“Kann jemand von euch morgen nach München gehen?”
It’s Monday morning. 11.00 O’clock.
I’m reading this message for the second time and still don’t understand.
“Can one of you go to Munich tomorrow?”
My two other colleges crowd around the screen to get a read.
What?
What’s happened? To Munich? Why? Sorry!! Tomorrow!? Does she think we don’t have lives outside of work?
There’s surprise with a tinge of outrage.
No explanation. Just, can you go to Munich tomorrow?
My colleagues immediately say no. They can’t. They have obligations that they can’t move around at such short notice.
My initial reaction is also to say no.
I don’t know why we have to go. I don’t know how long for. Plus one of my colleagues is on holiday on Friday which my manager has probably forgotten.
If one of us is not there it means we have to shift things around and do overtime to make it work.
It’s annoying.
I’ve already arranged to see two friends this week. Friends I haven’t seen for a while. Plus, I have yoga this evening which I need because my lower back is killing me again.
However, after the initial outrage I calm down and try to come at it from a different perspective.
“I haven’t been to Munich for over two years.” I think to myself. I’ve always enjoyed my time there. “It would be interesting to see the Munich branch. I wonder how they work there? Are the processes the same? Plus I would have time to write on the train journey down there.”
My mind shifts into visualisation mode and I start to imagine what it could be like. My mind expands and I feel a sense of excitement.
And so I say yes. I can go.
My manager thanks me and says she’ll look at train times and hotels and get back to me.
Two hours later she calls me into her office. This can’t be good.
She explains that the situation in Munich just escalated. Another person has called in sick. She needs me to go there today.
An hour later I’m literally dashing home. I have to pack. Get some food. Cancel my other arrangements before catching the train at 16.00. She managed to book me on an ICE with a seat reservation but no hotel so far.
There’s a football match on Wednesday and it seems all hotels are either booked out or cost thousands of euros per night. What a mess!
The train is surprisingly quiet. It’s half empty. I take a table seat and get my laptop out. The train wizzes from Frankfurt to Nuremberg and on further south into the heart of Bavaria.
I arrive at Munich Central station. My manager texted me that she managed to find a Motel One that was not exorbitantly priced and so I take the SBahn there and check in.
The hotel is just across the far side of the Isar river. The sun is out. The air is thick and heavy. It’s one of those mid-European hot summer evenings that has you drenched in sweat within minutes.
I look out of the hotel window and check google maps. Everything is so green. A deep dark lush green. The Isar is just a minute away and I can feel the river calling me.
If you don’t know the Isar is a river which flows through Austria and Baveria. It’s source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps and it flows into the Danube.
There are many pebbled beaches along the Isar and long stretches in and around Munich which are great for swimming.
As I head down the steps and along the pedestrian way I’m almost run over by a gaggle of geese and fist shaking cyclists.
“Idiot! Bist du Blöd oder was?”
I’ve long gotten used to aggressive cycle culture in Germany. And yet it’s not something I can understand or accept.
I round a bend in the road and am blown away at what I see. Just ahead the river bank widens into a large grassy plain.
It looks like it is carpeted with lush green grass but I can’t see much of it because the whole river plain is jam packed with people. It looks like a beach from Rimini only without the deckchairs and parasols.
There are large groups talking loudly. Couples sitting in silence. Singleton’s listening to podcasts and dog walkers taking in the scene.
As I pick my way through the picnickers and card players I hear English, Turkish, Italien, dutch and many other languages that I can’t place. There seem to be people from all over the world here.
I pass a group of long haired hippies rolling splifs. To the right a group of lads are trying to play football. Up ahead a family of four hit a shuttlecock back and forth.
Further on people are jumping into the river and swimming out to explore an island. A couple of, what looks like Phd students, are discussing philosophy in the shadow of a towering church. An elderly couple sit on a bench hand in hand observing the scene.
There are bikes everywhere.
This scene is in shocking contrast to what I am used to in Frankfurt am main. It’s difficult to describe.
Although there are thousands of people from diverse cultural backgrounds they somehow seem to fit together.
I find myself asking why? Why does this feel different? Where is this sense of unity coming from?
And then it hit me.
It was economic class that united these people. Not race. Not religion. Not culture. They all looked very middle class. I did not see one homeless person or one bottle collector. Even the students looked somehow “well off”.
As Munich is Germanys’ most expensive city to live in this is hardly surprising.
However it did surprise me.
This really stood out to me because I live in Frankfurt am Main. Frankfurt is also a very diverse city. There are people from all over the world. However in Frankfurt there are people from every socio-economic background.
There are a lot of homeless and poor people as well as middle class professionals, new rich and wealthy business owners.
This creates a very different dynamic. It’s raw and rough. Sometimes shockingly so. The inequality is bare for all to see. Drug addicts collapsed on the steps of banks and global consultancies is not an uncommon sight in Frankfurt am Main.
You cannot fail to see the haggard individuals going through rubbish bins in search of food. At the same time the streets are awash with Lamborghinis, Ferraris. Bentleys and the odd Aston Martin and rolls Royce here and there.
The scene along the Isar and also what I observed in the next few days was one of understated homogenous harmony.
I was so overwhelmed with this experience on the banks of the Isar that I texted my partner and told him I had some bad news.
“How quickly can you get a job transfer? We’re moving to Munich”
It was a joke. Of course.
Now, I’m sure there are areas of Munich that paint a different picture. But having this very real comparison really made this point hit home.
One of the reasons that the right is gaining in popularity, that the immigrant debate gets fiercer by the day, that an us vs. them mentality is catching on is the economic situation. It all boils down to money and what money represents.
If you have money. If you are surrounded my people who are of a similar socio-economic status. If you have hope for the future and things to be grateful for in your life then issues of politics, race, gender, inequality. This all fades into the background .
This one simple walk showed me the importance of complexity and the dangers of oversimplification.
That’s why writing is so important. It allows for nuance and complexity. The culture of Munich is very different to the culture of Frankfurt. It’s not about things like shop opening times or rich vs. Poor. It’s the feeling that you pick up on when you’re there.
Munich feels conservative and traditional. There is a sense of pride that I have yet to experience anywhere else in Germany. It has a distinct identity built on strong values and old money.
It’s understated wealth but it’s there in plain sight. There are specific expectations. Societal norms. A certain way to be. Where, I imagine, if you don’t fit this mould then life will be difficult for you there.
Frankfurt represents a break from the traditional. This city is trying something different. It is in many ways rather un-german. It’s multicultural. It’s consumerist. More in your face. It’s messy and dirty but also raw and real. It has grown and changed significantly in the last decade and with that come inevitable problems.
It again showed me that it is difficult to make generalisations. I generalise about Germany and the UK all the time and while this can be done on a basic level there are vast differences between places.
Even though I went to Munich for work, it felt like a holiday. I was there to prevent a mini crisis from escalating and in exchange I received a deep and rich cultural experience.
It gave me a profound appreciation for what I have and gave me a new lense through which to view the world.
It was a lesson in spontaneity. I find it easy to get stuck in cycles of rinse and repeat.
This was a reminder of the power of saying yes, of getting out of your comfort zone, doing something different and being open for whatever comes my way.
Hopefully this is a lesson which I can pass on to you.
Take care and enjoy the rest of your day.
Lively observation of Munich and true portrayal of the special quality of Bavaria. I wonder whether Bavaria is such an attractive Bundesland (federal state) because Christianity is still more alive there than in the rest of Germany. I wouldn't claim that it plays a dominating role, but where else in Germany do you see so many statues of Mary and Christ and crucifixes in rural areas. Christianity (Catholicism) seems to be deeply intervowen with the Bavarian character. Also visible in the public celebration of Christian holidays.
That's an interesting distinction between FFM and Munich. Long ago, I lived in Frankfurt for 3 years and I never liked it, never could adapt to the culture. What you described of it, rang so palpably true even though I lived there around the 2010s. I just visited Munich twice in the past 6 months, and I was surprised to enjoy it so much more ("despite it being in Germany" as per my stereotypical reluctance post-FFM experience), and your article made me see why. Very cool, nuanced piece!