We leave the Westin Grand Munich tomorrow for Copenhagen. The hotel itself is now more and more appreciated. We walked around the neighborhood, led by my Blue-bar Pigeon and passed through a supermarket, where we purchased some suckling pig.
The WGM is also convenient to the various transport modes taking you to downtown Munich. This photo is to the city, and note that snow-topped mountain range. Alas, we decided to just stick around the WGM for there are shopping areas and a nice market. One of those been there and done that experiences. For example, when I was here seven years ago, I caught the U4-Bahn into Odeonplatz and took the usual touristy photos.
Saw an almost black tulip, which reminds me of where we will be in a few days.
Read the details and view my grilled octopus, truffles linguini and suckling pig. The difference seven years ago was that the next day I flew United Polaris Class back the USA. Tomorrow we will first go to Copenhagen for a couple of days, then to Amsterdam for a Tauck Tulip Cruise to Brussels.
Here is local a report that says Munich is one of the safest cities in the world. So I checked. The World Population Review has an annual ranking for 2024:
- #1 Tokyo
- #2 Singapore
- #3 Osaka
- #4 Amsterdam
- #5 Sydney
- #6 Toronto
- #7 Washington, D.C.
- #8 Copenhagen
- #8 Seoul
- #10 Melbourne
- #11 Chicago
- #13 San Francisco
- #14 London
- #15 New York City
- #16 Frankfurt
- #18 Zurich
- #23 Paris
- #24 Brussels
- #26 Barcelona
- #28 Dubai
- #29 Milan
- #30 Rome
- #47 Bangkok
- #55 Cairo
- #60 Lagos
A few observations.
- Will stop in nine of those cities on this global adventure: those in BOLD print. In another ranking, we will be stopping in 7 of best 10 cities.
- Frankly, I don't think DC, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Milan and Rome are particularly safe.
- I see Frankfurt at #16, but no mention of Munich.
- But if Cairo is #55 and Lagos is #60, where is Munich? So I thought I'd try a different kind of comparison. What are the most dangerous cities in the world with respect to crime.
There are 333 entries, where #333 is UAE, #332 Taipei, AND #325 IS MUNICH!!! These are the safest cities.- #311 Singapore and #309 Tokyo.
- #1 Caracas, #2 Pretoria, #3 Durban, #4 Johannesburg, #4 Port Moresby (see my story of the time I went to Papua New Guinea), etc. These are the world's most dangerous cities.
- I found it most interesting that Memphis is #11, Baltimore #15, Detroit #17, Albuquerque #20, St. Louis #27 and Oakland #28. The World Population also has a list of the most dangerous countries, and guess what, THE USA IS AMONG THE WORST OF THESE!!!
- So Munich, indeed, is safe. Thus, going back to the ten most fantastic facts about Munchen:
- #2 BMW was born here.
- #3 Adidas designed vomit-proof shoes for Octoberbest. Frankly, I don't see any difference.
- #4 Sunday is day of rest. All stores are closed.
- #5 This is where Jimi Hendrix first smashed his guitar.
- #6 Loves football, which to those in America who don't know any better, is soccer.
- #7 Is the river surfing capital of the world.
- #10 Beer saved the city from destruction.
- In the 14th century beer trade was significant for the city of Einbeck. There were 700 master brewers, produced so much that this beer got sold all over Germany. Got particularly popular in the Bavarian court in Munich.
- During the 30 Year's War in 1632, a Protestant force of Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus encircled Munich and threatened to raze it.
- Bavarian Duke Maximilian I, however, negotiated a deal. They leave for a ransom of 6000 gallons of Einbecker beer.
The story behind Octoberfest.
- The origin came when King Ludwig I married Princess Therese in 1810.
- But the Octoberfest tradition began in 1811 in the Munich fairground still used today, where horse races were the attraction, not beer.
Deaths, wars and the Pandemic have cancelled some Octoberfests.- The attraction stimulated in 1896 the modern Olympic Games in Greece.
- The days were moved into mid September for warmer weather.
- Horse racing ended in 1960.
- Bratwurst was first sold in 1881 and glass mugs began to be used from 1892.
- In 1896 the 17-year old Einstein worked installing lights.
- Smoking was totally banned in 2011.
- Last year 6.5 million liters of beer were drunk by a record 7.2 million visitors. Of course, this is the largest beer festival in world.
The Octoberfest dates for 2024 are from September 21 to October 6.- And if you're a long-term planner, Octoberfest in 2025 is from September 20 to October 5.
Walked 4068 steps.
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