Munich, Germany: Finding My Home Away From Home

After adventuring across Europe, I got the same question time after time. “So where was your favorite place?” You would think I’d say the Alcázar in Sevilla or the brightly painted houses in Venice. However, these were not my favorite at all. Yes, Spain won my heart and Italy had me wishing I could buy a summer house, but there was one place that came out ahead of even these.

Beyond all the picturesque cities I traveled to, there was one with more heart than I had experienced in years. The way I see it, beauty is so much more than what meets the eye. Rather than being seen, beauty is to be felt. Munich, Germany illustrated this idea to me perfectly.

Munich Germany: Finding My Home Away From Home.

This is not to say Munich isn’t as breathtaking as the rest of Europe. Trust me when I say there are plenty of gorgeous photo opportunities there. However, it’d be a slap in the face to limit Munich to just its pretty exterior. Upon traveling to Germany, I had heard rumors that the people there were the nicest. As it turned out, these were not rumors.

I remember my first few minutes in Munich. I had been exhausted from a long airline delay (a delay longer than my actual flight) and from many days of travel. But the second I landed, I felt a surge of excitement. I had entered another world. As someone who has done their fair share of traveling, I can tell you that you get a feel for a new place almost immediately. There’s a vibe, an energy that you can’t always explain but that you also can’t miss. With Germany, this feeling was almost magical.

Many times, when you first arrive in a new place, you feel anxious. This could be fear of the unknown or just a lost sense of belonging. Everything that you know is gone, and you’re surrounded by the unfamiliar. In Munich however, I did not feel this way at all. The moment I set foot off that plane, I felt welcome. Everyone around me was extremely courteous and eager to help others, whether they knew them or not.

Check out Pink Pangea’s Writing, Yoga, and Meditation Retreats. 

This feeling stayed with me for the entirety of my time in Germany. In many cities that you travel to, natives will be rude to you if you don’t speak their language. This was not at all the case in Munich. It was actually much harder to find someone that didn’t speak English than it was to find someone who did. As if all of this wasn’t welcoming enough, I ended up going on a tour of the city as well.

Throughout most of my travels, I had made it a point to be my own tour guide. Rather than paying a ridiculous price for people to tell me what they thought I should know, I decided to let my own curiosity guide me. (This always kept things interesting.) However, in Munich, I succumbed to one of those commercial tours around the city. Munich is rich with history, and as much as I would have liked to just wander, I knew I couldn’t teach myself Munich’s past.

Still, out of all the history and charm I found in Germany, it was the spirit there that I found the most captivating.

Lo and behold, Munich gave me the best tour I could have asked for. Our guide (Austin) told us at the beginning of our tour how much he loved Munich and how he hoped to help us fall in love too. Well, mission accomplished. What I began to feel in my first moments in Germany, I felt on a whole new level after my tour of the city.

Everyone around me seemed so happy and free. At one point during the tour, I saw children with rainbow-colored-hair (yes, rainbow) cartwheeling down the streets. I started to wonder if I was in a movie.

As Austin talked on, I couldn’t help but take pictures of all the beauty that surrounded me. Still, out of all the history and charm I found in Germany, it was the spirit there that I found the most captivating. I started to think that one day I could move to Munich.

After the tour, I got to explore on my own. The more I wandered, the more comfortable I felt. Even when I didn’t truly know where I was going, I had a good time. A city is as good as you feel when you get lost in it. Sometimes happiness finds you.

 

 

Have you traveled to Munich Germany? We want to hear about your adventures. Email [email protected] for details.