Beer, Beer, & More Beer (München) (11.11-11.14)

Thursday:
Today we left for München (aka Munich). It was so hard to sit through 3 hours of German class when I already had my suitcase along and was heading straight to the airport.  Trevor & I decided to fly because the train ride was something ridiculous like 10 hours. The flight was only an hour and about $300, so not too bad. We flew out of Tegel. As an fyi in case you wanted to know, Berlin has 2 airports: Tegel and Schonefeld, the former West and East airports. In 2 years they are closing Tegel and everything will fly out of Schonefeld, which means it will be hella busy! For future reference in case you needed to know.

The flight was really nice! We flew Air Berlin. We were actually allowed a free checked bag which is rare. I give major props to both Berlin airports and Munich airport. They all have the luggage claim right outside where you get off the plane. I don't know who the geniuses are that thought of this, but it actually makes sense and saves you from running over the entire airport. Efficiency! What the Germans are known for haha! Oh and on the luggage claim there was a pet carrier box going around and around. I kept thinking poor dog, no one has picked him up yet. Then I saw another one on the gate claim next to us. I looked in the cage and nearly had a heart attack! There was a man in there...or a doll rather. It scared the crap out of me! It had a sign on the cage saying something about cheap travel. I tried to get a picture of it, but man that belt moves faster than you think.

The hotel we stayed in was pretty nice. But the elevator was teeny tiny! I could barely fit my suitcase in there with Trevor & I. Of course we had to be on the top floor then. To start our trip off right, we went to a beer hall near our hotel. When I walked in I thought, yep this is Munich -- everything I thought it would be. It was so loud and busy! Waitresses hauling beer steins everywhere and plates of food too. Man those waitresses must have had to work out to be hired. I could barely lift my own glass of beer. The main part of the hall was filled...literally there were not two spaces open at any table. So we sat in a side room. In Germany, you walk in and sit at a table as long as it doesn't have a sign saying it is reserved.

I ordered weiner schnitzel. Oooo my was it amazing! Oh and I had to order a pretzel of course. Real Germans don't seem to eat pretzels, or at least not that I saw, but it's just so expected that I had to. Trevor got some collection of meat. I believe I have a picture of it. And of course we had beer too. We were mid into our meal when two other people sat at our table. In Berlin, we were always out with several other people, so this was the first time I experienced this. We were only at a 4 person table, so it was a little awkward at first. If I could hear every word they were saying, only if I could understand it. Only a few words were comprehendable.


We walked around the city for the rest of the night. It didn't seem like a city at all compared to Berlin. Everything seemed so barren. It was strange. We saw an interesting "store" if you can call it that. It literally was a store with several booths were you could close the curtain and porn. Each stall came equipped with a box of Kleenex too hahahah!


It's a strange thing...they have newspaper boxes on the street where you can buy the day's newspaper, but it's an honor system to deposit your money. Germans, they are just so trusting! That would never work in the US! The next bar we went to had the next day's paper already. I'm not even sure how that works. We got there at 9. Maybe that bar had the hook up with the newspaper idk. Strange. Oh and my little faux pas. I only saw a sign that indicated restrooms with an arrow. So I went in. I found it strange....there was this long bar with a giant TV, but I went in a stall and thought I would check it out when I finished. When I came out of the stall, the long bar was actually a trough for urinals. The guy urinating was just as surprised as I was. That explained it all...no wonder the stall was so dirty!

When we left the last bar, it was pouring down rain! For some unknown reason we still decided to walk. I had an umbrella, but Trevor didn't. We walked and walked and walked. We were so lost and had no map at all. I know you sense a common theme with all my experiences...no map. You are exactly right! By the time we decided to wait at a bus stop, we were completely drenched. And it was a little chilly that night, so it made it all the worse. We got home late, nearly frozen. 

Friday:
Today we slept in. Thank goodness I brought an extra pair of shoes, because my other ones were still yet. I learned from that night in Italy: walking around lost in the rain. Yep, a common theme again. We ate breakfast at a cozy little restaurant. I ordered pancakes. I don't know why I thought these pancakes would be different than any other in Europe. And they weren't. They resembled crepes. Oh well, they were amazingly delicious with fresh fruit. That little slice of banana was the first banana I've had since I've been in Germany. I used to always eat them in the States. I'm not sure if it was the long absence of banana, but it tastes weird to me. Oh and the strawberries....to die for!  

We saw the church that has the Glockenspiel. I don't know the name of it besides that. Yep, the Glockenspiel was just like I pictured it - a bit too over-hyped. In the center of that square was apparently where 2 popes had been. They had a statue to commemorate it. And of course we saw the Hofbrauhaus. Considering we had just eaten and it was a little to early for beer for me, we decided to come back later. Thus started the lengthy souvenir searching. All I can say is that I have absolutely no self control when it comes to buying things. I used to actually have a budget and stick close to it. But now, phew I can't pass up anything. I'm not sure if that's because I know I start working in a couple of months or if it's lasting effects of Chicago and me comparing it and saying how much cheaper it is. Either way, I left there with 4 bags of souvenirs. I can't even remember everything I bought, but here are the highlights: a 2 liter glass beer boot, a 1 liter boot, 2 beer steins, probably like 10 small glass boots, a 1 liter Hofbrauhaus "mug," T-shirt, postcards, and magnets. See what I mean - no self control. I believe I spent somewhere around 400 Euros on souvenirs that trip. *Gasp*


And then to top off my shopping, I decided to look for a dirndl. Many were crazy expensive, but I found a store that only sells dirndls. You probably are asking what a dirndl is. It's the typical dress that the women at Oktoberfest wear...you know the beerfraus. I'll post a picture in case you still can't picture it. I had no idea what size dirndl I would wear, just not something I've tried on before. Luckily I guessed right. I put on the whole get up. I came out and the lady goes umm oh no no girl. And she unzips everything and proceeds to pull, tuck, and tie. When she finishes it looked amazing! I wish I would have thought to take a picture after she did her magic. Oh and there was a sign saying if you took a picture you had to buy it, which I did, but I was still scared haha. Just so you ladies know for Oktoberfest sometime, the apron thing...you tie it on the left side if you are single and the right side if you are not. (I know my picture is wrong. It was easier to say I was not single than to explain anything. I.e. Trevor was sitting there. Oh, and P.S. all our conversations were in German! I was so proud of myself!) Anywho, I bought the dirndl get up and have decided to wear it to all the Christmas' this year....maybe even to church....


The rest of the day we walked around the main part of Munich. It is lined with tons and tons of shops. Reminds me of the Kudamm in Berlin. We stopped at a beer hall along there to eat (and drink of course). Immediately when I walked in, I loved it. The atmosphere was even better than last night if that was possible. We spotted two empty seats on one of the tables, so after asking if they were free, we sat down. The beer halls are filled with benches of people. You sit in between people you don't know. This time I was inbetween an older man who was there with his drinking buddies and some stuck up rich people from I have no idea where. I got schnitzel again. Yep, I really take advantage of meat when I am able to since I only have bread in Berlin. I order a liter beer and killed that thing. Eating pretzels with it made me feel like I was at Oktoberfest or something haha. And then I had another one. And that one went down smoothly too. The funny thing is that I left the bar that night almost completely sober. And I walked Trevor home; he only had 2.75 liters. I guess he is only 20 though, and I'm seasoned haha :P 


The older man who was on the one side of me was a hoot! He was so much fun!! Him and his friends were talking to us all the time. Most of the time I couldn't understand anything they were saying so I would nod and smile. Sometimes I guess he asked questions because he would just stare at me. The guy immediately beside me would translate Munich German into "high German" or German without all the accent and regional slang. I was proud that I understood that and was able to have a conversation with him. Apparently this was the local hangout spot. This man knew everyone that came in. Soon our table was huge...expanding over 2 tables. There was this one creepy young guy who was impressed with my drinking and kept taking pictures of me with his phone. And then he got a hold of my camera, so I have several photos of me. Such a fun night! I love Munich!!!


Saturday:
Today we got up at the butt crack of dawn to catch a train to Fussen, which is where Neuschwanstein castle is. Neuschwanstein is the castle Disneyland was modeled after. It was one of the castles of King Ludwig II. The castle was actually never finished. Only 3 floors are finished I believe. I can't remember exactly from our tour.

We had to change trains in order to get to Fussen. We were both tired from our night before. It was a miracle we woke up to even know when to get off. Once we got to Fussen it was what I pictured Germany to look like. It was a typical, little, cozy southern German town. I loved it! We then had to take a bus to the castle. We bought ticket to see both Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. Hohenschwangau was built by Ludwig II's father. You could only tour the castles with a guided tour. The ticket lady booked our first tour in 10 minutes from when we bought it. We really had to hoof it to get to Hohenschwangau in time. 


Hohenschwangau wasn't that impressive. They of course had some cool things in there. No pictures were allowed of course, but I did sneak some ;) Very few though. They had 100 year old bread in a case with salt. I forget the exact story, but it was a gift to Ludwig II's father when he was on some trip. It was crazy! It still held together. It definitely didn't look edible, but it was in great condition to be 100 years old. The tour was pretty good, but I wasn't too impressed.


We had to walk to Neuschwanstein for our next tour. It was crazy how long of a walk it was. It was all uphill too. Neuschwanstein is located in the mountains. When we got to the top, I was exhausted, but it was well worth it. Just the view was worth it. It was amazing! You could look out over the whole town. I took a million pictures. 


The tour of Neuschwanstein was much shorter than I expected. It was only about 45 minutes. Like I said earlier, not all the floors are finished in there. There was this really cool "passageway" though. It looked exactly like a cave in there. King Ludwig II lived in a world of fantasy they say and wanted that in there. I was impressed by that. Otherwise nothing was outstanding. Nothing compared to Versailles or even Sanscoussi. I really like those. The view from the castle Neuschwanstein was what really amazed me though!


After the tour, we walked to Mary's Bridge. It is a bridge that connects two mountains and you can take unobstructed pictures of the castle from there. The bridge didn't feel that sturdy, and there were tons of people on the bridge. I just couldn't help but picture the bridge breaking and falling to my death. I always wanted to sky dive haha. Fortunately nothing happened. We crossed to the other side where there was a path to climb the mountain. It said it took about 3 hours to get to the top. I have never been mountain climbing. The most I have done is run up a small hill in the back yard. But Trevor wanted to climb it. He convinced me by bribing me with how nice my pictures would be from the top. Damn him. Let me paint the picture of this for you... I had on jeans, a sweater, and my Pumas. Oh and my bright yellow purse...and oh and a bag of souvenirs. My Pumas have absolutely no grip on them at all. In fact they are just solid on the bottom. And they are white...they are not meant for even running up the aforementioned small hill, much less a mountain.


It was fine at first....of course it was still scary to look down and think about how far I would fall. I would probably have died for sure. Somewhere along the way the path ended (later I would find out we just completely missed the path). Trevor was in the lead, so he probably purposely steered us off the path. It was absolutely HORRIFYING! I was climbing up the hill by grabbing onto grass clumps and small trees. I slipped every second step I took. Trevor, being the gentleman that he is, at  least carried my bag of souvenirs. (Yes, I bought more.)  My legs were shaking so bad! I looked like a crack addict on day 3 of rehab. I couldn't stop my legs from shaking. And Trevor, used these encouraging words: If you didn't shake your damn legs so much, you wouldn't keep slipping. The entire climb was mixed with screaming and whimpering from me. And phrases like, "I'm going to fall down the mountain and die. AND WITHOUT even seeing the Glockenspiel do it's thing or being in the Hofbrauhas!" "Damnit Trevor, I hate you!" "You are buying me a beer if I make it to the top of this!"


We finally made it to the top of one section...only to find a path. Hallelujah! I was quite ecstatic. By this time it was 2 o'clock already. And it gets dark at 4 or 4:30. So we weren't sure if we could make it to the top or not before then and definitely not back down before it got dark. So we decided not to go to the top, even though it would have been cake considering we had found the trail again. Instead, Trevor wanted to make it to the next summit (or whatever it's called - top of the next peak idk). OF COURSE, there was no trail again. I said no because I couldn't even stop my legs from shaking. It was even hard to stand there. I said I would wait at the bottom for him. Trevor gave me all this shit about not wanting to go up. He turned him back to pee. I felt guilty, so I started climbing while he had taking care of that. By the time he came back, I was half way up the "hill" if you can call it that. It was some crazy climbing again. Thank goodness they had a fence along the side for me to try to pull myself up on. Of course the ground was muddy wet and so were the tree roots I was climbing on, which lead to me slipping sooo many times. When I finally got to the top, it was AMAZING! It felt so good to watch Trevor struggle haha. There was a couple up there picnicking too. The view was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! I can't even begin to explain it. You'll just have to see it in the pictures when I post them. It was a perfect spot too. In one direction you could see the castle and in the other a lake in between 2 mountains. It was amazing to be eye level with mountains! They even had snow at their peaks!

We stayed at the top for awhile, admiring, resting. It was probably my imagination, but even the air was easier to breathe. It really filled my lungs. It felt so amazing. All my bliss was shattering when I realized I would have to go down the mountain again. It was a very long way down....I swear I moved like a turtle. Every step was treacherous with my darn shoes. I only slipped once...but man it was a hard fall. (My butt hurt the next day.) Finally we got down that part and could continue descending on the trail. It was so simple on the way down because we were using the trail. I wish I could have gone all the way to the top. I made a vow to come back and next time I would come earlier in fall when the leaves were changing colors. I was so proud of myself that day! Probably one of the craziest things I've done. It was quite exhilarating though. I think I want to start hiking now. My quote of the day was, "I didn't hike that mountain; I fucking climbed that thing!"LOL


When we got down to the bottom where the ticket office was, we were both famished. So we ate at a nice, little restaurant there. I had mushroom schnitzel with bacon and spaetzle noodles. The noodles were really good and of course the schnitzel too. The mushroom gravy and the bacon really topped it off. I would even go so far as to say the entire meal was the best one I've had in Germany! Of course I topped it off with a grosses Fanta (big Fanta). 


We walked around a bit in Fussen before we left. It's a cute little town. We both fell asleep almost instantaneously when we got on the train to go home. Some how, Trevor woke up when it was our stop to transfer trains. I was out like a light. He even had trouble waking me. When we got back to the hotel, we dumped our stuff off, and made our way to the Hofbrauhaus. Finally, I was going to get to go to the Hofbrauhaus!!

The Hofbrauhaus was FANTASTIC! It topped all the other beer halls atmospheres! The floor was sticky with beer. They had a band of men with lederhosen playing. And the waiters were giant, strong men. They would carry 4 steins in each hand. It was quite insane!! Oh and their beer tap looked like a sodie fountain in the US. They selected the beer they wanted and out it came. I was  amazed. Again, we sat by people we didn't know. But it's ok, because the people are so friendly!! We got there just in time to order yet before they closed the kitchen. We ate and drank and talked with the people next to us. They were from a tiny, little town in southern Germany. It turns out the Hofbrauhaus closes at midnight. Fortunately we befriended the people next to us, and we walked around and drank with them.


Sunday:
Today we had our flight back to Berlin around 3 or so. Remember all the souvenirs I bought. Well I only brought my backpack and one suitcase. The problem was that they were all breakable and I didn't have enough room for everything. To make a very long story short, I bubble wrapped everything and was forced to put most of it in my suitcase which would be a checked bag. I was really nervous about doing this, but I had no other choice. Oh and Trevor only came with his backpack, which was full when we got there. He brought everything in bags and hoped there would be somewhere to buy a suitcase. If not, he was up shit creek. I was really glad I wasn't in his position. I think I may have cried if I were. 

We headed to the main part of Munich again. On previous days I had thought the Glockespiel plays on every hour. Oh how wrong I was. Only on 11 and 12 in the fall/winter. So I wanted to see that before we left for sure. We had brunch at a little cafe in the plaza where the church was so that we could video tape the performance. After much anticipation, it actually doesn't start on the hour, but rather about 5 minutes after. It was nice to see, but I still think it's overhyped. I think it probably has some long history and that is what is special. Pretty much the figures moved. I taped it, but I'm not sure if I can post video on here. I'll try.


Oh, and it was impossible to buy a suitcase because every store is closed on Sundays. HAHA! A little fact he had forgotten. So he just hoped there would be a store at the airport. Btw, the airport in Munich is really, really far out of the city! It is crazy how long it takes to get there via S Bahn. When we got to the airport, fortunately we found a suitcase store. Whew that was a relief!


Oh and I forgot to mention this, but along with the efficiency of German airports is security. They are actually very smart with this. Each area has their security that you go through. For instance, ours was only for our airline. And THERE WAS NO LINE!! Imagine that! It's was efficient and seemless. Well, except that I got patted down. The flight back was nice as well. They have TV screens for everyone. And I got a window seat. AND it was a clear day! That never happens! I got some cool pictures!


Only bad part of the trip; it turns out I left one of my sweaters at the hotel (the one I wore mountain climbing haha). I was so sad that I couldn't find it. I looked everywhere. I even emailed the hotel, but they claimed they didn't find it. I bet the cleaning lady took it, and is wearing it as I write this. Sadness! I still haven't even gone clothes shopping to repair this hole in my heart from losing it.


Sorry that the post is so long, but there was a lot that I did in Munich. Hope you enjoy! The pictures will come another day. I have to filter through over 700 to pick out which ones I want to post.

Pictures of School (FU BEST)

Our 2 buildings devoted specially to our study abroad program.

The house was a gift from the US, so they decided to use it for our program.

A typical classroom. My German class has 12 people. My content courses have less than 20.

The second building.

This is Gunter's. He is the sweetest old man you can imagine! He always pinches my cheeks when I buy donuts there.

Mostly Hamburg Pictures

U-Bahn station. Each station has a different theme and decoration inside.

Church by my house

Inside the ICE train, much nicer than the other trains!

Inside Hamburg Hauptbahnhof

Hamburg's version of the Berliner Bears....the Hamburg Handyman maybe? Idk.

Yep, they are what you think they are...

Hamburg

Malia, I, & Trevor on the boat tour

P.S. Those are raindrops on the window of the boat. It poured at the beginning of our tour.

The private boat that some Berlin billionaire had built.

I don't know what these are, but I figured you could tell me Dad ;)

The GINORMOUS ship

I couldn't even get the whole thing in one photo. (See description on Hamburg entry.)

482 and 367 are 2 prefixes in the area where I live. I thought it was cool

And Ferdinand is the name of the town with the 367 prefix and where I went to high school. I was excited!

If you can't see it, it says Beatles Platz

The Beatles

Harbor @ sunset

Yep, it's a street.

The Beatles rocking it out again.

My schnitzel and fried potatoes...makes me hungry just looking at it!

What can I say?!

I was amused by this sign.

Reeperbahn (aka sex street)

Hamburg main train station

Dining car

My "chocolate attack"

Yep, they have public toilets, and yep, you have to pay for them. And nope, I haven't used one. I try to limit paying to pee.

Back in Berlin

Freie Universitat Berlin Bear

By the way, I was in the process of uploading all these pictures and the Internet crashed, destroying my hour of work. So I just picked photos this time around instead of being selective. Ugh...