Advertisement
Published: November 7th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Passing the time
I'm a beast at solitaire. In other words, good lord I need my computer for trains. Oh look, I'm back here again. It's a little comforting in some ways knowing I've got a nice perch on top of a suburban building to return home to at the end of my travels, it's cathartic in some ways. Well, regardless, the past week was spent in München and Wien (these'll be in English further in) as part of a school excursion, and to avoid the near fatal "Wall O'Text" syndrome that would result from telling the whole week in one post, I'm going to split it into two. I get to compartmentalize my writing, and no one reading this gets a tumor from looking at their screen for too long.
So let's see...Munich seems like the ideal place to start, and I'll periodically add in some more of "Dan's lessons for poor solo travelling college students" as we go along, like:
Bring your damn computer Once upon a time I had a certain nostalgia for trains. The chance to see the countryside as it shoots by you, the possibility to actually talk and hang out with friends in the extended empty hours, it has a certain romantic charm to it, especially when it's much cheaper
Hofbräuhaus
I thought I heard the sound of a million livers cry out in agony, and then silence.... than flying. Ha, no. I'm fairly cured of that, train rides are long, games are good. It turns out that socializing's a lot trickier when everyone else brings along their magical machine which supplies enough distractions to get through the whole trip. I should add this wasn't true on the way back, but it's a good idea anyhow.
So anyways, six hours on a train will make anyone cranky. Still, by evening on Friday I arrived once again in Munich. As some of my astute readers might notice, I'd been here before, well, at least to a few tented interiors on Theresienswiese. Ok, it's fair to say I saw very little of the actual city, outside of what Benedikt showed Jake and I on our first day, so I was pretty excited. Still, what would Munich be without a trip to a beer hall? That seemed like a good place to start off the trip, and along with a small horde of like minded souls I wandered to the Hofbräuhaus for the infamous part of the city. Most nobles believed in Wine back in the day, but leave to the Bavarian Counts to insist on their own beer instead.
Münchener Kindl
So apparently this is a symbol of the city, a monk with a child's face. Given the hook like hands and sinister grin though, I'm more inclined to think it's a cruel prank on tourists... The Hofbräuhaus is the happy result of this desire, and is basically a 2,000 seat temple to alcoholism. Evidently the locals believe that every weekend is a chance for a small Oktoberfest, because finding a seat was hell. Still in the end we plopped in some chairs outside and had a few, it made for a reasonably good but not overly crazy night.
A side note here so you know I'm not starving, Cooking's not as hard as I thought it would be, making some basic but edible things was readily possible, granted that mostly meant things like Tortellini and quick sandwiches, but it's surprisingly handy to know.
One nice thing about going with half your university is that unlike solo traveling, you really can go on tours. Not to feel too good about it, but actually listening to a tour in German is really fascinating, even when the tour guide is speaking at a deliberately slower pace I guess it feels like getting something out of the language. Anyways, after doing a city tour, I found something absolutely divine, essentially pretzels with butter in the middle. It's pretty much a heart attack in delicious doughy form, and
Hohenschwangau
So, this is apparently the castle people call less impressive. Still notable for having people actually live in it at some point combined with beer and Wurst vaguely counts as a lunch. Still, I spent most of the day wandering around, seeing the Munich Olympic stadiums (which are really pretty), and after a little while of hanging out with some folk arrived at a wonderful conclusion, which we'll get to in a bit.
I think it's fair to say I popped off to another Bier hall after this, and in spite of the surly waitresses was still pretty nice. Later attempts to go to a bar didn't end quite so well, but some punches you have to roll with.
You'll note that there's been little discussion in these blogs about castles and armor. If you know a bit about me this may seem peculiarly out of character, given you know, the birthday party where I went to an armory museum and cut my cake with a broadsword (I was six ok?). It remains one of my great loves, a time where men in outrageously expensive armor went out and smashed each other on the head with hammers (As opposed to the stone age, where we just had clubs). Regardless, that changes now, in part thanks to a king who seemingly
Obligatory Tourist Shot
Judge away, it's not often I get to pose in front of a castle. shared this mild obsession. So the lovely conclusion was simple, I'd like to see a German castle. Know one near Munich?
So as some might get what I was hinting at here, a bunch of friends and I decided to damn the morning tour and travel to Neuschwanstein Castle high in the mountains of Bavaria. Built by Ludwig the Second, "the Mad King", the thing looks like a product of Disney (it's the other way round actually). It's a fantasy castle resting atop a high peak with beautiful white walls and towering spires, the product of a man who pined for a time that had long since expired. Still, looking at it now it seems like it was well worth the bankruptcy it triggered in Bavaria. The castles proportions and outrageous location becomes even more hilarious when you notice the only slightly less impressive Hohenschwangau Castle on the next hill over. Another massive structure, it looks like the uglier duckling next to the Swan Castle, but was worth looking at nonetheless. Regardless, it turns out that even in late October visiting this place can quickly turn into a clusterfuck. The line to get into the castles went down the
Neuschwanstein
Shot from behind, on an overlooking rickety bridge. Even with the scaffolding, it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen, and I don't say that lightly. block, and Neuschwanstein was already sold out for the day. Still, we ended up wandering around the castle for pretty much the whole day, with a little time set aside for another inexplicable bier hall just below the castle and out of sight. Perfect weather and a generally phenomenal setting easily makes it one of the best days of the trip.
The end of the day was spent, well, ok, seeing a pattern here? Two guesses, and if one of them isn't beer hall then I've got a deep sigh for you. Still, the time spent in München was relatively brief, after we had spent our two days we were given one morning (I walked around the Englischer Gartens) and then bundled onto the train to Vienna, a story for a later time, and less lazy, time.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0432s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb