Monday in Munich!
Today is a day of disappointment. A true let-down. Heart break.
Pete didn’t call.
We’d made plans earlier that he would call at 2 or 3am NZT, which would be 4 or 5pm Munich time. I messaged him at 3pm to let him know I was ready, if he happened to get out of a game early, and chilled out in the common room to wait and read.
My alarm goes off at 4pm and the message is still sitting as unread. Unusual length of time for a Dota game, but not unheard of. Though, usually he would have responded to me at least once even if still in game. I send a reluctant “babe?” and go back to reading.
I’ve still not heard from him the next time I check, and still the message is unread.
I start spamming skype, messenger, and even try call his phone. No answer.
My brain switches to panic mode. He wouldn’t have gotten into bed knowing he had plans to call me, because he knows he’d just go to sleep there. So the only two places he could be are the computer chair and the couch. He doesn’t fall asleep in his computer chair, so chances are he went to the couch to watch some Shark Tank, and has fallen asleep.
Crestfallen, I check the power and internet/phone outages at home, just to confirm nothing is wrong there (there isn’t) and wait a little longer for him to wake up. He doesn’t usually sleep for too long on the couch, it is super comfortable but you eventually stir enough to realise where you are. He doesn’t get in contact. Reluctantly, I accept the fact that he must be dead, then. I order some pizza for dinner, have a beer, and get in bed. 8am NZT he wakes up to inform me he fell asleep, and then promptly falls asleep again while typing out something else. Joy.
Tuesday morning I quickly chat with my Mum and Dad, and Perry, and have another call with Pete, finally, before heading out to the most exciting thing about being in Munich. The BMW museum.
I knew I was getting closer even before I saw the building stick up over the top, because all the streets were lined with BMWs.
Inside was beautiful. The layout is a little maze-like and there’s not a 100% clear direction to go, with lots of little offshoots which lead to other places. I back tracked a lot to try and catch everything, but I know I missed at least two rooms.
I did not, however, miss Elvis Presley’s 1957 restored 507. She is SO gorgeous, I have to have her. My new favourite ultimate car, even though it goes against everything I believe in (2 door, convertible).
The museum was amazing, I stopped at the M1 cafe for lunch and had brilliant homemade iced tea, and bought a couple things in the gift shop.
The afternoon ended up being laundry day (sigh) which meant a lot of waiting around because even though I was staying in a 6 storey at-least-ten-rooms-a-floor hostel /hotel, there was ONE washing machine, and ONE dryer.
I conned a roommate into ordering “the best burgers in the world”, according to a receptionist, with me, but minimum delivery order requires two people, and we chilled out eating and waiting for my washing.
The next morning, she’s at a loss for what to do, and I tell her I’m heading to the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen (Hohenschwangau, I think I spelt that right). I explain all the details, the 2.5 hour train journey, the bus from there to the bottom of the castle, the ride up to the castle (or else you’re stuck walking 40 minutes uphill in the blistering heat) and then the further walking around to be done, not to mention coming home again too. She’s in.
We head out at 9am so we can buy a Bayern ticket. It’s essentially a daily pass for ALL public transport lines inside Bavaria. It’s a god send. Instead of paying €40+ for our ticket only to Fussen, we bought a Bayern 2 person ticket for €16 each, which got us to the main station from our hostel, on the train to Fussen, on the bus to the castle from Fussen, and all of it back home again. We went out in the evening too, and it covered those lines also.
The day ended up with remarkable timing. We didn’t plan anything out in advance, and we didn’t buy tickets to go INTO the castle because they only do specific tours to lead people through, and both of us had decided we’d seen enough castles. However, there was always a bus or train when we arrived at whichever station or stop we wanted to depart from, even including the Fussen return only running once an hour.
From the train, we start to see mountains after 2 hours of flat land, and know we are close.
We decide to be fancy buggers and catch a horse drawn carriage up to the castle, like real princesses. But really, we watched a couple buses go past and they were jam packed with people standing in the aisles like cattle, so for the extra few Euros it was worth it.
Our first look of the castle is where the carriage drops you off. Due to the steepness of the cliffs, there’s not enough turning room for the horses any higher up so, there’s still a short walk.
We walk to the front of the castle, but there’s no good shot due to it being under construction. We enjoy the view of the cliffs, and venture round the back to head to Marienbruche, the bridge where nearly all photos of Neuschwanstein are taken.
The bridge is over a deep gorge, with a river (?) flowing through it. The water is an amazing blue, and I wish I could have gotten more photos of it, but without a wrist strap I was terrifed of watching my phone plummet to its death.
Here’s the money shot. Yes, I took this myself on my phone, whether it looks like 1,000,000 other photos of it or not, I do not care. This one is mine.
We take a couple of selfies in front of it, too, eventually leaving when we see how long the line is to get on the bridge behind us (again, timing! plenty of space when we arrived!) We meander back down the path, stopping to really take in the landscape, and the other “Lego” castle in the area, as so eloquently put by my roommate.
On the train ride home, Mona and I start sorting out times to meet up, even though my feet are killing me from all this walking. Hopefully the 2.5hour train ride sitting down will mend that.
I take the roommate to Marienplatz, after using a pay to enter public toilet in the terminal. Ugh. She leaves me to go exploring on her own in the evening, and I get hit on.
It’s strange, but it’s similar to Mr. Creep. I’m waiting outside a shop so I’m easy for Mona to find, and a guy walks up to me, really close to my face, and starts talking in German. “Sorry?” He says something in gibberish again, and I clarify “sorry, English only” hoping that will put him off. It doesn’t.
“Like you.” Sigh. “You LIKE me?” “Yeah.” He nods his head enthusiastically. “Well, you CAN’T like me, you don’t know me.”
He throws his hands up and yells “what the hell!?” in my face. I pull my phone out and frantically start messaging Mona and Pete so I can spam him to make it look like I’m otherwise busy. Mr. Creeptastic skulks away, eventually walking back past with a friend talking to each other in German while both looking like they want to spit on me. Well, hey, you didn’t think I was disgusting when you were trying to hit on me, did you? Note, I was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a jumper. Wtf people.
Mona shows up, and takes me on her walking tour through things-to-look-at-she-doesn’t-know-the-name-of (it was great, I recommend it haha) and takes photos of me as requested.
We go to a Biergarten for dinner and, surprise, beer!
I refrain from stealing a watermelon themed bike. I love watermelon theme.
And then we get takeaway cocktails (because it’s legal to drink on the streets! Huzzah!)
We split up at the train station, both heading home, so I can rest before my flight to Dublin the next day.
By the end of it, Munich ended up being awesome.
Regards,
Alex
Regards, Alex 