Munich, why did I not study here?!

So to start off, I absolutely LOVED Munich! It is by far the best place that I have been, but getting there was not the easiest task in the world, but it is okay because without a little struggle, no great story can come to be!

Glockenspiel in Munich at Night

So we (two of my friends that went and myself) left early Friday morning, 4am wakeup to be exact with a 5am departure from my apartment. We journeyed on down to the bus stop, about 15 min. walk, which is much closer than the actual bus station! About 5 minutes before the bus is suppose to arrive, a taxi driver pulls up and says that this route is no longer running for the season. Now i secretly think that he was lying and just wanted to make more money and since he was going to the airport anyways, he said that, but we got in the taxi with the lady that he was already taking and got a ride to the airport. Because of this we were there at like 5:40am and had like an hour and a half to kill!

The Fabulous butcher where we ate lunch

We get to the gate only to realize that our boarding passes are printed back to back and of course they have to rip some shit off the bottom, meaning we need to find some place in Munich where we can reprint our boarding passes to come home. Luckily our hostel was extremely nice and they printed it for us! Anywho, so we get on the plane from Cork to Dublin and right back off. Since it is like a 20 minute flight, it doesn't even seem like you are flying! Prior to getting on the plane, I ask the flight attendant if we will be able to make our connection since we only had like an hour. She didn't know, and sadly enough, she was not the only person.

The May Pole... all in the name of beer 

So we get off and start casually jogging through the airport because we have to go through security, passport control, etc. We get to passport control where the line is pretty long and takes awhile to get through since half of the people do not speak English, UGH! Taking a step back, one of my friends has an EU passport, so she just has to show it to the people and walk through while my other friend and I have to go through the "all other passport" line. So the EU friend decided to just go ahead of us and left us to fend for ourselves. I finally approach the guy and he decides to start chatting me up since I have a temp residence card, when I am like buddy I have a flight to make, am I going to make it?! He told me to proceed straight up the escalator at the end of baggage claim and I would be close. So with 30min. to make the connection, we jog over there only to find out that they cannot scan our ticket until we go to the Ryanair desk to get a stamp. So we have to exit the airport, come back into the airport, get our ticket stamped, go through security and then we can get to our connection. So off we go outside and back in only to be cutoff by the old hag who cut to the front of the line to get her ticket stamped! I was like F@!$, are you kidding me, and to top it off, she was waving her husband over because she did not have her passport. I was like no way, so I think the guy in front of me must have heard me cussing this lady out and let me cut in front of him to have the desk lady stamp our thing really quickly. So I ask her where security is and of course she points us in the wrong direction, of course, so we go to this restaurant area only to have to run back to the opposite end of the airport to go through security. With about 15-20mins until our plane is suppose to leave, we book it through the airport and eventually reach our gate in time to line up and board!!!

River in the English Garden

2 hours later, we reach Memmimgan the airport that is in the middle of nowhere Germany that of course only Ryanair flies into, so we make a connecting bus, which was 10 times nicer than the airplane! About an hour and a half later we reach Munich, get to our hostels, drop our stuff off and hit the town. Not knowing where we are going, we just started walking. We walked to the main part of town, had a pretzel, some nuts and plenty of picture taking time! After walking as far as we could in the rain, we headed back to the hostel and hit up the bar. Might I say that the Euro Youth Hostel in Munich makes a mean cocktail. Don't fear I also had a German beer! That night's was delightful, but the one that I had the following day was not so hot! Since we had a long day of travel, I called it quits around 11:30 and headed back to my bed. It is a good thing that I am a sound sleeper considering my bed was against the wall that backed karaoke!

Surfing in the English Garden

So the next day came to be and we decided to go on a Free walking tour of the city (By free, it means that you tip according to how you feel the tour went). Now if you are ever in Munich and have 3 hours to kill and really want to learn what the city is all about, hit up Wombat's hostel's Free walking tour with Ozzie! He is amazing and truly makes you feel like you are citizen of Munich, or at least want to become one! So we headed off around 11 and learned some vital information. Do not "J-walk," it is a 40 euro ticket and increases with each violation. Even at 1am, they have cameras and you will get a ticket. Luckily when we did this on multiple occasions the previous day, we did not get caught. Do not cross the tram tracks and traffic while trying to enter the west side of the city, you will be fined. Good thing we only did that going one direction the day before. Finally, do not vomit in public, nor at a restaurant, you will be fined for that! Bet you thought we did that too?? No, we were good little girls =)

Anyways, so on our walking tour we did it all, saw it all and learned it all! We learned that in the Bavarian constitution it states that you can drink a litre of beer at work a day without getting fired. We drank a German beer (the bad one) and ate a bratwurst (delicious). We discussed the birth of Nazism and how it actually started at the Hofbrauhaus. We saw the Glockenspiel do its thing. We learned that most of Munich is under 60 years old since the majority of it was bombed in WWII. The 3 things that remain from prior to this time only do so because they were the tallest landmarks and therefore were used as points to navigate off of for pilots of WWII. Man, the day just kept going on and on and it was sooo amazing! I highly, highly recommend a walking tour for anyone in any city!!

Crematory

So after our walking tour we headed back into town, did some powerhouse shopping before all the stores closed considering the fact that nothing would be opened on Sunday since the majority of the city is Catholic... This again is another fine example of why you should avoid traveling on Sundays! Anywho, after we walked the city, basically twice that day, we headed back to our hostel and just sat around talking the night away. This was probably a good idea considering we were heading off to Dachau concentration camp the following day.

Early to bed meant early to rise. We were up around 9:30am since we thought that our tour began at 10:15. After wondering over to the train station, to the tourist office, back to the hostel and then back to the train station to figure out where we were suppose to meet, we found a nice lady, giving different tours, who informed that the Dachau tour guide was sick and not giving tours today. Just our luck, but since we were determined, we went and figured out how to get there by train, because after all, we were in the train station! So we ended up getting tickets for like 4 euro each, sweet, already saving 11 euro! We get to the concentration camp to find out that it is free, so the best thing that could have happened to us was that guy being sick because we saved some money!

Work is Freedom

I would have to say that if you get the chance to go to a concentration camp, do it! I am so fascinated with what Hitler was able to do and to be in the heart of it is so eerie and amazing at the same time. Dachau is the first concentration camp that Hitler started and was originally used to house those who were against his political ideologies and was later used for those who were not a part of his superior race... It was really interesting walking through a building that so many prisoners walked through, showered in, were beaten in, ate in, lived in... They did not have as much memorabilia as I would have hoped, but they had dishes, clothing, beds, and different items that they were forced to give over when entering the camp. The museum part was very fascinating, but it wasn't until we entered the crematory that things got real. To see a place where so many people died and be the rooms that dead bodies were stored in, now that gets you.

The Chinese Tower/ Beer Garden

After we left the concentration camp, we headed back to town where we just finalized what little shopping we could since most every place was closed (Sunday and Catholic), secured my appetite with my desire to eat in McDonalds in every country I go to and wondered through the streets and parks for one last look. We went to this park called the English Garden. It was beautiful and had a lot going on. The two cool things that were going down were the surfer's wave and the Chinese Tower. At one end of the park there is a part of the river that gets enough wave type action that people actually take their boards out there and surf the waves! I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it! There is also a beer garden that is host to a Chinese Tower which is cool, but would probably be better to visit in the summer or not on a Sunday when people are actually out! It was also rumored that there is a naked beach, but it was way too cold for anyone to be out there, so we didn't go. We eventually called it, rather early again, due to our early departure from the city to the airport.

The final noteworthy thing I experienced on this trip was in the Dublin airport. We were so excited to see food since we had not eaten since breakfast, so I snatched up the last Margarita panini this little shop had only to have some guy take it thinking it was his. He took a huge bite and then said sorry, this isnt mine. Since I was sooo hungry I did not even care, I had them cut his bite off and I finished the sandwich. Needless to say, the hospitality in the Dublin airport is not very good considering they did not offer me a refund after they discovered that there were no more of the sandwich I ordered!


Oh well, the over all trip to Munich was amazing and I advise anyone and everyone to go if you get the chance!

The Devil's Footprint

I do have a couple of side notes for those who are planning on doing a little traveling in Munich, or really anywhere in Europe, but other then that, I think that is all for now, but until my next adventure.... Slàinte!




Side Notes:

- Ryanair may be cheap, but there is a reason for that!
   *If you expect a 2 hour long sale's pitch, fly Ryanair
   *If you do NOT want to know where you need to be, fly Ryanair
   *If you expect nothing more than to get from point a to point b, fly Ryanair
   *If you want no leg room, fly Ryanair
   *If you don't mind not getting those fun little peanut packages, fly Ryanair
   *If you want a good laugh every time your flight arrives on time, fly Ryanair

-Go to Munich (or anywhere) in the off season!
   *Cheap hostel
   *Don't get to attend a beer festival, but there are tons of beer gardens to drink at year around
   *People wear lederhosen (literally, leather pants) year around
   *Less people
   *Everything is cheaper!!