Up until now, Sara and I have gotten by the few times that we needed a hostel by just looking one up online and going there in person, day of to book the room. Unfortunately, we have come to realize that as Christmas draws closer, more and more people are backpacking through Europe. More people are off of school and needing a place to stay. We walked to a hostel I had picked out in advance but not booked and they were all full up except for more expensive options. We inquired as to the location of other hostels. So a 15 minute walk later we arrived at the AO hostel which we had a discount for, but the facilities were small and they only had 10 and 14 person dorms and the facilities just weren't all that good. They did, however, have a larger and nicer facility about a 30 minute walk north. They also had 6 person female only dorms. So, Sara and I booked the hostel from that location and then trekked to the other Hostel. At this point, the hike made our bags feel about a million pounds and Sara's tendons were screaming. We made it there and dropped off our things completely fed up with the day. I managed to get us moving to grab some groceries and dinner. Unfortunately, AO hostels do not have kitchens for use, which meant we were going to have to be creative for meals and it was a very real problem. We haven't eaten as much as we likely should in the last couple days and what we have eaten has been sorely lacking in vegetables and protein. But Oh well.
We settled in for a quiet evening, giving up on some pre-exploration of the city after the debacle of the hostels. It was around this point that my spirits had been broken. We had struggled from city to city with something going wrong. I had been optimistic and kept trying to keep up our spirits when Sara seemed ready to give up. But in the quiet of the hostel lobby I was confronted with a train of thought which had been nagging at me on the train. I was not having fun. We had stayed in Frankfurt for far to long, and I was no longer seeing new things. Additionally, my tolerance for new and foreign things was falling precariously low. I missed my family and friends. Sara is a wonderful travelling companion and I love her as my sister, but she is one person and there was a certain solitude and loneliness that had crept into my heart. I kept thinking about Christmas in less than week and how I wouldn't be with my family for the first time in my adult life. I wanted to cry. I felt as though I were going through the motions of travelling because it was what was expected of me. I was supposed to enjoy this grand adventure but I wasn't. It was frustrating but it also taught me something. My life derives meaning from the people I am with. I can be anywhere in the world and it will be meaningless if I feel like I have lost the people I care about. After heavy chatter with some family and friends I was in a much better mood and ready to face Munich. It is a good thing too because Munich turned out to be one of the most fun and beautiful cities we have visited yet.
One aside, the hostel situation. People can be terribly inconsiderate. As a result, the last couple nights, Sara and I haven't gotten much sleep. The sleep we do get is often after 6 am when our noisy room mates have vacated. The beds aren't particularly night. Also, it looks like for our final night in Munich, the hostel had a mix up and actually booked a man as our 6th guest in the all female dorm. I am a little peeved and looking forward to staying somewhere else and having a kitchen again. But it is cheap and sometimes you just have to go with the flow.
Our first full day in Munich was a bit of a whirlwind. We got up early due to the trouble sleeping scenario and we went to the city centre to pick up a free tour. This touring company has tours all over Europe and they are completely free with the tour guides making their wages on solely tips. We met for the tour and it turned out to be a good way to see a lot of the city very quickly. Unfortunately, it was very cold and before long we wanted to be inside. We saw plenty of beautiful buildings and learned a lot about the history of Munich and its relation to the third Reich as well as the Bavarian kings and queens that lived in the city. The tour started with watching the Glockenspeil go off at the city centre. The tour included many churches and monuments which you can see in the pictures below.
The tour finished around 2-3pm and we grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back to our hostel to warm up. We were planning on going to a tour later in the evening around 6pm, so we figured it would be good to rest up before we were walking and adventuring in the city again. We went to the grocery store and picked up hot chocolates and NY style cheesecake and watch Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog while planning for the next days travels. It was quite relaxing and very fun.
The tour which we were going to at 6pm was the Beer Challenge tour. It had a small fee but included two beers and a Jaeger. It was a bar crawl with an informational tour about the role Beer played in Bavarian history and the various types of beer and beer halls in Munich. This tour was loads of fun. Sara and I shared beers at each of the bars, but in total we got to try 5 different beers, some of which were from companies which had been brewing since the 700s. I am not normally a beer drinker. I have never really cared for the taste of Hops, but these beers were some of the best I ever had. We also had the former pope's (Pope Benedict) favourite beer, Augustina. We got to know some of the people on the tour which included Americans (midwesterners even), Brazilians, Australians and Mexicans. Safe to say when people get drunk they get to be more friendly! We ended up staying out later than planned which meant that we had to modify the next days activities, but I don't regret a second of it. I completely understand why beer is such an integral part of Bavarian culture.
After a later start than planned, Sara and I got a Bavarian day pass and hoped on a train to Fuessen. Fuessen is a small city nestled in the Alps and a popular romantic destination for a few major regions. The city itself is quite beautiful and the mountains add an air of grandeur and beauty. The area is also home to a number of castles which are pieces of art in themselves. Our particular destination was Neuschwanstein castle and I am so glad that we went. The sights were breath taking and the castle was art. That is the only way I can describe it, each room was beautifully hand crafted and painted. The castle itself remains unfinished due to the death of the king who had built it, but what has been completed is breathtaking. I don't think I could ever live in such a castle because I would spend all my time wandering aimlessly through the halls and staring at one wall for hours trying to discern every detail. If the inside weren't beautiful enough, the castle sits among the mountains of the Alps. The trek to get up to the castle was a bit of a pain because ice and snow which had settled the day before (and only served to make the area more picturesque) made the roads too precarious for buses. As a result everyone either had to walk or hire a horse and buggy.
The snow also meant that the park closed off a path that lead to a bridge not far from the castle a little further into the Alps. From this bridge, there is an amazing view of Neuschwanstein castle with the backdrop of the city. Additionally, the path houses a few more spectacular views. It is from this area of the mountain that all of the pictures of the castles that are on postcards are taken. Feeling a bit like rebels, we and many other people bypassed the blockades and trudged up the icy path anyway. I completely understand why they closed it. The train was quite slippery and if you slipped in the wrong place, it could have fatal consequences. But if you took it slow and were very mindful, the trip could be made safely without slipping once. Plus, the views were worth the risk. These pictures don't do it justice, but perhaps they can give you some idea of the beauty.
We took the long train back (2 hours) and have since settled back into our hostel for the last night of relaxation and packing. We leave for Salzburg tomorrow and say goodbye to Germany. It has been fun. Full of ups and downs but also a lot of beauty. The most memorable are the views that I have gotten to see and the Christmas markets I have gotten to attend (somewhere in the ball park of 11). I can't wait to see what the culturally rich and musical county of Austria has to offer. Until then...
Adventures Await!
KH
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