Friday 15 November 2013

München Pt 1

25th January 2013
My dad always used to say, "if you need to be doing something, don't talk to your friends". Not exactly groundbreaking but it was so true. From Hamburg, we were flying to Innsburck, Austria to pick up a car from Hertz to then drive into Germany again. This was because it ended up around 100 cheaper than if we were to just have picked it up from Germany. The fact that Europe is so small geographically still boggles my mind. On the way to the airport, we were chatting on the train and we weren't paying attention. After a while, I realised that the train was taking an awfully long time (it was meant to be gone to the airport. By this stage, we only had an hour before our flight took off. Cue panic. By the time we reached the airport, it was 45 minutes left and we ran from the station to the check-in kiosks. Well, tried to run would be more accurate. At some point, this thought honestly crossed my mind: go on without me, it's fine. I am normally not much a runner let alone having an extra 16 kilos on my body; I am not cut out for the Amazing Race it seems. We got to security and the woman was intent on being this super bitch. I had canned corn from Rome (meaning that I flew out from Venice to Prague without a problem). But the woman threw a massive fit about the thing and was so rude: "Do you speak German or English?" (I tell her I speak English) "DO. YOU. SPEAK. ENGLISH. OR. GERMAN?". Yep. Finally she let us go and we ran to the boarding gate and they were just starting to board everyone! Although, I wasn't sure if they would allow my other hiking bag onboard (since it was a budget flight, they are quite strict about it). All I remember is that Exchange Dude was talking to the woman at the boarding gate and gesturing towards me and I just made sure I looked forlorn. Ha it worked though and we boarded with all our luggage!

Innsbruck was pretty, especially with the snow capped mountains. The plan was to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. It was an incredibly pretty drive.

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Neuschwanstein Castle gives me a little bit of a sour taste when I think back to the memory. By the time we arrived, it was just past 4pm and we purchased tickets for the 5pm tour of the castle. However, from the parking lot to the castle, it was a 40min walk (which we did not realise initially) and by the time we actually arrived at the entrance we were rudely informed by the employee that the castle was closed and 5pm was the last tour and there was nothing they could do. And she proceeded to storm off. Exchange Dude was fuming as a) I had purchased both tickets for I believe a total of 50 which had just been wasted and b) the rudeness of the employee. It wasn't as though it was just some random woman on the streets, no it was an employee working at a tourist attraction and didn't even care about anyone else. Really.

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In addition to that terrible experience, the castle was underwhelming. In the pictures it looked like this



In reality, it was quite ugly up close.

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After the frustrating experience, we headed to Munich. To get there, we had to go on the autobahn. The autobahn are highways or expressways which have no speed limits. Yes, that's right, no speed limits. I believe Exchange Dude reached 180km/h (which was the maximum the car could reach) which was an interesting experience. Though, what was scary was the fact that we were one of the slower cars on the road.

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At some point we managed to drive out to Austria and back into Germany unknowingly.

Bavaria is quite different to Nothern Germany, it feels warmer and more home-y. I also had my first proper meal in a very long time. Exchange Dude ordered (it is lovely having someone who can speak the language, although there was some difficult in understanding as I have been told that the Bavarian accent is quite thick and difficult to understand). We had pork, reindeer and spätzle.

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Love this stuff!

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Reindeer

I had to go to the bathroom and once again, I was fuming that there was a woman collecting money for use of the bathroom. I actually snuck into the bathroom and then quickly walked past the woman, pretending that I didn't see her. It was a glorious moment and the most rebellious I have ever been.

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