Eurotrip, March 31st: Munich and Bavaria

A few months ago, back in November, we had been watching alot of Globe Trekker, an off-the-beaten-path travel show geared towards backpackers. Julie and I decided we should visit Europe. We found tickets on kayak.com for only $375 round-trip to Munich during Julie’s spring break in April. So we bought the tickets and a Rick Steves guide to Germany and Austria. For many days I planned our trip, from train schedule to sights to hotels. Rick suggested that reservations for hotels and trains aren’t really necessary in advance, so I took a leap of faith and refrained from booking our entire vacation online.

Friday the 30th finally came. I got home from work early and Julie got home at her normal time at 3:30. Our taxi arrived at 3:45 and we were off to Dulles airport. We waited in line for an hour to get our tickets at the full service counter, even though we only had carry-on baggage. We had managed to pack a week’s worth into these small bags — very tightly packed!

We boarded the 767 just in time, despite getting there 2 hours ahead of time. They served us dinner as we cruised over the East Coast and we watched Casino Royale on our tiny LCD TV’s. Our flight left at 6:30pm and was scheduled to arrive in Zurich, Switzerland at 8:15am CET, so I had figured that we could get plenty of sleep on the plane and be ready for our first day in Germany. We tried to sleep the remaining 5 hours of our flight, however, a giggling teenager, a crying baby, and uncomfortable seats conspired against us. We landed in Zurich, and to our surprise, did not have to go through customs or passport control. The airport was very clean, modern, and quiet. However, the customer service reps in Virginia couldn’t give us our tickets for our flight to Munich. We had ordered the tickets through Orbitz and it scheduled us on a United flight to Zurich and a Lufthansa flight to Munich. Even though they’re part of the “Star Alliance”, they couldn’t print tickets for us. So, we had to wait in line to get our tickets in Zurich. Luckily, our flight to Munich was delayed, so I bought some Swiss franks and I bought a couple of boxes of swiss chocolates. My first trial in speaking German was when I told the woman at the currency exchange booth, “ich moechte Euros kaufen” (I’d like to buy Euros). She rattled off something, and I said “sprechen Sie Englisch?” She told me I’d have to buy franks and then use those franks to buy Euros. I forgot that Switzerland isn’t on the Euro! Later, when we boarded our plane, I totally understood the ticket desk worker when she asked, “are those carry-on bags?” One for one, not bad! On our flight to Munich, the stewardess served us little sugar-coated waffles. Yum!

From the airport in Munich, we hopped on the S-Bahn (tram/subway) toward Marienplatz, the city center. I bought a Schoenes Wochenende ticket, which, for 33 Euros, covered our S-Bahn and train travel for the entire day. Normally, you’d pay 17 Euros just for the S-Bahn! Along the way to the city center we picked up some drunk and noisy soccer fans — at 11am. It was funny seeing the German version of young, tough sports fanatics. One of the guys left everyone a present and stank up the car, forcing us to find new seats

We hurried out of the Marienplatz station up to the Glockenspiel (musical clock) at the Neues Rathaus (new town hall). At first, we thought we had missed the show. Then, all of a sudden, the large wooden figurines began to dance as the bells played. The knights jousted and everyone cheered. We tourists oohed and ahhed, while the locals mocked us, sarcastically saying, “ooooh, der Glockenspiel!” Unfortunately, I found out at that moment that my camera was hosed! Somehow, the CCD sees everything with a red tint, so my pictures of the Glockenspiel featured a pink sky and areas of pink blotched on the clock tower. Luckily, we had also brought along Julie’s pocket camera. Not very easy to hold steady and not alot of whiz-bang features, but enough to capture the memories.

We then headed to the Viktualienmarkt (munchie market) for lunch. It wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be, just a bunch of ho-hum cafes in a large warehouse. But we did find Der Pschorr, a beer hall that seemed to be popular with the locals. Julie had Wienerschnitzel and I had Zwiebelrostbraten. The waiter could tell I wasn’t a German speaker, so he spoke in English while I practiced saying things in German.

From the market we headed to the Rezidenz, where the royal Wittelsbachs lived. It was very interesting, but a little too much information, especially considering how tired we were. We were given hand-held “phones” that would tell you about every item in the palace, including what material each chair was made from. The Residenz had some neat areas, like the family portrait gallery, but much of it was in poor condition since it had been bombed in World War 2. We stopped at the supermarket for snacks and water at Marienplatz, then took the S-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). We had coffee at Coffee Fellows and I bought a Vodafon SIM card for my phone so I could make cheap(er) local calls in Europe. Normally, Cingular charges $2/min for any calls made overseas. After drinking my chilled cappuccino and Julie had her tea, we got on our regional train to Füssen, a town near the southern border of Germany at the foot of the Alps. The train ride was quite scenic. We passed numerous farms and villages. I think they mostly grow wheat and hay in the area. A lot of green, grassy fields. After 2 hours of slow riding, came to Füssen. The previous day, back in Virginia, I had made reservations by phone with the Roecks, an elderly couple who rent out rooms in their apartment. Just as Rick Steves’ guidebook said, they were very sweet. Mrs. Roeck kept commenting how tall we were (”du bist so gross!”). They really appreciated that I could speak some German. Our room had two twin beds combined to make a “queen” bed. The bathroom had a sloped ceiling that went well below my neckline. While standing at the sink, I had to stick my head in the skylight and while showering… well, I had to do some crouching. We crashed at 10:00pm. We were beat!