"It's not lonely, It's a necessary thing...Take it all in and wake up that small part of me" #Munich

♪ ♫ Catch & Release - Matt Simons ♪ ♫

A cool discovery was that there are many Alpaca farms in Munich! (which are easily accessible by public transport that is covered under the student ticket). I enjoy being around sheep, but alpacas are equally nice to hang out with, in fact they protect sheep and unless you irritate them, they won't spit at you :P So over the weekend I made a trip down to one of the farms and different farms have different things for you to experience, such as being able to take the alpaca for a walk around the suburb :) Their fur is incredibly soft, and being related to camels, they have beautiful big eyes.

I also finally was able to make a trip to Grünwald, which you can reach by S7 (S-bahn) and a short walk through the forest which is actually really nice...there are quite a few signs to guide you so it's not a problem. Once you reach the area, you will be greeted by St Peter & Paul's church, as well as the famous Castle which has been around since the 12th century. It's really nice to walk around the castle grounds and even climb up to the top and get a birds eye view of the Isar river and surroundings. This year seems to be the 500th anniversary of a conference held in 1522 concerning Bavaria, Europe and the church.

There is also a nice bakery in the area called Lang's Cafeserie which has nice pretzels and icecream! (also from the looks cakes, though I didn't try any). I used to enjoy cheese pretzels from the supermarket, or pretzels with the herb&creamcheese filling, but I've come to also eating pretzels with obazda which some new friends have introduced to me :)

From Grünwald you can cut through to Forstenrieder Park if you'd like a nice peaceful afternoon walk. I'm always amazed by the huge tall trees against the really blue sky that remind you the world is much bigger than it seems, and for a moment you can get lost and all your problems fade. On this occasion, I finally spotted the wild boars that apparently this park is famous for. They were rather peaceful, just grazing in the grass and it was quite pleasant to see them this way. Perhaps just like us they have so much space to wander and not feel threatened in a park like this.