#Nationalmuseum | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

greenbagjosh · 11 months

Text

29 - 31 May 1998 - checking into the apartment - Whitsun Monday weekend in Munich

29 - 31 May 1998

Hi everyone, Twenty years ago today was a long holiday weekend, namely Pfingstenmontag and Fronleichnam, both of which are legal holidays in Bavaria. In 1998, Pfingstenmontag was on 1st June and Fronleichnam was 11th June. Due to the 1st being a holiday, I had an extra long weekend. So with that in mind, I think it's time for a cheap S-Bahn, U-Bahn and bus tour of Munich. This may sort of blend in the events on 30th, 31st May and 1st June. In reality the journey may take actually three days and not one.

We start at Knapperbuschgasse, take the bus not to Arabellapark, but through Johanniskirchen, through Oberföhring at the north end of Englischer Garten and change to the U-Bahn at Studentenstadt. To get to the big-box stores, will require riding a complimentary shuttle. After that, we take the U-2 from Am Hart. I wanted to go to see where I lived in Summer 1997 at St Quirin Platz, so I had to change at Kolumbusplatz. In Summer 1997 I could not use the U-1 extension to commute to work as it was not ready for use, but since December 1997, the work was complete and in late May 1998 I can take the U-1 as far south as Mangfallplatz. St Quirin Platz station looks like a deep hole with a Spanish Conquistator helmet skylight design.

Returning through downtown Munich on the U-1, I then ride as far as Nordwestfriedhof, to change to a Line 21 tram to Leonrodplatz along the Dachauer Straße, and again to a Line 12 to Romanplatz and walk the rest of the way to Schloß Nymphenburg. Along the way I see some interesting cars, one with a Luxembourg license plate, another a Renault 25 with dozens of music band stickers, you probably already saw a photo of it. When I get to Schloß Nymphenburg, as a rule, I just remain on the castle grounds but don't go inside as I would be charged a high admission which I wanted to use at the BMW Museum instead.

To get to the Olympiapark from Schloß Nymphenburg, I need to take the tram 12 to Rotkreuzplatz, take the U-1 and change at Hauptbahnhof to the U-2, and change at Scheidplatz to the U-3 and exit at the then-end. The U-Bahn was particularly crowded that weekend, standing room only. At Olympiapark I took about half an hour to look around and see some of the venues from the 1972 Summer Olympics, particularly the swimming pool area that looks like a big tent. Then I went inside the BMW Museum, the admission was reduced that day. They had a large assortment of BMW vehicles, particularly the Z1 roadster, the Isetta, and even a partially cut-away of the 1997 7-Series. I would later get to see the BMW Z-Series M-Coupé on Friday 26 June 1998 at Josefsthal near the Tegernsee south of the Brecherspitz. But that`s for a later time. Once I am done with that, I go back to downtown Munich, and walk along the Neuhauser Straße pedestrian walkway that becomes Kaufinger Straße and leads to Marienplatz, the toy museum, the Opera House and even the famous Hofbräuhaus and Planet Hollywood, with the handprints of both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. And there is also the Viktualienmarkt that I mentioned earlier. One thing I cannot explain, what I saw in the Kaufinger Straße is, why there were people trying to walk with a six-person plank pair. It is kind of like being on a tandem bicycle but with no wheels and room for six people. It was just for that weekend I guess.

After seeing the Hofbräuhaus, I want to visit the Englischer Garten. After saving money, I think it would be appropriate for a small snack at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower). I would take the Tram line 19 from Opernhaus to Maxmonument, transfer to the line 16 and alight at Nationalmuseum / Haus der Kunst. Englischer Garten was nice and shady so I thought why not walk the rest of the way to Chinesischer Turm? When I arrive there, the snack bar is open for business, there is a band playing in the tower (Roll out the barrel and similar polka music). For beer, there is a DM 6 deposit for the 1-Liter Mass glass. The light beer could not be any better. I think I had a pretzel along with it, not very much though. I think i had a second beer, sat and relaxed along to the live music.

It was starting to get late so I headed back home via Arabellapark. Tuesday the 2nd June I would have to go to work. But it was a fun weekend in Munich

On checking into my apartment (written 31.05.2023): I only remember going to the HomeExchange company to sign the papers for the apartment that I agreed to rent from 29th May to 15th August 1998. About 4:30 PM I went to the actual apartment and met the landlady-resident. I would have a roommate in addition, making the rent just 400 Mark, about the same as what I had paid last year. It was a three bedroom apartment in Englschalking, on the third (in the USA it's the 4th) floor and no elevator, with kitchen and shower. I had to worry about "Kalk" or the hard water residue, and had to be sure I rubbed down the walls with a squeegee every day. There was only a washer in the unit but no dryer. I was expected to care for my own food. Most of the time it worked out fine. I had to be careful about my radio not being too loud but that's for another time. The closest U Bahn station was Arabellapark and the bus connection was in general good. There were a couple of grocery stores in the neighborhood. It was also possible to walk or take the bus to Johanniskirchen, about a half mile north of the apartment.

From 31.05.1998:

Here is the plan for today and tomorrow. Today I'll describe my apartment and responsibilities for Summer 1998. Yes it is long, so please bear this in mind before reading. Tomorrow I will take you on the tour of my frugal walkthroughs of Munich. From 29th May to 15th August 1998 I lived in a 3-bed apartment in Englschalking, particularly along the Freischützstraße. It was in the 4th floor where there were no elevators. It had a kitchen, bath, toilet in a separate room, a living room that I seldom ever used, and the respective three bedrooms. Mine was facing a pedestrian path westward so it would be quiet at night for the most part. There was no air conditioning but it was seldom so hot that it was even an issue. And for just DM 400.00 / a little more than € 200.00 a month back in 1998.

The apartment was near the Knapperbuschstraße bus stop, which I would go to every day to the nearest U-Bahn station at Arabellapark. To get to the S-Bahn at Englschalking, would take a long time, about half an hour. Why do that when the bus is just five minutes away? So, my general route from home to work, would be the Knapperbuschstraße bus stop, to Arabellapark, by U-Bahn to Böhmerwaldplatz, and bus the rest of the way to Karl Preis Platz via Leuchtenbergring along the Ampfingstraße, then walk towards Balanstraße and - there I was. After work, it's time to go shopping for food for the next few days or so.For the grocery stores, I had to go south of the Robert Heger Straße intersection. I think there was a Penny Markt, they had fairly good groceries there. Penny Markt is similar to Aldi. The Penny Markt has since been turned into a REWE. There were other places like Grosso, Tengelmann, HL Markt, MiniMal, and Kaufland at the Neuperlach Zentrum, it was so conveniently located so close to work I would often go in the late afternoons.

For laundry, I found someplace at a shopping center on the corner of Freischützstraße and Johanniskirchener Straße, close to the Johanniskirchen S-Bahn station, a twenty minute walk from the apartment. They had laundry for DM 8.00 including washing and drying, probably would take about an hour and a half per load, every seven to eight days on average. And interesting reading materials *auf Deutsch*.As for the city bus and rail pass, so what is the complication for buying a bus pass in Munich? Why is there no single price? At the time, Munich had a zonal system for week and month and annual fares, not compatible with the simpler tourist passes. There are people in Munich who might not make full use of public transit, maybe they will go mainly to one side of the city, and hardly see anything else, that way they can save money. Those who want full access to Munich, would have to pay for eight ring zones. The MVV München website has details on this, as I am already going off one tangent after another. For my part, I had to buy a one-time photo booth color photo about 2x2, and then MVV München at the Ostbahnhof pass center, would issue a ticket in a holder, valid for the entire month. Both the ticket and the holder, with photo, was mandatory for validity. And if you wanted to buy a ticket, you would have to be in line by 6:30 PM nightly Monday to Friday, once a month luckily. As you might guess, even the eight-zone month ticket was cheaper than a four-zone day pass times thirty. And with that, I was ready to go to work and explore Munich in the evenings.

What responsibilities did I have in June 1998, moreso than July 1998 and August 1998? They were mainly financial. I had an allowance for the basic things, maybe a little extra for travel and snacks if I managed to save money. Otherwise I could not buy frivolous things, go fancy places. I like buying music CDs but until I received my first paycheck on 26 June, I could only record onto a blank C-90 whatever I could receive off the AM/FM airwaves, provided I did not run out of C-90s beforehand. Even the Hofbräuhaus was out of the question unless I just stood outside. If it cannot be bought at the grocery store, it is not worth buying anyway. I had to pretend that I had a budget of around $ 1,200 for the entire month, it is tough. I managed to save money for Prague and Salzburg, even then it was rough going - I found bargains, you will likely find out about them in the next few weeks or so. I had to take the stopping trains and stay in multibed hostel rooms, not particularly fun. Oh, I could not wait until Friday 26 June 1998! And of course - clean your room, do the dishes if they are used, always make sure that cans and bottles are separated from trash - know what a "Mehrwegflasche" and "Pfand" are, keep the fridge free of moldy food, do not use the shower after 8 PM, the main renter (not I) gets first pick of when to shower in the morning, and very important, wipe the nasty chalky stuff off the shower tiles - it was so gritty! Ah, such is life with two other strangers....So anyway thats how May 1998 ended and June 1998 began. Tomorrow I will take you on the "long weekend" tour of Munich, trust me you will enjoy. Have a nice night, and happy rest of the week.

I probably will not have another update until Saturday the 2nd, by then it will be a Tuesday in 1998. Then I can tell you with a brief overview what I did for almost three months, and kind of explain the difference between a Praktikum and Werkstudenttätigkeit. Both are similar but they are different in many ways too. Have a nice 1st June.

#Munich #Deutschland #Englschalking #U Bahn #Arabellapark #apartment #Nymphenburg #Straßenbahn #Marienplatz #Planet Hollywood #Chinesischer Turm #Englischer Garten #Münchner Freiheit #Nationalmuseum #Kalk #St Quirin Platz #Lehel #Odeonsplatz

0 notes