Weekend in Munich/Back in Salzburg

This weekend was both a long one and a fun one. We were in Munich the entire weekend, and as a group we had a lot of fun and bonded with each other. We started out Friday morning traveling by train to Munich. Before we met up as a group though, my first adventure of the weekend began. I went to the grocery store before we left so that I could buy some lunch food for the train ride. I got what I needed and headed out to the bus without any problems. It started going, and then a couple of stops later I realized that I got on the right bus, but in the wrong direction. I had to get off and wait for it to loop back around (which took quite a while). I got on going the correct direction, but I was afraid that I was going to be late for the train at 11 (it was about 10:30 at the time and it took 30 minutes or so to get to the train station). Luckily, the train didn't leave until 11:18 and we were only supposed to meet by the ticket counter at 11. I ended up making it there on time without any problems, but I was extremely nervous until I realized that the train left later than I thought.

The train ride over was extremely pretty. We passed city after city and field after field as we rode through the countryside. The cities looked similar, but each one would have at least one characteristic that made it stand out from the rest. Often, it would be the church in the center of the city or the way that the city's borders were laid out. After a 2-hour train ride we arrived at the Munich Hauptbahnhof (train station) and made our way to our hostel, which was about a block away. We dropped off our clothes and anything else that we didn't need for the trip and then hung out in the lobby for a little while. After everyone met up in the lobby, we started our tour of the city by riding the subway to the Pinakothek der Moderne (a modern art museum). We had about 90 minutes to wander around the building and to look at whatever we liked. Like most modern art museums there were some incredibly paintings and exhibits, but there were also some that I just couldn't understand or interpret.

After going to the art museum, we walked through the city for a little while and eventually came to the English Gardens. This is basically a large park in the middle of the city. It is quite large (larger than Central Park in New York) and it has so many paths that it is really easy to get lost if you don't check the maps as you walk. Our original plan was to go to a beer garden in the middle of the park and relax, but the weather was too cold and the entire beer garden was closed. We ended up walking back to the middle of town and finding a restaurant with outdoor seating. We ordered 4 coffees and 16 half-liter beers and sat outside and just relaxed for a while. It was nice to get to sit after walking all day, but sitting there was also quite comical. It was probably between 40-50 degrees outside and raining slightly, but here we were, a group of 20 people wearing gloves with an umbrella in one hand and a beer/coffee in the other. I saw quite a few people chuckle at us as they walked by and saw us sitting there. When everyone felt rested we walked around the city a bit longer and eventually got to the restaurant where we were eating dinner that evening. Nothing too exciting happened while we were in the restaurant, but overall we had a lot of fun being able to talk and fill our stomachs with some good food.

After we ate, we went to the Hofbraeuhaus (ae = an a with two dots above it ..), which is a very large brewery in Munich. Unfortunately, it is also filled with tourists and we were unable to find a place for the 20 of us that were there. A small group stayed, but the rest of us went down the street to a smaller bar/restaurant and had fun trying the Augustiner beer and speaking German. I tried a drink there called a radler. (Note: Since being here I have discovered the radler. Basically, it is half beer and half sprite/lemonade or some other fruity/sweetly flavored drink. The one that I had at the Augustiner place was delicious and it tasted a bit like peppermint or some other kind of herb. Best of all, it is delicious and isn't very alcoholic so it isn't as bad for you as beer) After hanging out for a while we all went back to the hostel and went to bed for the night.

The next day we got up to an amazing* (here the * denotes sarcasm) breakfast of toast, marmalade, and coffee. Actually, it did taste good but it wasn't very filling. Then, one of my instructor's friends who lives in Munich met up with us in the hostel and then took us around the town for the next few hours. We saw all sorts of buildings and churches and even got to climb to the top of a tower in the proximity of the Glockenspiel. Everything was beautiful and climbing the tower was a blast. There were 306 steps and most of the time only one person is able to fit on the staircase, which is the only staircase and has people climbing both up and down. We stayed at the top of the tower for 20 minutes or so and when we came down our instructor told us that we were free for the rest of the day. A small group of us went to the large outdoor market and ate and then went to the Alte Pinakothek (another art museum with art from the 14-17 century). While there, we had short worksheet that we had to fill out with information about the museum and also information over a specific painting that we liked. We were in there for a couple of hours and then eventually met up with another friend of one of the girls from OU. She took us around the town for a little and we eventually sat down in an outdoor cafe and talked and rested some more. Most of us had sore legs/backs/feet at this point in time and we needed time to sit and relax. After chatting with Isabell (the friend that we met up with), we made our way back to the hostel.

We rested for an hour or two and then a small group of us met up with our instructor and her friend to go out to dinner. We were going to get Mexican food for dinner, but every restaurant that we went to was packed and had no seats for the 11 of us. Eventually, we found a restaurant with enough space and were able to order our food without any problems. The food pretty much looked and tasted like I expected and the overall restaurant experience was not too memorable.

Some people went out after dinner, but I decided to stay in the hostel with a few friends and we sat around and talked until the wee hours of the morning (this contributed to the bonding part of the weekend). We went to bed and then all got up the next morning to meet at 10. The guys that I stayed with (there were 5 of us, all from OU) were a lot of fun and we had no problems getting ready in the morning or with each other (staying in the room was another rather large part of the bonding of the weekend). We rode the streetcars to Nymphenburg Castle and spent the next couple of hours visiting the castle, its gardens, and a hunting lodge all of which were amazing.

Most of the group left after visiting the castle, but 5 of us stayed in Munich for an extra couple of hours to walk around the city and to head back to the Hofbraeuhaus. The girls that were with us bought souvenir mugs and then we bought some ice cream down the street. It was some of the best ice cream that I ever had and it was only 1 Euro for a single scoop in a waffle cone. Eating ice cream sums up all of the exciting/eventful things that happened in Munich. After that all we did was walk back to the train and ride home. (Yet Another Note: Actually, two of the people that were with us got on the wrong train that was also heading to Salzburg after we got split up at the train station. They ended up getting kicked off at a stop, but they were able to get on our train shortly after since we also passed through that stop and they made it back without any problems. They said that the person who checked their ticket was really understanding about the whole situation and he did not give them any trouble or fine them)

Now, I'm back in Salzburg and I'm about go see what the other people here are up to. This took quite a while to write, and I think that there were some people that expected me to come earlier.

Before I go, I just wanted to give a class update. That is, classes are starting for real this week and they are going fine. We are slowly getting more and more homework, but none of it is too difficult at this point in time.

Also, there are a few new pictures in the picture slide show. And, as always, that's all that I have for now, but I will be writing again soon. Keep leaving your comments! I think that one of my favorite things about blogging is knowing that I have people who read this on a regular basis! Until next time!