and then there were five!

---

I'm collecting Canadians! In Munich for that matter!

Saturday - after a quiet day to myself I met Jessi at the train station. She's been staying with her host family in Venice for the last little while. I know it sounds like a dream vacation, but alas things are far more complicated than that. It was wonderful to be able to meet someone at the train station - kind of like sharing your adventure with them. The same applies to airports I guess, it might very well be the best place in the world to people watch. That would make the train station the second best for sure. We headed to Kate's for some wine and catching up. It had begun to rain that afternoon, which was sad because the weather was so beautiful for the week that I was here on my own. We originally had plans to head out and party hard, but Jessi was a little bit punchy after her 6+ hour train ride - instead we stayed in until the wine was gone and the night bus was running and I headed back to my hostel on my own. As I lay down in bed I started my personal countdown for the day that Jono would be arriving and I could move out of the dorm and into our private room. Don't get me wrong, the 20-bed experience has been one that I will never forget - but I was definitely looking forward to a little more privacy and not waking up every morning to the smell of boy combined with stale beer and vomit.

Sunday - Jessi and I braved the rain and wandered off to the Pinakothek der Moderne . It's part of a series of three museums; die Alte (old) - die Neue (new) - and Moderne (modern) each house art from their respective periods and are all within the same block in Munich. We spent a large chunk of the afternoon using our combined knowledge gathered in our "Trivial Pursuit" degrees to piece together as much information on artists and pieces as we could. This adventure also included our shared knowledge of German (she is WAY better than I am) and French to read the Museum's book in some rooms that told the story of the artist and why these pieces were selected for display at this time. When we were here two years ago I had just completed an Art History course (Post-Modernism: 1945-present day) which was one of the gems of my undergraduate degree. At the time I was a veritable walking tour guide in the Modern art museum - alas now most of that knowledge has been pushed out of my ear in favor of "more pressing" graduate studies knowledge. Afterwards we headed to a smaller beer hall for some heavy Bavarian fare (a vegetarian stew with dough balls, some root veggies and three kinds of mushrooms) to be washed down with the infamous Weißbier. Is it wrong that I adore the fact that beer is not only served by the liter or the half liter, but that it goes so well with everything? Mmmm... Only in Germany can my desire for wine be curbed by the quality of the beer. Although, I have heard good things about Czech beer, so we will have to wait and see on that one. Afterwards we headed to the little Italian place by the hostel for coffee and dessert before calling it a night. She is staying with Kate and doesn't have to deal with the vomiting disaster that took place that night. I'll save those of you with queasy stomachs from the gory details - but needless to say it was a throwback to my FC/RA days in Lister. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I am mostly an old lady in comparison to the people partying in the hostel - but the warning is there. This beer is less carbonated and has twice the alcohol of American and Australian beer - watch yourself. Nahhh... Call me crazy, but I don't see how a backpacking holiday is enhanced by a constant hang-over. *shrug*

Monday - I am still not sure why I had to come this far around the world to try it, but it was worth the wait. Kate, Jessi and I headed to an amazing Ethiopian restaurant. I know there is a wonderful one in Edmonton, but I always seemed to miss out on the dining adventures there due to other plans or a chaotic schedule. Is there one in Calgary? If there is I am going to track it down - my gut was full and happy by the time we were done with three dishes, the incredible bread and some wonderful coffee to wash the whole thing down. Oh happiness. Jessi and I then headed to the train station to pick up Lana - she was coming from Paris. Her original plan was to spend four days in Paris - alas she fell in love with the city and wound up staying for nine. 😊 We were a few minutes late getting to the station so the two of us split up to look for her. Jessi wandered the tracks and I asked at the desk - just as the gentleman was offering to have her paged my little red-head sidled up to the desk beside me and politely asked for a map. Needless to say I mauled her and then remembered to thank the polite gentleman behind the counter for his help. We checked her into her hostel (two doors down from mine because there wasn't any room) and then dragged her back to Kate's for some mellow music and the usual wine and conversation. She had spent 7+ hours on the train, and so we called it an early night and made plans to see some theatre the following day. It was great to hear stories about Paris, she'd finally met some great people in her hostel and was feeling less and less alone on her journey. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face - yay for friends and only two more nights of dorm life!

Tuesday - I caved and did laundry in the machine. I was all set to do a load in the sink, but with all my clothes to wash it just made more sense to toss everything in the washer and then spin the hell out of it to try and dry it as much as the machine could before decorating my bunk with damp clothes. Turns out that was a bad idea, a very, very bad idea. I pulled my (mostly black - yes, yes I know I should wear more colour - we can argue about that later) clothes out of the wash to find a lovely thin layer of white lint/paper ALL OVER EVERYTHING. GAH! Not impressed, not impressed at all. I hoped that perhaps once everything was dry I would be able to shake whatever the heck this new "decor" was off and things would be fine. I hung everything to dry and then headed out to meet the ladies. We saw Jon Fosse's Winter at the Pasinger Fabrik and it was actually a lot of fun. We ate dinner at the café attached to the theatre first where we had a wonderful waiter. The service here often leaves something to be desired, even if you speak German. We ate until we felt like exploding and then sat through some pretty decent theatre. I was the only one who had read the script before, and so it was through my brief summary that Lana and Jessi knew what we were getting ourselves into. The running joke right now with Lana is that she understands about 10 German words; her two favourites being Hund (dog) and Kinder (children/child). I couldn't remember if any of her words would be used in the show or not, and to our surprise a few of them were! There was some celebrating afterwards and I could feel her wanting to punch her fists into the air when the two characters had a discussion about his children and what they were like. Afterwards it was off to the Artzinger (the theatre kids bar around the corner from the theatre) for a few drinks and some reunions with friends. There's a fellow student studying here right now - he received some amazing grant money and has been here since mid September. The kicker? He's not really a friend of anyone's (something we spend a great deal of time reminding the Germans) and he doesn't speak any German. That's right, you read it correctly ladies and gentlemen - I speak more German than he does and I was learning on my own with a bloody computer program for 6 months. GAH! ARGH! It's okay - to each their own. It was a fun night, I spent a lot of it working my fingers and trying to gather as many people together as I could. Lana and I almost missed the last U-bahn, which I kept insisting was fine because I'd walked "home" from the theatre many a time, but it was raining and everyone wants me to take very good care of my ankle. I quietly tip-toed into the big room with a perma-grin on my face only to find that my laundry was strewn EVERYWHERE. Now, a two of my shirts were hanging on the ladder headed up to the top bunk and another two were tucked into the underside of the above mattress and hanging into my space - otherwise everything else was inside my own bunk. Nope, someone was an ignorant (insert curse word here) and decided it would be fun to throw my clothes everywhere. I gathered everything up the best I could in the dark and crawled into bed after setting my alarm for an obnoxiously early time with the loudest setting activated to be sure that I could pack and check-out on time. Two can play this game...

Wednesday - I let my alarm ring twice more than it needed to and for the most part was quiet about packing my bag back up. As a few of the snoring figures around me stirred and mumbled I may or may not have shaken out a few plastic bags and taken my time in filling them up. I checked out, stored my bag in the storage area and sat down to have breakfast and kill some time until Jono got in. He was landing in Frankfurt at around 6am local time but would then be going through customs and getting on a train (about 3 hours) to come here and check in. He arrived just after lunch - we checked into our private room and then he and Jessi headed out for a walk while I unpacked and tried to figure out where all my socks had gone. I washed four pair and somehow am down two - stupid dorm jerks. Jono napped while Lana and I went out for coffee and then the three of us were off to Kate's where the ladies had cooked curry. After an amazing meal and hearing from Anna, who's train was subject to all sorts of delays out of Venice, we gathered up the beer and headed off to a club. Okay, this never gets old - but in Munich you can drink just about everywhere. Seeing people carrying open beer bottles on the train and sipping as they head from home to the bar never ceases to stun me. We had to partake in this adventure of course, but weren't foolish enough to take pictures of ourselves while we were doing it. The club was amazing and played some of the best music I have heard in a long time - it's the first time I've really been out at that kind of bar since my tumble down the stairs in January. Mostly because it's frustrating - I want nothing more than to get up and dance, but instead have to sit and watch the table while everyone else gets to dance. It's really the only time I experience any sort of jealousy towards people who can walk. The night was still a blast and of course I ordered McDonald's in German at 4am on the way home. Victory!!

(This is the longest entry ever - if you are still with me at this point kudos to you - we're almost at the end.)

Thursday - Jet lagged bowled Jono over hard - he spent the day in bed while Anna and I went out to catch up over beer and soup. We also had a lovely waiter who thought he could speak French and just kept repeating, "C'est bon, oui? C'est magnifique, n'es-ce-pas?" (It's good, yes? It's magnificent, isn't that right?) over and over again. It was adorable. We headed out for a small dinner and then spent last night drinking wine and chatting in the hostel room. Jessi and Lana ventured out at one point for chips and came back with some real winners. The good kinds? Paprika (which is apparently the staple flavor here), and Nacho Cheese. The scary kind? Beer. That's right - beer flavored chips. We voted unanimously that we were too sober to eat them and they fall in the same category as donair pizza; something you eat when you know you will only vaguely remember what it tastes like. I like these moments when on vacation, they're my favourite I think - I know it's something we could do at home but there's something about hearing about Lana and Anna's adventures on their way here and listening to Jessi talk about Venice that made things even better.

Today (Friday) - Lana, Jono, and Anna headed out to the Dachau concentration camp. Jessi and I opted not to go seeing as how it is the experience of a lifetime, but I think that once is enough. Walking through those gates and onto that soil is not something I am bound to forget any time soon. Tonight we might do some shopping (Anna and I may both cave and buy cheap jeans, it's been colder than expected and we're probably going to follow the bad weather around) and then perhaps head to the Hofbräuhaus (the ultimate Bavarian beer hall) for dinner and a liter or two of beer.

A few more nights of adventure and then we're off to Prague. Everyone just got back and then we're out of here - so Tschüss until the next and my apologies again for the size of this novel...

---

Comments

[Jon]

I miss everyone!