It rains...a lot...in Germany. It was raining when we got here and it is still raining. Luckily, we brought ponchos. They have been quite useful!
I have been told before that the Germans are very kind and it is so true! On our train ride to Fussen, a girl close to our age sat across the isle from us and began chatting with us. We weren't sure which platform to go to when we switched trains so she found the conductor and asked for us. The conductor did not speak much English so we would not have known without her help! She also gave us some tips on where to find the best food and beer. = ) When we got back to Munich that evening, we took the S Bahn to our train stop but weren't quite sure where to go from there. As we stood in the train station looking at our directions, a couple stopped and asked if we needed help. We showed them our directions and they told us how to get there. We got a little confused in the process, but we found the hostel nevertheless.
This hostel is different from all the others we have stayed. There were 14 people in our room and only one bathroom. The bathroom is all lumped together so if someone is brushing their teeth, you have to wait for them to finish before you can shower. Luckily, Wendy and I were able to "take over" the bathroom for about 45 minutes yesterday. Our roommates weren't so happy, but we were showered, dressed, and ready to go when we exited. The breakfast here is good; cereal, toast, yogurt, bagels, coffee, liverwerst (blech!), and the nastiest juice Wendy has ever tasted...but she kept drinking it. The milk for the cereal was room temperature, which kind of made me want to barf. But hey, it's free food!
We were finally able to do laundry when we got here. They had a small washer and dryer downstairs. They wanted to charge 5 € for one load...but you paid that when you got the detergent. We lucky souls found 3 detergent tablets by the washers and just went for it. Free wash!
Yesterday, we took the 10:30 train to Salzburg. I think I slept almost the entire 1 1/2 there. Once we got there, it was raining (of course). We went to the information desk and purchased our sound of music tour tickets. We then walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop. Once there, we saw a large crowd of people leaving a sound of music tour bus just laughing and having a grand ole time. We thought it must be our bus...but no. We were on a different bus...and had a different tour guide...and there were only 12 people on our bus...for a reason. Our tour guide would talk, then stop and say, "uh, where was I?" We would have to remind him, and then half the time he would say, "Oh, I got off track. Forget that last part." He would also answer his cell phone in the middle of talking. He was horrible! Then the bus driver didn't know where he was going so the guide would have to tell him where to turn in the middle of his "stories." We were on that bus for 4 hours...and it seemed like an eternity. We made 3 stops, one about 30 minutes away from Salzburg. The guide wanted us to go to his friends boat and take a ride and eat apple streudle (sp?) for a mere 11€ extra...we declined. Some people on the bus were suckered into it while the rest of us he made out to be fun haters. While others got on the boat, we walked the town and saw the church where the Von Trapp wedding occured. By this time, we were so tired of our annoying tour guide, we just wanted to jump on one of the busses with the happy people and try to blend. If that didn't work, a cliff would suffice. We were so happy when the tour ended. We walked around Salzburg and went to the Abbey where Maria lived. It is a beautiful town! Much easier to enjoy when you do not have an irritating, almost offensive, tour guide. Oh, did I mention he kept telling us he was badly paid and then asked for tips at the end? Obviously, we skipped out on that contribution.
While walking Salzburg, we kept trying to find a place that sold brautwursts. The one we had the day before was so good! We couldn't find a single place that sold them! We thought for sure they would be sold on every street corner in this area. We are still craving a brautwurst. We hoped to get one back in Munich at the train station.
We headed back to Munich at 8:12 pm. The train went maybe 10 miles, then stopped at a station and told us all to get off. Another train had derailed up ahead and we were to wait for a bus to pick us up and take us to the next station. We were so tired that we just wanted to get back to the hostel and sleep. One hour later, the bus arrived and took us on a 45 minute excursion. We got to the train station, hopped on, and had another 1 1/2 hour ride. By the time we got back, we were about to fall asleep standing. We got back to the hostel after midnight...our original time would have been 10:30. And still...no brautwurst. Maybe today!
While we waited for the bus, I fell asleep on a bench. A man we had been visiting with took it upon himself to video me sleeping with his cellphone. He showed it to me after words and said he would put it on YouTube. He said he would name it "First night in Germany." What a charming fellow.
Today we will go to Dachau and tour the concentration camp. Later we will come back to Munich and see a bit of the town. We leave at 11:45 on an overnight train to Venice...I hope this one goes better than the last!
I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe it has been 9 days already. I may not be able to post in Venice, but should be able to in Rome.
I have been told before that the Germans are very kind and it is so true! On our train ride to Fussen, a girl close to our age sat across the isle from us and began chatting with us. We weren't sure which platform to go to when we switched trains so she found the conductor and asked for us. The conductor did not speak much English so we would not have known without her help! She also gave us some tips on where to find the best food and beer. = ) When we got back to Munich that evening, we took the S Bahn to our train stop but weren't quite sure where to go from there. As we stood in the train station looking at our directions, a couple stopped and asked if we needed help. We showed them our directions and they told us how to get there. We got a little confused in the process, but we found the hostel nevertheless.
This hostel is different from all the others we have stayed. There were 14 people in our room and only one bathroom. The bathroom is all lumped together so if someone is brushing their teeth, you have to wait for them to finish before you can shower. Luckily, Wendy and I were able to "take over" the bathroom for about 45 minutes yesterday. Our roommates weren't so happy, but we were showered, dressed, and ready to go when we exited. The breakfast here is good; cereal, toast, yogurt, bagels, coffee, liverwerst (blech!), and the nastiest juice Wendy has ever tasted...but she kept drinking it. The milk for the cereal was room temperature, which kind of made me want to barf. But hey, it's free food!
We were finally able to do laundry when we got here. They had a small washer and dryer downstairs. They wanted to charge 5 € for one load...but you paid that when you got the detergent. We lucky souls found 3 detergent tablets by the washers and just went for it. Free wash!
Yesterday, we took the 10:30 train to Salzburg. I think I slept almost the entire 1 1/2 there. Once we got there, it was raining (of course). We went to the information desk and purchased our sound of music tour tickets. We then walked about 10 minutes to the bus stop. Once there, we saw a large crowd of people leaving a sound of music tour bus just laughing and having a grand ole time. We thought it must be our bus...but no. We were on a different bus...and had a different tour guide...and there were only 12 people on our bus...for a reason. Our tour guide would talk, then stop and say, "uh, where was I?" We would have to remind him, and then half the time he would say, "Oh, I got off track. Forget that last part." He would also answer his cell phone in the middle of talking. He was horrible! Then the bus driver didn't know where he was going so the guide would have to tell him where to turn in the middle of his "stories." We were on that bus for 4 hours...and it seemed like an eternity. We made 3 stops, one about 30 minutes away from Salzburg. The guide wanted us to go to his friends boat and take a ride and eat apple streudle (sp?) for a mere 11€ extra...we declined. Some people on the bus were suckered into it while the rest of us he made out to be fun haters. While others got on the boat, we walked the town and saw the church where the Von Trapp wedding occured. By this time, we were so tired of our annoying tour guide, we just wanted to jump on one of the busses with the happy people and try to blend. If that didn't work, a cliff would suffice. We were so happy when the tour ended. We walked around Salzburg and went to the Abbey where Maria lived. It is a beautiful town! Much easier to enjoy when you do not have an irritating, almost offensive, tour guide. Oh, did I mention he kept telling us he was badly paid and then asked for tips at the end? Obviously, we skipped out on that contribution.
While walking Salzburg, we kept trying to find a place that sold brautwursts. The one we had the day before was so good! We couldn't find a single place that sold them! We thought for sure they would be sold on every street corner in this area. We are still craving a brautwurst. We hoped to get one back in Munich at the train station.
We headed back to Munich at 8:12 pm. The train went maybe 10 miles, then stopped at a station and told us all to get off. Another train had derailed up ahead and we were to wait for a bus to pick us up and take us to the next station. We were so tired that we just wanted to get back to the hostel and sleep. One hour later, the bus arrived and took us on a 45 minute excursion. We got to the train station, hopped on, and had another 1 1/2 hour ride. By the time we got back, we were about to fall asleep standing. We got back to the hostel after midnight...our original time would have been 10:30. And still...no brautwurst. Maybe today!
While we waited for the bus, I fell asleep on a bench. A man we had been visiting with took it upon himself to video me sleeping with his cellphone. He showed it to me after words and said he would put it on YouTube. He said he would name it "First night in Germany." What a charming fellow.
Today we will go to Dachau and tour the concentration camp. Later we will come back to Munich and see a bit of the town. We leave at 11:45 on an overnight train to Venice...I hope this one goes better than the last!
I hope everyone is doing well. I can't believe it has been 9 days already. I may not be able to post in Venice, but should be able to in Rome.
1 comment:
You guys sound like you're having one big long adventure. Try not to let any more stranger video tape you, OK? I don't want your next blog to include "some nice gent who paid us to take our picture back at his 'studio'"
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