Lack of paranoia

Day 5: cold shower. My wake up call actually ocurred today, but that doesn't make up for cold water. Brutal. Germany, fix this.

Last night my coworker and I went downtown to have dinner and walk around Marienplatz and see the city at night. I have some great photos (I actually figured out that not using the flash and holding very still allows good night shots to be taken) that will be uploaded some time after I get back to Seattle. My coworker hasn't traveled in many European cities and was awestruck at the Rathaus and other buildings, which, while definitely neat looking, pale in comparison to some of the cathedrals and castles I've seen elsewhere.

Anyways, we meandered along for about an hour and I realized how much more relaxed I was relative to my trip to Europe post-college. When I was traveling back then I remember consciously avoiding groups of people or street performers, as I was confident they would steal my passport and potentially my kidneys. I was maniacal about keeping my passport on me at all times, even maybe when showering. Getting cash out of an ATM was a three man operation, one getting cash, one bodyguard, and one remote lookout. But last night when I needed cash I just walked up to an ATM, put in my card, go the cash... easy as pie. No peering over the shoulder.

Obviously Munich isn't as crowded now as the cities I saw in the summer, but I'm wondering why I'm so much more comfortable. I'm somewhat shameless about my inability to speak or read German (I just spent 7 hours hosting a business meeting between two sets of Germans who spoke only in English, so I guess it isn't a big deal). Maybe its because I'm not traveling siege style.

I'll probably have one more German post, and I'll try and make it tomorrow after I've spent some time at the beer gardens (the forecast for Munich is just unbelievable).