I was always bothered by the fact that in Italy Munich is called “Monaco”, since nobody else in the world calls that city like that, and we just create confusion. In Italian the official name of the town is “Monaco di Baviera” in order to distinguish from Monaco (Monte-Carlo).
This thread was the occasion for me to search Wikipedia for the origin of the names. I couldn’t discover it precisely, but the italian “monaco” for Munich is derived from its latin name “monacum”, which means “monk”, just as like the italian “monaco”
I only discovered a fun fact:
Francesco Grimaldi in 1297 entered in the city disguised as a monk, and then he conquered the fortress.
The coat-of-arms of Munich depicts a monk.
I don’t have evidence, but maybe this explains somehow the name of the two towns? In this case It would be the same name, meaning “monk”. Do you know if I am right or whatever?
I haven’t either during the time I spent there, though maybe they were around and I just did not pay attention. Then again, I’d be hard pressed to describe the flag of any German state. I know there are signs along the Autobahn when crossing state borders, but at 180km/h they’re just a blur .
I like that. Places should be addressed by their native names to avoid unnecessary confusion. Although that would have to be something like “Minga” in that case.
Arto, your country is fantastic. It has been one of the best trips in my life. I remember the fantastic climate (in August). The elks and the reindeers. The mosquitoes. Sauna! The Lapland villages. The long gravel roads. The smell. The wooden house in the forest and the squirrel who came every day for food (the last day it climbed on me to take it from my hands).
To complete my record I’ll add I did not have sex there (@ideal ) and I pooped about 15 times (@Guga)
Anyway, who cares? The important thing is if you enjoyed the travel, and if it left something to you.
I have to say that I’m not the fast kind of traveller. If I do not spend some amount of time in a place, my memory quickly vanishes. All my trips are quite longer than today standards. It’s like I always feel like homeless, until I settle in some way, like going back to the same places, or meeting people.
Also maybe you know your region and its treasures very well!
I guess that is what @ideal was hinting at, and a reason to refrain from listing all the places I’ve been to. Nevertheless, it’s inspiring to see where others have been. There are still three continents I haven’t visited (though I doubt global warming will happen fast enough to make Antarctica a viable holiday destination), not to mention all the European (and future ex-European ) countries I haven’t been to.
No worries, unlike in the old town of Regensburg, you cannot get lost in the village I grew up .
Yes. Inspiring is the word. After his comment I was about to refrain, too. I know that I travel a lot (both for business and for leisure), and I really didn’t want to give the impression I wanted to show off. But then I thought that was just a party pooper comment (@Someone, your official title is in danger): I didn’t want to show off, I just wanted to remember. as soon as I started to think about my travels, I had such a lot of sweet memories that I thought: “ok, I’m in the game yet”. And now I’d love to listen to your stories about your travels and Gffp’s was a good one. I’d love to hear about my country from a stranger. I’d love to read something about a place I haven’t been, and to write you something about a place you haven’t been. I want to share experiences and travel anecdotes. Remembering in front of a drink with a good friend is one of the most beautiful satisfactions about traveling.
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) countries I haven’t been to.
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