Munich is Beautiful!

Mia san Mia and Other Nonsense ...

Somehow I never really warmed up to Munich. Actually, I even disliked Munich. As an adopted North German, the exuberant enthusiasm for Munich that people in Munich threw at me was rather suspicious. Mostly from transplants. The "real locals" are probably even in the minority by now — at least you tend to encounter more of the newcomers. For me, Munich people were always those who showed up in the rest of Germany wearing more or less conspicuous sunglasses regardless of the weather.

This euphoric "Mia san Mia" ("We are who we are") is quite the statement — one that couldn't be more devoid of content, yet is delivered with such conviction and matter-of-factness as if it actually meant something.

When I lived in Munich, I didn't understand what residents found so great about it. I came from Potsdam — for me one of the truly most beautiful cities in Germany and an architectural-historical gem — and found a city centre in Munich that was indeed attractive, but rather small in proportion to the size of the city. And plenty of ugly buildings from the 1960s to 1990s.

I had lived in Hanover for a long time. The people I met there would often mention right at the start of a conversation that they were obviously not from Hanover. In Munich, exactly the opposite: everyone claimed to be from "Minga" (the Bavarian name for Munich). I asked people what they liked so much about Munich. The answers were:

"Life happens outdoors"

Yes, that may be true. But for someone who arrived from Potsdam, that's nothing special. In many places across Germany, life happens outdoors. At least in summer. And since it rains quite a bit in Munich, life often enough unfortunately does not happen outdoors. But rather in the mostly poorly renovated small apartments, since even back then Munich's rental market was the most expensive in Germany.

Munich had 2,281 hours of sunshine in 2022; Potsdam, at 2,089, is only marginally behind. 830.3 litres of precipitation per square metre fell on Munich in 2022, while Potsdam swallowed only 404.4 litres per square metre. In both cities, people are now increasingly thinking about the growing drought and trying to encourage residents to conserve the precious wet stuff. All data is from wetterkontor.de, by the way.

"Italy is just a stone's throw away"

You really have to scratch your head at that one, don't you? If I wanted to go to Italy, I wouldn't move to Munich. Even to Lake Garda — the favourite bathing spot of the Munich SUV community — it's a good 5 hours by car. If there's no traffic jam, which there almost always is. So it's roughly like a Düsseldorfer boasting that France is so close... Not entirely wrong. But not exactly convincing either...

"The recreational value is outstanding — the surrounding countryside is so beautiful"

Yes, fair point! The surroundings are beautiful! Full stop! The only catch is that there are almost 1.6 million other drivers who see it the same way. With whom you can then enjoy the recreational value of a traffic jam on the motorway. Or you're one of those people who like to get up at 4 in the morning so they're already at the "Hütte" (mountain hut) by 9. Before the other Lycra devotees get up.

But seriously: the lake landscape, which is even reasonably accessible by public transport, is truly wonderful. And anyone who fancies being entertained with artificial snow in a not very sustainable but very expensive way can always travel to Munich's posh resort of Kitzbühel.

But I have to admit that Munich is a beautiful city. Perhaps not quite as beautiful as everyone says. Perhaps the love for this city, celebrated by every resident, is a bit too euphoric. On the other hand, it's quite nice when almost 1.6 million people collectively get excited about something positive.

Either way, we were here for a few days. And experienced temperatures that weren't any higher in Mallorca. Our Airbnb was on Ruppertstraße in Neuhausen, just steps from the Mailinger Straße underground station. In the immediate vicinity: several great bakeries, many lovely restaurants. Wide tree-lined streets — a really beautiful residential area.

When we arrived, we were surprised to find that our flat resembled a restaurant more than anything. Very stylish. But also extremely dark. From a balcony in front of the building, someone called down very cheerfully, asking if we were the Airbnb guests. When we confirmed, we got a brief entry instruction.

In our flat, the kitchen with its wraparound bar was the central element. Really ideal with children too. Unusual were the many small tables around it — we could distribute the offspring across tables 4–8. Tables 1–3 were reserved for us. The charcoal-coloured walls didn't make it any easier to find the charcoal-coloured light switches. And the very pleasant, because barely noticeable, lighting was in stark contrast to the glaring daylight outside.

A somewhat peculiar Airbnb, but a beautiful place to stay. The whole thing had apparently been conceived as a coworking space. When that didn't quite work out, it was "rebranded" as a holiday rental.

Here are a few photos from our Munich trip — I hope you enjoy them!