All right. I finally have some time on my hands. So, to pick up where I left off:
On Saturday, Dec. 27, my dad, sister, and I spent the morning at the Yerebatan Cistern, then rejoined my mother and went to the airport to catch our flight to Munich. I can't actually seem to remember the flight, which only makes me think that it was really boring.
We got into Munich late that afternoon, took the metro from the airport (the Flughafen...sorry, I think German is funny) to Hauptbahnhof station in the center of Munich. And then we got lost. Mel and I got off on the opposite side of the metro train from Mom and Dad, and it was only after the train had left that I realized that you got out on the right if you wanted to leave the station, the left if you wanted to change to another train. So we ended up going the wrong way up the stairs, lugging enormous suitcases each, and got into the station. And we didn't see our parents. Then Mel recalled seeing another staircase on the right side of the platform, so we went back down (again, the wrong way) another staircase onto the right side of the platform, and our parents weren't there. We must have gone up and down at least two more sets of stairs before we decided to call Dad to see where exactly they were. We briefly mused that it didn't matter, since we had the map. Dad said that they, too, had ended up on the wrong floor of the station, and were also lost. "We're by the McDonald's," he tells us. So we wander around the main floor of the station until we see the shining beacon of the golden arches. Then we got a bit lost on the way to our Best Western, but eventually found it. Then Mel's and my key wouldn't work. I swear. None of us could open the door. So I went to tell the guy and the front desk. He opened the door in one try. Boy, did I feel stupid. We settled into our rooms and then went out to a pizza place around the corner. Thus ended night one in Munich.
Sunday, Dec. 28 - We woke up early to get breakfast before we had to meet our tour bus over by the train station. I've never seen such a big breakfast buffet. They had at least four hot dishes, an entire table devoted to tea, four different juice machines, an orange juice squeezer machine, about six types of breads or rolls, fruit, smoked salmon and other deli meats...there was more but I can't remember it all. It was incredible. So we ate and headed out to meet our bus for a tour of Bavarian Castles. The tour guide was...what might be decribed as a stereotypical German. He was very pushy and a bit condescending at times. His accent was slight, but it sort of added to the overall mood. Anyway, we drove on the Autobahn for about an hour and the Alps rose in the distance. I had never seen the Alps before. They're beautiful. We drove up into the mountains and went to Linderhof Palace, King Ludwig II's little mountain getaway. I completely underestimated how cold it would be in the mountains. Or, rather, I didn't think much about it at all. It was very cold. But the snow was beautiful. The palace was rather small for a palace, as was the intention, but it sort of made the ten minute wait out in the snow for a ten minute tour a bit of a let-down. Oh well. It was a nice house. With nice scenery. On the way down to the parking lot, I bought a pair of fluffy socks to wear under my boots. My feet were freezing.
From Linderhof we drove to Oberammergau, a small, typically Bavarian town in the mountains which is famous for putting on the Passion play every ten years. It used to be every year, to thank God for sparing the town during a bout of plague, but then they got lazy, apparently. The next play is next year, 2010, and they estimate that over 5 million people will come to this tiny town to see the play.
So Mom and I took a walk around town and looked at the painted houses and mused on how quaintly German it all was.
We then drove even further up to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, Ludwig's fairy tale castle tribute to Wagner. We stopped at the base of the mountain and ate lunch in the Hotel Muller. I had Kartoffelspatzl. Kartoffel is my favorite German word.
Then we began the half hour climb up the snow mountain road to get to the castle. It was cold. I was wearing fashion boots (thank God they didn't have high heels), we were all a bit tired, and Mom was recovering from pneumonia, so, needless to say, it was a long walk. Finally we arrived up at the castle, which is big and white and looks like a fairy tale castle. Again we waited for our tour number to be called, taking pictures and talking to other tourists. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of the interior of the castle, but let's just say it was a bit intense. Especially the room Ludwig had decorated to resemble an underground grotto. Let's just say it almost makes Disney look tame. But the colors were vibrant and the paintings were interesting. I wish the castle had been finished, but unfortunately Ludwig died before its completion, and the government basically decided it wasn't worth it to continue.
After Neuschwanstein, we trudged back down the hill to the bus, and attempted to sleep as our tourguide kept talking, even though he said that he would stop. So it goes.
We got back to Munich sometime in the late afternoon and decided to walk around Karlplatz, right near to where the bus dropped us off. There was a festive-looking ice skating rink decorated in big plastic polar bears, and lots of lights. We watched for a while, looked around, and then decided we were hungry. Unfortunately, the only thing open was a McDonald's. Mom and I couldn't eat there, since she's allergic to seafood and I'm a vegetarian, but they had a McCafe upstairs, so dinner consisted of hot chocolate and muffins. Why is it that McDonald's restaurants in Europe are so much fancier than they are in the States?
Monday, Dec. 29 -We got up, had breakfast, and spent the day walking around Munich. There's not a whole lot to do in Munich, especially when most things are closed for the holiday season. But we saw the Glockenspiel go off in Marienplatz, explored Fraunkirche, and took a look at the Hofbrauhaus. Then Mel and I decided we wanted to go off on our own, so we split ways with the parents. Basically we went shopping, although I didn't buy much. I'd been looking for a plain white turtleneck forever, and I found one that wasn't too expensive, so I'd say it was an excursion well-spent. We got hot chocolate at a cafe run by Italians who didn't speak English, so our lack of Italian and German was poignant. But it's not that hard to say "hot chocolate," so it all worked out. We walked around some more. Mel took pictures. I got really really tired for some reason. Around 6 we met my parents outside the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. I wanted to sit down in the beer hall, surrounded by drunk strangers like you're supposed to, but Mom wanted to find something quieter, so we went upstairs to the more restaurant-like atmosphere. They only took reservations, and we didn't have one, so we were advised to go back downstairs or wait an hour. I was content to go back downstairs, but Mom pouted and the guy let us have a table. We ordered beer, of course. Mel's first beer. I got the German equivalent of a shandy (beer and lemonade). It turns out I don't like them in England or Germany. I ordered potato soup and shared Mel's spatzel. We heard the oompa band on the way out, and made our way back to the hotel.
Tuesday, Dec. 30 - We got up, ate breakfast, took the subway out to the Flughafen, and I went off to check into my flight for Belfast while my family got on their flight home. It was really nice to see them, even if it was only for a few days. I felt really strange, leaving them in the airport knowing that I wouldn't see them for another six months. At least when I left for England I had another 20 some people to talk to and distract me. But walking through the airport at Munich, I was all alone.
The flight from Munich to Belfast was uneventful. I was at the gate really early, surrounded by people leaving on a flight to Abu Dhabi that left from the same gate. I got a snack and wandered around for a while. Then we borded. I got a window seat. Yay me. I always love looking out plane windows. It was really cool to see the Alps as we took off, and see the little brown and white Bavarian towns scattered across the landscape as we left Germany. It was remarkably clear all the way until we reached the English Channel. I could tell we'd made it to the Isles because the clouds started rolling in. But I made it to Belfast without incident. I'll leave that for my next post.
On Saturday, Dec. 27, my dad, sister, and I spent the morning at the Yerebatan Cistern, then rejoined my mother and went to the airport to catch our flight to Munich. I can't actually seem to remember the flight, which only makes me think that it was really boring.
We got into Munich late that afternoon, took the metro from the airport (the Flughafen...sorry, I think German is funny) to Hauptbahnhof station in the center of Munich. And then we got lost. Mel and I got off on the opposite side of the metro train from Mom and Dad, and it was only after the train had left that I realized that you got out on the right if you wanted to leave the station, the left if you wanted to change to another train. So we ended up going the wrong way up the stairs, lugging enormous suitcases each, and got into the station. And we didn't see our parents. Then Mel recalled seeing another staircase on the right side of the platform, so we went back down (again, the wrong way) another staircase onto the right side of the platform, and our parents weren't there. We must have gone up and down at least two more sets of stairs before we decided to call Dad to see where exactly they were. We briefly mused that it didn't matter, since we had the map. Dad said that they, too, had ended up on the wrong floor of the station, and were also lost. "We're by the McDonald's," he tells us. So we wander around the main floor of the station until we see the shining beacon of the golden arches. Then we got a bit lost on the way to our Best Western, but eventually found it. Then Mel's and my key wouldn't work. I swear. None of us could open the door. So I went to tell the guy and the front desk. He opened the door in one try. Boy, did I feel stupid. We settled into our rooms and then went out to a pizza place around the corner. Thus ended night one in Munich.
Sunday, Dec. 28 - We woke up early to get breakfast before we had to meet our tour bus over by the train station. I've never seen such a big breakfast buffet. They had at least four hot dishes, an entire table devoted to tea, four different juice machines, an orange juice squeezer machine, about six types of breads or rolls, fruit, smoked salmon and other deli meats...there was more but I can't remember it all. It was incredible. So we ate and headed out to meet our bus for a tour of Bavarian Castles. The tour guide was...what might be decribed as a stereotypical German. He was very pushy and a bit condescending at times. His accent was slight, but it sort of added to the overall mood. Anyway, we drove on the Autobahn for about an hour and the Alps rose in the distance. I had never seen the Alps before. They're beautiful. We drove up into the mountains and went to Linderhof Palace, King Ludwig II's little mountain getaway. I completely underestimated how cold it would be in the mountains. Or, rather, I didn't think much about it at all. It was very cold. But the snow was beautiful. The palace was rather small for a palace, as was the intention, but it sort of made the ten minute wait out in the snow for a ten minute tour a bit of a let-down. Oh well. It was a nice house. With nice scenery. On the way down to the parking lot, I bought a pair of fluffy socks to wear under my boots. My feet were freezing.
From Linderhof we drove to Oberammergau, a small, typically Bavarian town in the mountains which is famous for putting on the Passion play every ten years. It used to be every year, to thank God for sparing the town during a bout of plague, but then they got lazy, apparently. The next play is next year, 2010, and they estimate that over 5 million people will come to this tiny town to see the play.
So Mom and I took a walk around town and looked at the painted houses and mused on how quaintly German it all was.
We then drove even further up to the famous Neuschwanstein Castle, Ludwig's fairy tale castle tribute to Wagner. We stopped at the base of the mountain and ate lunch in the Hotel Muller. I had Kartoffelspatzl. Kartoffel is my favorite German word.
Then we began the half hour climb up the snow mountain road to get to the castle. It was cold. I was wearing fashion boots (thank God they didn't have high heels), we were all a bit tired, and Mom was recovering from pneumonia, so, needless to say, it was a long walk. Finally we arrived up at the castle, which is big and white and looks like a fairy tale castle. Again we waited for our tour number to be called, taking pictures and talking to other tourists. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures of the interior of the castle, but let's just say it was a bit intense. Especially the room Ludwig had decorated to resemble an underground grotto. Let's just say it almost makes Disney look tame. But the colors were vibrant and the paintings were interesting. I wish the castle had been finished, but unfortunately Ludwig died before its completion, and the government basically decided it wasn't worth it to continue.
After Neuschwanstein, we trudged back down the hill to the bus, and attempted to sleep as our tourguide kept talking, even though he said that he would stop. So it goes.
We got back to Munich sometime in the late afternoon and decided to walk around Karlplatz, right near to where the bus dropped us off. There was a festive-looking ice skating rink decorated in big plastic polar bears, and lots of lights. We watched for a while, looked around, and then decided we were hungry. Unfortunately, the only thing open was a McDonald's. Mom and I couldn't eat there, since she's allergic to seafood and I'm a vegetarian, but they had a McCafe upstairs, so dinner consisted of hot chocolate and muffins. Why is it that McDonald's restaurants in Europe are so much fancier than they are in the States?
Monday, Dec. 29 -We got up, had breakfast, and spent the day walking around Munich. There's not a whole lot to do in Munich, especially when most things are closed for the holiday season. But we saw the Glockenspiel go off in Marienplatz, explored Fraunkirche, and took a look at the Hofbrauhaus. Then Mel and I decided we wanted to go off on our own, so we split ways with the parents. Basically we went shopping, although I didn't buy much. I'd been looking for a plain white turtleneck forever, and I found one that wasn't too expensive, so I'd say it was an excursion well-spent. We got hot chocolate at a cafe run by Italians who didn't speak English, so our lack of Italian and German was poignant. But it's not that hard to say "hot chocolate," so it all worked out. We walked around some more. Mel took pictures. I got really really tired for some reason. Around 6 we met my parents outside the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. I wanted to sit down in the beer hall, surrounded by drunk strangers like you're supposed to, but Mom wanted to find something quieter, so we went upstairs to the more restaurant-like atmosphere. They only took reservations, and we didn't have one, so we were advised to go back downstairs or wait an hour. I was content to go back downstairs, but Mom pouted and the guy let us have a table. We ordered beer, of course. Mel's first beer. I got the German equivalent of a shandy (beer and lemonade). It turns out I don't like them in England or Germany. I ordered potato soup and shared Mel's spatzel. We heard the oompa band on the way out, and made our way back to the hotel.
Tuesday, Dec. 30 - We got up, ate breakfast, took the subway out to the Flughafen, and I went off to check into my flight for Belfast while my family got on their flight home. It was really nice to see them, even if it was only for a few days. I felt really strange, leaving them in the airport knowing that I wouldn't see them for another six months. At least when I left for England I had another 20 some people to talk to and distract me. But walking through the airport at Munich, I was all alone.
The flight from Munich to Belfast was uneventful. I was at the gate really early, surrounded by people leaving on a flight to Abu Dhabi that left from the same gate. I got a snack and wandered around for a while. Then we borded. I got a window seat. Yay me. I always love looking out plane windows. It was really cool to see the Alps as we took off, and see the little brown and white Bavarian towns scattered across the landscape as we left Germany. It was remarkably clear all the way until we reached the English Channel. I could tell we'd made it to the Isles because the clouds started rolling in. But I made it to Belfast without incident. I'll leave that for my next post.
But first, some pictures, again to convince you to check out my Photobucket.
A view of Neuschwanstein from the base of the hill.
The oompa band at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich.
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