound actually followed the breeze. As I was leaving I noticed another small detail that was quite beautiful... down a rather insignificant little alleyway, tucked into the stone pavers, were five or six bronze (I think) casts, rounded and maybe four to eight inches around. They were randomly placed, but nicely composed. As a design move, it was a fantastic little moment that gave the place character... As I stopped to take a photo of it, a woman was riding her bike by with a toddler on the back. She noticed the bronze casts, stopped the bike, unloaded the child, and they just began to play on them... dancing from one to the other like stepping stones... it was a really nice moment.

I went to a tent with friends and celebrated with five or six steins of Augustiner beer. I ingested mountains of pork knuckle, sliced meats, raw meats, all varieties of sausages, pretzels, breads, cheeses, pickles and radishes. I sang. I danced. I cheersed (PROST!), and I watched my friends fall from tables!

I am very lucky for the friends I have! I had intended on going to Munich for the Weisen, wandering around and doing my own thing... However, my good friend James (a structural engineer whom I met through work) was going to be there as well. The glass fabricator/ erector we use at BCJ for the Apple stores, Seele/ Sedak, are based just north of Munich and like to do things right for the Weisen. James and a couple of his guys from EOC (Eckersley O’Callaghan structural engineers), Graham and Frankie, were in town for some strategically timed meetings, and they were going to tag along with Nelli, Holgar (whom I have met before while working on some Apple projects) and the rest of the Seele/ Sedak crew for the festival... and lucky me, I got to tag along with them! What a great way to experience the party and great to spend some time with good friends.

I was here in Munich for Oktoberfest seventeen years ago, while traveling Europe for a semester studying architecture (Brandon and Tomas, I almost tried to steal you guys a couple of authentic steins, to replace the ones we left in the doorway of that church so many years ago). James has been doing the Weisen for a while now as well, probably on and off the last ten years. We noticed that more a more people are donning the traditional wear for the event now... So Nelli set us up in our own Leiderhosen... which I have had to find room for in my already cramped bag. Perhaps the Leiderhosen should make it into the wardrobe rotation for the rest of the trip?