Three places to visit (7)
The first thing to do was purchase a three-day pass for the subway. The Munich subway is very efficient and a means of transportation that makes it possible for my sister not to need a car. Wherever you need to go in Munich, you can reach it by public transportation. Since my sister works, I spent a better part of the following three days fending for myself. I went grocery shopping. I went downtown to look for sales items and just to mingle with the population.
The Viktualienmarkt is a daily market where you can buy anything from fresh fish to meat to beer to vegetables and much more. Any small consumer goods may be purchased there. I went there mainly because the place is great for people-watching. I bought some mushrooms and a few other insignificant items for the next day. For lunch I had intended to eat at the Marienplatz and listen to some street musicians. I sat down at a table of a restaurant that had extended its space outdoors to part of the open area to watch the famous glockenspiel that plays around lunchtime.
But my plans to eat at that restaurant were foiled when a waiter came out to tell me that I couldn't sit there because I was by myself. He said that at lunch people could only sit there when they were in groups of at least four people per table of four. I protested. The table didn't have any sign on it saying "reserved." So the waiter quickly made up some scrap paper signs in his handwriting. I had no choice but to get up and leave. I will never recommend that restaurant to anyone. The nerve. The waiter wanted to have it easy. He wanted to make more money by telling individuals that they had no place there.
...
I took advantage of my three day pass every day. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the weather. I enjoyed looking at the Armani and Prada window displays. Munich is a beautiful city. I watched an archaeological dig in progress. The sign on the fence said that the purpose for this dig was to find any remnants of a synagogue that had stood in the middle of Munich in the 1300s.
The last of the three days when I went back to the subway I noticed workmen put up birch trees to decorate the mall. I asked one of the workmen what this was for. He said that it was for a holiday Fronleichnam. The day was Jun. 22. I can't imagine that the birch branches would still look fresh on Jun. 26.
I couldn't walk for long during that time because of my wrenched knee. So I went home in the early afternoon every day and watched pseudo court television similar to Judge Judy. I wanted to see how "Richterin Barbara Salesch" and "Richter Alexander Hold" were different from our American TV dramas. And they were very different.
The two shows had the same format. It appeared that the trials looked more like informal discussions than like the jury trials I was familiar with on American TV. There seemed to be an almost complete lack of procedure. At least I couldn't see anything like the typical objections and interjections you'd expect on American court TV. The cases were not trivial cases as you would see when you watch Judge Judy; some of them were murder trials. It was interesting. I have no idea whether these reenactments reflect what an actual German trial would look like. All I know is that both Barbara Salesch and Alexander Hold have a law degree and experience in real court rooms.
The Viktualienmarkt is a daily market where you can buy anything from fresh fish to meat to beer to vegetables and much more. Any small consumer goods may be purchased there. I went there mainly because the place is great for people-watching. I bought some mushrooms and a few other insignificant items for the next day. For lunch I had intended to eat at the Marienplatz and listen to some street musicians. I sat down at a table of a restaurant that had extended its space outdoors to part of the open area to watch the famous glockenspiel that plays around lunchtime.
But my plans to eat at that restaurant were foiled when a waiter came out to tell me that I couldn't sit there because I was by myself. He said that at lunch people could only sit there when they were in groups of at least four people per table of four. I protested. The table didn't have any sign on it saying "reserved." So the waiter quickly made up some scrap paper signs in his handwriting. I had no choice but to get up and leave. I will never recommend that restaurant to anyone. The nerve. The waiter wanted to have it easy. He wanted to make more money by telling individuals that they had no place there.
...
I took advantage of my three day pass every day. I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed the weather. I enjoyed looking at the Armani and Prada window displays. Munich is a beautiful city. I watched an archaeological dig in progress. The sign on the fence said that the purpose for this dig was to find any remnants of a synagogue that had stood in the middle of Munich in the 1300s.
The last of the three days when I went back to the subway I noticed workmen put up birch trees to decorate the mall. I asked one of the workmen what this was for. He said that it was for a holiday Fronleichnam. The day was Jun. 22. I can't imagine that the birch branches would still look fresh on Jun. 26.
I couldn't walk for long during that time because of my wrenched knee. So I went home in the early afternoon every day and watched pseudo court television similar to Judge Judy. I wanted to see how "Richterin Barbara Salesch" and "Richter Alexander Hold" were different from our American TV dramas. And they were very different.
The two shows had the same format. It appeared that the trials looked more like informal discussions than like the jury trials I was familiar with on American TV. There seemed to be an almost complete lack of procedure. At least I couldn't see anything like the typical objections and interjections you'd expect on American court TV. The cases were not trivial cases as you would see when you watch Judge Judy; some of them were murder trials. It was interesting. I have no idea whether these reenactments reflect what an actual German trial would look like. All I know is that both Barbara Salesch and Alexander Hold have a law degree and experience in real court rooms.
posted by Birgit Calhoun at 12:34 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home