Bayern Munchen

Spring Break update!! I know you've all been waiting with bated breath, so I shan't keep you waiting.

Last Saturday (the 22nd), Liane, Steve and I, set off on our Central European journey. Getting to the airports here is a pain in the ass as I've already discussed, but we made it one piece. The EasyJet flight (a budget airline in Europe) was actually really nice. Smooth and quiet and quick. We got to pick our own seats so we all sat together. The only bummer was that I lost my phone on the flight, it came out of my pocket. To make a long story short, I did end up getting it back when I returned to London, which was totally awesome!

When we arrived in Munich, we took the Subway (S-bahn / U-bahn) into town and our Hostel was right across the street from one of the big stations which was really nice. Travel is very tiring, so we decided to take it easy that night and just hang out at the hostel. This proved to be a huge mistake, but more on that later. Instead, we just got some beer (which was cheap and good) at the Hostel bar and then called it a night. Actually, no, first we had a midnight munchie run at McDonalds where I had a few fries and steve downed a Big Mac in appx 6 seconds along with his McDonald's beer (brand unknown, but it was awful). Then we called it a night.

I didn't particularly like that hostel. It was extremely crowded, loud, and boisterous. It was a good location with a good staff, but in my opinion, the whole point of a hostel is to sleep, and I found that a near impossibility here. Whether people were coming in and out, leaving early, packing, SNORING (ok guys, you snore, especially after you've been drinking, and you know you do, so why not be courteous and do something about it-- sleep on your back, breathe-right strips, anything--instead of making everyone else in the room suffer!?) and the like. Also, there were skylights and the light shone in very early. Furthermore, my bed (and my bed only) didn't have a blanket, so it was a chilly night. But other than that, the place was fairly clean and the security was good, so it wasn't the worst. Luckily, we were moving hostels the next day due to a change in price and availability for the three of us.

The next hostel was two doors down from the one we stayed in the first night which was awesome. This one was much quieter, with more space and more privacy (except in the showers but that was easily fixed by taking the first or last stall so no one walked by you). It was definitely not a party hostel so most people were asleep early and stayed asleep, which was awesome. No snoring either :-) Double bonus that there was a really cute Aussie in the room. Liane and Steve were convinced he was crushing on me. I'm not so sure.

So, our first day in Munich consisted of doing our own little walking tour from a guide book we had brought. It took us up to all the Pinokatechs (Painting museums) and because of my serious dislike of modern art (And Steve's), we only went to the one with old traditional paintings. It was nice, I do like art, although everything was in German and there was no audio guide, so it was a bit rough to figure out what we were looking at, although we did catch some famous artists which is always cool. We kept walking around in the general area and our guide book told us of all the old Nazi relics that were once in Munich. Needless to say, they were long gone at this point. They even unpaved the granite square where Hitler used to hold rallies and put in grass. I completely understand why they do this, but it is unfortunate. We were going to see the balcony where the 1938 Munich conference (where they gave Czechoslovakia to Hitler) took place, but we never got around to it.

That afternoon, we went to the Englisch Garten which is this huge garden in the North-east of the city and was absolutely beautiful with various streams and pathways. It was a gorgeous day, so we definitely lucked out. Everyone was out and about and we didn't even need a coat (we had to take them back to the hostel at one point because it was too warm to carry them!). The Englisch Garten was a lot of fun. Hofbrauhaus has a few stands near the Chinese Pavilion with tons of benches. Everyone was out there eating pretzels (breze) and drinking beer (bier) and just generally enjoying the Sunday afternoon. Steve got the litre of bier (the special kind they only make during Lent, it's made extra strong to make up for the fact that it's Lent) and I stuck to my pint+ of Weissbier (my new favourite bier). Liane abstained. The breze I got was about as big as my head, if not bigger and I split it with steve (who needless to say got fairly buzzed after his litre... on a Sunday afternoon, tsk tsk). It was delicious, although I had much better later on in the trip.
A thing about Munich (and apparently all of Germany) that could stand to change is that everything is closed on Sundays. All the pharmacies (Apotheke), most cafes, etc are closed. Not cool, Germany. Get with the times. You're a secular country last time I checked.
We actually had dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. It was late-ish, but still had all the charm. The Bayern Munchen vs Hamburg soccer game was that day so the place was packed and we unfortunately had to take a seat in the back areas. They had also run out of some of the food, but I still got some really good sausages, ein breze und ein Weissbier. Very delicious. German food + Kate Seif = Win. I did discover though that "weiner" apparently means Vienna in German. I'd be lying if I didn't say that was a big disappointment.

Following dinner, we decided to head out on the town. We were sorely mistaken when we thought Munich would be like other European cities. We wandered about, asked at the hostel, couldn't find a single thing. Munich's night life, not so much. London has definitely spoiled us. Munich doesn't even have a night transportation system. (What?!) So we hung out in the hostel bar where we met two German guys (one for Hamburg, one for Munich) that we struck up a convo with. It is always funny when Europeans try to explain to Americans the US elections and US policies. I got into a semi-argument with this guy (not really, because I ignored him after 2 seconds) about Hillary's policies amongst other things. He also made fun of the way Americans talk. I realized later that when arguing with Germans, basically anyone else has the ultimate trump card when it comes to political discussions (can anyone guess what it is?!), but I refrained from ever using it. He was also pissed that in 2001 he wanted to go to America, but they wouldn't let him go without finger prints. If that's going to piss you off, don't let terrorists through your country. Duh. Steve claims he was trying to hit on me and just doing a very bad job at it (I disagree, but if he's right, gross). Liane was engrossed in a conversation with two American boys studying in Europe on vacation. It was an OK night, could have been better.

Monday we started the day off by heading to the Marienplatz and seeing the Glockenspiel. I had seen it before and vaguely remembered the gist of it. But it was much more funny to see it with friends. The whole thing was kind of a joke and we spent the rest of the trip randomly referring to it and the distant "caw" of the Cuckoo and anytime there was something to celebrate about, we said "the plague is over!" and spun around in slow jerky circles. Seriously. But we saw it, along with the packed Marienplatz. We also were able to find a nice pastry shop which had delectable treats. Very very good. Another point for German cuisine.
That afternoon we went to the Residenz which is basically the Palace where the Bavarian kings lived. It was really beautiful (as most palaces are). We had an audio tour, but it was extremely long winded and mostly about the art of the place as opposed to the history. It took us quite a while to get through it. We headed next door to the Treasury afterwards which is full of crowns and jewels and other neat things from Bavarian history.
I realized that next time I go to a place I need to learn more about it's basic history so things make more sense whilst there. I got the general idea, though. Overall, admissions were really cheap in Germany, which was great. Europe in general actually believes in the idea that students should get discounts. Score one for Europe... America, take a hint.

We left the central town that day and found ourselves a very nice Italian restaurant decently priced. It of course took forever because service all over Europe is just painfully slow. Also, about 1/2 way through our meal, a couple walks in with a dog and sits down next to us. Yup, that's right, there was a dog 2 feet away from me in a restaurant as I ate. Mmmm.

So finally, we were going to have a night on the town. There's a specific place we were told to go near Ostbanhof called Kultfabrik (don't ask?) that was a huge collection of clubs. We headed over, found it fairly easily and the weirdness ensued.
First of all, this place wasn't just like a neighbourhood where there happened to be a lot of clubs. Oh no, it was every club in Munich in one designated area. On busier nights (weekend) you apparently even have to pay entry. It was extremely reminiscent of a fair. There were places for lockers to put your stuff, little food shops here and there. And row after row of club. In our case, row after row of closed clubs. I would have loved to see that place in its prime. The concept was extremely interesting and we definitely regret not going out that Saturday to see it. Anyway, we stumbled into the first place we heard music and it was this really nice club with a big bar, very trendy, lots of lights. One problem, it was completely empty. We got coupons for a free drink (which turned out to be a bottle of cheap champagne) and so we sat and waited to see if other people would come. The bartender said that usually the place gets going later. We requested a song, danced to it, finished our drinks, then realized that being in a club by yourself is probably the lamest thing you can do, and headed out. We found what was basically the only other club open and were pleasantly surprised to find people!
They did card me, which, um, what? If Liane doesn't get carded, I shouldn't be, seriously. Anyway, the music was good, if not straying towards the 80s (as is usually the case in Europe). They played Mambo #5 and it actually reminded me of Grandma and I boogied for the rest of her night in her honour. I know she would be happy, someone feel free to tell her that. Most importantly, the drinks were cheap and delicious. Apparently whilst in the process of getting carded, someone saw that I was from PA and later his friend came up to me, a Jersey boy and said something in German. Which I thought was stupid because he was from Jersey, knew I was from PA and I can only imagine what it was he said. Hopefully nothing lewd, but I'll just pretend it was something nice. Anyway, I hung out with him for awhile and discovered he was stationed in Germany with the US Army (oh yes folks, they always seem to find me, and I couldn't be happier about that..... loves it!) doing some engineering training or something. He kind of had the same sarcastic personality as me which was enjoyable (i.e. sarcastic). Here's something novel though that Europeans need to catch up on: he bought me drinks. Yes that's right, it does happen somewhere in the world. American guys (and to some extent Australians) know that it's just courteous if you're chatting up a girl to buy her a damn drink. Thank goodness there is still some club etiquette somewhere in the world.
Anyway, to make a long story short, perhaps he bought me one too many drinks (although I did delegate some to Steve) and somehow the night ended in a blur of some taxi ride, me apparently being hilarious and loud, but not sloppy!, and then somehow bed.

The next morning could have been better. We had to wake up early in time to check out, and Steve left early in order to catch his flight (he had a different one from us). We were extremely slow going out of the hostel (I was unable to eat any breakfast for seemingly unknown reasons...) but once Liane and I hit the fresh air it was go!

We headed back to Marienplatz just to see if we could find some touristy thing to do and get lunch. I had a delicious bowl of tomato soup at a cafe that really helped my condition. Liane had a crazy ice cream concoction (that was this place's specialty). Germany knows what it's doing when it comes to food.

Before I continue, you should know that the transportation system in Germany is very nice and also, we had thought, somewhat free. No one punched tickets before they walked on no one really bought tickets and there was in general no check on this. We hopped on the bandwagon and we, too, rode for free. This turned out to be a bad idea. It, for whatever reason, didn't exactly occur to us that most people would probably have monthly passes. We were also (legitimately) confused as to how to use the tickets (you buy one, get it stamped in the entrance machines once, then hold onto it until it is no longer valid). Had we understood all that, we probably wouldn't have tried to cheat the system. Well, yes, it came back to bite Liane and I in the ass. In what was an extremely embarrassing moment, as we were riding the tram, on the stop before we were to get off, plain clothed people hopped on and promptly asked to see tickets. Obviously, we did not have one, and fining commenced. I was vaguely pleased to note that there definitely other German people who didn't have tickets. I think the guy thought we were just naive tourists (As opposed to wily, cheap tourists) and fined us 1/2 the amount (20 euro each). It sucked, but we kind of deserved it. Lesson learned and believe you me, we bought tickets from then on. It actually turns out that for how much we rode it for free that the 20 Euro was not a terrible deal. Ohhh well. :-/ Sorry, Munich. They did make us miss our stop though. Poop.
When we finally got off the tram, we wandered back to where we originally intended and saw the Bavarian Parliament (although you can't really go into it) and finally saw that damn perpetual river wave (that people were actually surfing on!) that we had been searching for for days. It was neat. Liane and I then stumbled across the Bavaria museum which was full of art (mostly sculptures) really well preserved from hundreds and hundreds of years ago. There were also about 3million statues/statuettes of St. George and the dragon which puzzled us as we thought St. George was the patron Saint of England. Apparently, as I learned when I got back, he's the patron Saint of about 20 nations (not Germany) and he's kind of a big deal in general. Still couldn't figure out why so popular in Germany though.

We headed back to the Marienplatz area and Liane wanted to check out this place called Viktualnmarkt (food market) that turned out to be a great find. It was full of stalls with the freshest looking fruits, piles of meat and cheese and every other goodie you could imagine. There was a shop devoted entirely to honey and I saw some soap bars that said "Seife" on them. That, along with the general atmosphere made me feel just somewhat at "home" I know I'm not 100% German, and it spans back quite a few generations, but I just like Germany a lot. It fits right.
Unfortunately, we had just eaten, but we resolved to go back there on Friday for lunch.

At that point, it was pretty much time to collect our things and head to the airport.

Unfortunately, our flight back to Munich on Friday left Prague at about 715, which meant 4 am wake up call. Ick. When we got to the airport, we were insanely tired and had to take a nap on the benches, which actually wasn't that bad, and made me feel like a bona fide traveller. The nap was a great idea, and we might not have survived without it. It was also raining and very cold as soon as we got in (only bit of bad weather!), so we kind of slept through that and it was better when we woke up and headed to the city.

We went to the Viktualnmarkt for lunch and I got a delicious meat sandwich (that's right, just how I like it, no condiments, no frills, just give me the good stuff), a breze, and a giant juicy pickle, all at separate stalls and all for a great price. Mmmm. Perfect lunch.

We had planned on going to the Nymphenburg palace, but discovered that it closed earlier than we had thought, and it was a bit far away, so we decided to go to BMW Welt (World) instead. The place is a serious architectural masterpiece and full of BMWs, obviously. We went on the plant tour (yes, girls touring a car factory), which wasn't necessarily our thing, but was really interesting all the same. It was also neat to see the sea of robots working in tandem and doing their thing.

We actually ran into Steve at the BMW place and poked around there for a little bit more then headed right next door to see Olympic Park. It was dark and we couldn't see much, and frankly, at this point, it really is just two stadiums.

At that point, we headed back to the airport to conclude our journey. The lines were ridiculously long, so good thing we got there early.

I did notice that compared to London, the people in Germany are soo nice (although, being nicer than a Londoner isn't exactly a feat). Very helpful, all with great English and just generally more pleasant. It was a nice change of pace. I also noticed, more importantly for my future, that German is a very hard language. Because English is a Germanic language, you can kind of get the idea if you really dissect the word, but pronunciation is certainly another matter. Also, they do this thing wher They Randomly capitalize some of Their letters. What is up with that? I will be glad when I finally figure out the rhyme and reason behind this. Despite that, it did make me very excited to be in Berlin this summer. It will be difficult, but it will clearly also kick ass. How can I not like the land of beer, pretzels, meat, and Haribo (the gummy worm / bear company!)?

In general, Euros are a better deal. As I said, museum admissions were cheaper, various this and that were cheaper, although food is not. In general, food was obnoxious. Liane and Steve had no problem dropping money on food all the time, but it really pissed me off. You don't need to spend 15 dollars at every meal, that's disgusting. Neither of them really paid attention to me about that throughout the entire trip and I was generally forced to spend far more money that necessary throughout the week. It actually really pissed me off and was a constant point of contention. I always lost though, which was fabulous.

This concludes my Munich adventure. I will write more about Prague after a typing break *phew* Perhaps tomorrow.

-Kate