Naples part I: Germany

I got to my stopover airport in Munich alright yesterday. There was a short but extremely slow line at the transfer check in, since Lufthansa had seen fit to man just one of the numerous counters there. (My bag was checked through in Oslo, but my person was not...)

I had over nine hours to kill, so feeling brave I took the advice of the good people at Lonely Planet's Forum and went to Freising, a smallish town outside Munich. I didn't have much in the way of expectations except to waste some time in a slightly more cozy locale than the airport.

Well, I was mighty surprised by Freising. The city itself is quite clean, it's as if the buildings are all scrubbed regularly (this being Bavaria, nothing would surprise me). There are multicolored bears on every corner and even some used instead of reindeer as replacement in a Christmas tableau. The (saddled) bear is the city symbol, after a legend that a bear once killed the packhorse of bishop Arbeo, whereupon he saddled it and commanded it to carry his bishopy stuff over the Alps. Yeah right.

Bavaria is the richest part, not only of Germany but also of the whole fuckin' European Union, and Freising must be one of the most prosperous parts of Bavaria. The city touts the lowest unemployment figures in Germany and like I said, its buildings are so clean they GLEAM in the sun. Everything about it just exudes prosperity, but not in the usual brash and brazen manner of Germans. It's a quiet, pleasant prosperity, and a kind of small-town peace of mind that soon gets to you when you walk the streets of Freising.

The inhabitants, in a most un-German fashion, are very friendly. Some actually smiled at me even though I wasn't in the process of forking over vast amounts of money to them. Most strange, and almost creepy, considering my previous encounters with Krauts. The proprietor at a local Indian eatery spoke good English and even gave me a bowl of steaming hot tomato soup free of charge, before feeding me some very strong and tasty chicken tikka masala. Afterwards I perused the modest collections of the city museum and just walked and walked and gawped at the city. Pure bliss!

All Freising pictures here.


Gleaming, I tell you:


A memorial to the dead of WWII. Yes, THAT war.


On the other hand, there was this touching memorial to a Jewish family who had lived in town. These small brass plates are set in the pavement outside where they lived.


This was either a tacky tableau with a bear as Santa and another bear as reindeer... or bears are more kinky than I thought.


Buildings in many colors. I quite liked it.


One of many nice buildings along the little stream that runs through town.


A sight that warms the heart. Just like in Norway, if you find a glove or something on the street, you take it up and put it somewhere visible, so if someone comes back to look for it, it is easily found. In Oslo, in winter you can see whole fences decorated with gloves and mittens.