Graduation trip to Germany, through journal entries and pictures
Part II
Munich for the second time
Munich for the second time
In the morning, we called Judith in Munich, and arranged to meet her in Munich. We walked to the train staition, just barely caught the train, and went and met her at a famous old beer hall. It was fun, we had a little to drink with our lunch, and our waiter flirted shamelessly with Judith. He had all sorts of little pranks up his sleeve.
Eventually, we went towards the Englischen Garten, where we were to meet Melissa, the other exchange student we had at Chicago Waldorf. But on the way, we stopped at the Waldorf school in Munich, which was very Waldorfian. And we ran into one of Judith's friends, who was just going to meet som more friends in the englischen Garten. So after we saw the school, we walked over to the Englischen Garten, and met some of Judith's friends, and talked a little, until Melissa got there. Then we walked around a little (it was really beautiful, with a lot of trees and grass), and went up to the top of a big hill, to get a view of the city.
Then we caught a train back to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and Aaron and I caught our train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
The place that Aaron found on the internet for 27 Euros a night has a bedroom with a king-sized bed, a bathroom with a shower, a living room with a kitchen attached, that means a fridge, a sink, a stove, an oven, plates, slilverware, cups, pots and pans, a TV, a Murphy bed, a table with chairs, and finally, a balcony, with a view of the mountains. Plus, we get to borrow their bikes for free, so we've been taking them all around, usually to the train station.
Yesterday, we took two buses to Füssen, where we got off among a bunch of farms, where we could see Neuschwanstein.
We just walked towards it. But when we got to the base of the cliff where it sits, we couldn't get up. So we followed the base of the cliff around, until we saw a path above us, and climbed through brush up to it. Then we found out we had to buy tickets at the base of the mountain, so we walked down the path. Then I was too tired to walk back up again, and when we found that a horse-drawn coach ride up to the castle was 5 Euros, we took it.
We got there just in time for our tour, which was a little disappointing. The castle was amazing, but our tour guide had kind of a strong accent, and I personally was more impressed by the inside of Herrenchiemsee than the inside here. There were some spectacular rooms, and some amazing woodwork, but the paintings weren't as good quality, and the rooms in general were not quite as breathtaking. The outside of the castle, though, was of course amazing. There were so many different little windows and turrets which served absolutely no purpose. The whole thing is beautifully asymmetrical.
After the tour, we went up on the mountain. We took turns being a little cautious of the cliffs we were passing, but overall, we got really high, looking down on the castle. It was great.
Then when we finally came down, there was no one there, so we decided to walk over to Füssen, to try to catch a train back to Munich. It was a lot farther than we thought. We finally hitchhiked the last couple of miles.
When we got to the Bahnhof and found out the next train was at 11:15, and arrived in Munich at 1:20, we decided we'd have to take a taxi. We stopped first for dinner, but then we got in a cab, with a driver who spoke English, and paid 85 Euros to get back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Zugspitze
On Saturday the 27th, we went to the Zugspitze. We rode the bikes to the Zugspitzbahnhof, bought our tickets for 40 Euro, and got on the train. It was a cogwheel train, with a gear in the middle which turned, pulling the train on teeth in the middle of the track. It was about a 50-minute ride, and we had to switch trains twice. The last train took us into the mountain, up through a spiraling tunnel to the top. When we got outside, it was pretty cold. There was snow everywhere. There was a little touristy restaurant and souvenir shop. We ate lunch, then went out into the snow. There were ski slopes, large and small, with mountain peaks all around. The closest one to us had a slope going up almost to the top, and Aaron decided he was going to climb it. I was already tired from climbing a 45 degree incline, and 60 degrees was out of the question. So he went without me. He took my camera, since his had run out of batteries. I waited for a little, but got cold, so I went back to the lodge to find out when the last cable car to the actual Zugspitze left (we were only on the Zugspitzplatt, a big plateau under the Zugspitze). I shouted up to Aaron, of course, to tell him where I was going.
I found out we had just missed one, and the next one was in another half hour. I went back out to see Aaron up really high on the slope. He was just a little dot now. There was a German tourist watching him with binoculars. I shouted up, and he answered with a shout. I told him the next cable car left in a half hour, and he said he was coming down. He slid down the slope, and I slid down the small slope I was on. We started heading back to the lodge, but we took a detour to slide down another slope. Then we went in, our pants completely soaked, to wait for the cable car. We got on, our only fellow passengers being four ladies and the driver. The view was incredible. When we got up there, we walked up some stairs to a little café, where Aaron got some pudding. We had a nice view of the highest point in Germany, a little peak about 7 feet above and 20 feet away from where we were sitting. We sat for a while, then went to board the cable car down, stopping for a pretzel first.
We found out we could take a cable car all the way down the mountain instead of going to the lodge and transferring to the train through the tunnel. So we did. We waited a half hour for the cable car, and got on with more people than I could count. The car was filled to capacity, meaning we were squashed against the window. On Aaron’s other side was a smelly woman, and the man next to me was holding on to a hand hold which was dangling from the ceiling over my head, so his armpit was right behind my head. The ride was long and uncomfortable, but the view made up for it. We could see Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which was pretty far away.
When we got down, we caught the train back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. On the train, we sat across from a German couple, who were very interested in our trip, how we had learned German, and what we were doing next year. They were nice. When we got back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we took our bikes back to Gaestehaus Christina, stopping on the way to get deodorant, soap, toothpaste, oven pizza, cola, and 5 euro vodka. We made the pizzas, ate them, and then went out again to the Kino.
We quickly packed up our stuff and checked out. We said goodbye and walked to the train station, with our backpacks this time. We found out when our bus left for Linderhof (we chose Linderhof over Hohenschwangau, to keep with the castles that Ludwig actually Built) and then went to lock up our luggage. We figured we’d come back to Garmisch to catch the train to Munich later that night. While Aaron wrote in his journal, I went in and asked about getting to Cuxhaven overnight, and found out that there was one night train (Nachtzug) which left Munich at 22.57 and got into Hamburg at 7.29. So we needed to get back to Garmisch at 21.04 to catch the train to Munich in time. Since our bus to Linderhof left at 15.40, I didn’t see how it made sense for us to come back to Garmisch, so we got our bags (I jettisoned a little cargo, including nasty old socks and the blanket I took from the plane) and went to wait at the bus stop.
Linderhof
Our bus finally came, and we took it and transferred to another to get to Linderhof. We got tickets for the 17.15 tour, and went to stow our baggage at the Hotel Linderhof. We went up to the castle to find it under renovation. The entire front (it’s a pretty small castle) was covered with a canvas photo of the front. We took the tour, which was good. Our tour guide was Italian with a cool accent and curly black hair gelled to the side. He was the best out of our three guides. The castle itself wasn’t quite as impressive as Herrenchiemsee or Neuschwanstein. It was the only castle he ever finished, and it’s pretty small. He also lived in Linderhof more than in the other two. This was obvious, from scuff marks on the walls, chipped statues, and the feel of the whole place was not quite as... pure. It was still very beautiful thought. Again, everything was about Louis XIV. Ludwig was obsessed with him.
After the tour, we went up to tour the Venus grotto, but the next tour was at 18:00, and I was worried about catching our train, so we left. We got our bags, and went down to the parking lot. There were no more buses, but we got the guy at the souvenir shop to call us a cab. We waited for a while, but he finally came.
Going Back North
When we were a little bit along, I asked the driver if there was a city nearby where we could get a train directly to Munich, so we wouldn't miss our Night Train. He started talking fast about how we could have taken this train, but we missed it, and maybe we could get that train from such-and-such to such-and-such, until we were really confused. But then he said "Schaumemal" which is a blurb meaning "Schauen wir mal", or we'll see. So I just leaned back and looked at my sheet which said the trains on it. Then I realized that it was a little before 19:00, and our train left from Munich at 23:00. Damn 24 hour-time! I realized that we had two more hours than I thought, because I wasn't used to calling 11:00 pm 23:00. So I told him never mind, we'd just get the next train to Murnau from Oberammergau and transfer to a train to Munich. I told him, "Yeah, we're from Chicago, and we're not used to 23 o'clock, 19 o'clock, etc." He just laughed and complimented us on our German.
Eventually, we went to dinner, bringing the remainder of our cheap vodka from the night before. We each had a soup, although Aaron claimed he wasn't hungry, and he also got sandwiches. Then we ordered a cute little 4 cl bottle of vodka, and split it, knocking it back so we could start our game. we played with the cheap vodka: "Liebe Ritterinnen und Ritter, ich bitte Sie um Aufnahme im Ritterclub..." It took him four more times to finally get the whole thing, even though he claimed earlier that he could do it then without example. The point of the game is, it's harder when you're a little tipsy. Anyway, once he got it right, we went to bed. I climbed under my seat, and he climbed under his. I covered my face with a pillow taken from the seat, and put my headphones on.
Crossing Back Over
It was a lot more crowded this time. We threw our stuff down, and just wandered a little. We bought tickets to see Kill Bill Volume 2 at 8:30. Meanwhile, we went to our seats, read, and wrote in our journals. I slept more than anything else. We went to the film, which was very violent, and we probably would have understood it better if we’d seen the first one. After the film was out, we went out, and the night club was in full swing. There was a little group of professional dancers, one man and 3 women. They were really good. Then they went off, and the band started playing. I went and got us each a Feigling, but the waitress took them because they hadn’t been bought at their bar. I went to bed, Aaron stayed up to listen to the band. I slept until the morning, when I got up a little to write in my journal and go outside for a while. I finally went back to sleep and woke up when we were there.
London
When we got into London, we found out they were on the verge of a Tube strike. Luckily, it didn’t start until 4:30, so we got back to the hostel OK. After checking in, we got on the bus to Big Ben (the buses weren’t affected). We got off to see it, then walked past it to Westminster Abbey. On the way, there was a statue of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) and I was reminded of Monty Python; “Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England... was born in 1599 and died in 1658...” It was funny. We went over to Westminster Abbey and waited in an atrociously long line to get in. The building itself was beautiful, but the whole place was covered with so many graves that it was a bit of a let down from what I expected. We did see some original effigies of royalty, which were really cool, and life-like. After the Abbey, we walked to Trafalgar square, which had a nice statue of Lord Nelson on a really high pedestal, but other than that, wasn’t that interesting. We walked to Buckingham Palace, which wasn’t as spectacular as Ludwig’s castles. We did walk through some beautiful gardens getting there, though.
Then we decided we wanted to go to Picadilly Circus, so we got on the bus. Then we asked the conductor if we were going the right direction, and we weren’t. It was funny, because it was the same Rastafarian who had informed us that we were going the wrong way last time. We got on the right bus, and got there. It was like Times Square in New York, with the big LCD ads, but when you round one corner, you come to Broadway. There were all sorts of theatres playing musicals like Chicago, Les Miserables, the Phantom of the Opera, and some less known ones. We thought about going to Les Mis, but tickets were too expensive. We took the bus back to the hostel and went to sleep for a while.
Flying Back
I set my alarm for 7, and got up with it. I packed up my stuff, then got Aaron up. We got breakfast at the buffet. Since there was a tube strike, we asked how to get to Heathrow. The receptionist told us that we could take this bus and transfer to the Heathrow bus at Victoria station. So we did. We took the bus to Victoria station. There, they told us that we had to walk four blocks Northwest to Hyde Park Corner to catch one. There, they told us they didn't think that bus ran anymore, at least not here, maybe we should try catching it at Victoria. By this time, we were really fed up, and we decided we were taking a cab. This turned out to be difficult. We wandered around, hailing different cabs, until a lovely businesswoman took pity on us pathetic tourists and told us the cabs weren't allowed to stop where there was red along the curb. As we looked around, that was everywhere. She pointed us to a cab station, and we FINALLY caught one.
Our driver was Jamaican, and he said it would be 35 or 40 pounds to the airport. We agreed, and got in. The whole ride, he was playing funny Jamaican versions of different songs, and dancing to them (there was a lot of traffic). By the time we got to the airport, the fare box said 46.80 or something. We dug in our pockets, and found we only had 45.10, but he took it, and we got out. We ran to our gate, to find that the flight was being delayed because the crew wasn't there. It was only about 10 minutes, but it was enough for us to miss our connecting flight in Toronto. We went through customs, which was extremely confusing. They told us that we should put our bags on this carousel, so we did. They still lost them. ~THE END~
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Zugspitze
Linderhof
Going Back North
Crossing Back Over
London
Flying Back
The famous Munich Rathaus
Judith
Aaron and Judith in the Munich University
The fountain in front of the University
Melissa, Aaron, and Judith in front of the Chinesiche Turm
Melissa
Judith
The dome of the pavillion we sat in
Aaron, Melissa, me, and Judith... in profile
The view from our balcony
Our living room/kitchen
On the way there
Aaron and the horses that pulled us up there
Us in front of Neuschwanstein
One of the towers
The view of the Alps
A slug
Hohenschwangau
Hohenschwangau and the lakes behind it
The waterfall looking down from the Marien bridge
The view from the mountain
The sun over Füssen
Aaron on the mountain with Hohenschwangau behind him
The sunset reflecting off a mountain on the way to Fuessen
Aaron on the Zugspitzplatt
Me
Us
The view down onto the Alps
Two pictures Aaron took while he was up on the slope
Aaron in the cable car
The view up
The view down
The view of the Alps from the restaurant
A sign informing us that there was "Danger of life" if we exited that way
That's Garmisch-Partenkirchen off in the distance
That peak in the clouds is where we were
I ordered one ticket to “Uebermorgen” (they don’t call it that), and Aaron got one for The Day After Tomorrow. We had 40 minutes, so we went to an internet café and checked our email. Then we saw the movie, went back, ate the last pizza, and watched soccer. Then we pulled out the vodka, and I taught Aaron “Liebe Ritterennen und Ritter...” It was fun. We went to bed, and slept until 11:30, which was bad, because we were supposed to check out at 12.
Our fun for the evening
The mural on the side of a house. These were ubiquitous in the area.
A trash can in an ice cream shop
Aaron at Linderhof
The sign informing us there is no flashlight or video in the palace
Ludwig's harmonia
Our guide showing us Ludwig's bed
A bed canopy
The portrait of some French nobleman
A room of mirrors
Our guide being asked by some annoying American whether he thought Ludwig had lost his sense of being German, because he was so obsessed with Louis XIV. It made me wish I was Canadian for a second.
The fountain behind the palace
The view of a mountain on the way to the Venus grotto
He dropped us off at the Oberammergau station, and the ride was just 19.50 Euro. We caught the next train, which came after 40 minutes, to Murnau. We tried to call Judith from there, since we would be in Munich for a couple of hours. But her phone was busy, and her cell phone was off. We caught the train to Munich, and went to an internet cafe so I could check my email. As Aaron so bluntly put it, I'm addicted to email.
Eventually, we went back to the train station, and found the track our train was leaving from. It said that reservations were necessary, but the ticket office was closed. We thought we were screwed, and we found out that the next train to Hamburg would leave at 4, so we could technically take that one, and catch the next train, getting to Cuxhaven just in time for our boat. But we went and asked the conductor, and she said that we could just get on, and pay for our reservation when they came around to check tickets. So we got on, found a couple seats empty, and put our stuff down. I went and changed into Pajamas, and then found out that since our seats were the last in the car, if we crawled under them from the back, we could actually lay flat on the floor and stretch out. Aaron laughed at me, but when it came time to sleep, he did he same.
Me asleep in the train
Aaron, in a different position
After a while, the conductor came through, and she got a big kick out of us lying under the seats, because it's funny-looking, where you see an empty seat, and then feet sticking out from under it. She asked us for 7 Euro, the reservation fee, and checked our rail passes. She laughed a lot when Aaron tried to get his coins out and dropped them, because he didn't have the right orientation to hold them right. He said, "Ich weiss, dass wir blöd aussehen," meaning, I know we look stupid. She said, "Das haben Sie gesagt," or, You said that, in other words, I didn't say anything. It was funny.
Eventually, I got up and sat in my seat to fall asleep, because the floor turned out to be hard after a while. I probably slept for about 2 or 3 hours total. I don't like sleeping while I'm moving. Anyway, we got off in Hamburg, walked around for about ten minutes, then went back in to catch the train to Cuxhaven.
The train was horrible. The first car smelled like cigarette smoke, the next like human waste. We finally found a car with a relatively neutral smell, and sat down. The ride was uneventful, except that a group of kids got on, which brought back memories of Sunshine House in Ireland. We got off in Cuxhaven with a whole day there in front of us, so we walked to the internet café and checked our email.
After leaving the internet café, we went and bought food for the boat: bread, nutella, and a 6-pack of Ja! Cola (2.29 Euro). We also bought some little bottles of Feigling, a vodka and fig mix, because they were cheap. We stopped at the post office to mail last-minute postcards, then went to find lunch. We had a long time before our boat sailed. We had lunch at a department store. After that, we went back to the internet café, because we had a really dumb half-joking dispute over the spelling of the German girl’s name in the movie Eurotrip. The lady in the café made fun of us, since we had just left there, and she knew us from when our trip was at it’s beginning. I won, it was spelled Mieke, not Mike, although they think it’s Mike in the movie. (That’s the joke, he thinks his pen pal is a guy.) When we left, the lady said “See you in a few minutes.” Ha ha. Then we went and sat in a park for a while, and then made our way over to the dock. We got really lost, and went a really long way around, but we were so early that by the time we got there, we still had to wait before we could board. We boarded without incident.
We finally got out and caught the train to London. This was when we had a little fight. It started as just joking, throwing bits of bread at each other, but then I took the bread, and the a bunch of other stuff, off the table, and Aaron got pissed. He took an empty bottle of Ja! Cola which had a few drops in it, and threatened to dump it in my lap if I didn’t give the bread back. I thought he was joking. I grabbed the bottle, we tugged, then he twisted my arm backwards. We exchanged a few words, and I took my bag and went to the next car. I waited until I cooled down, and I got ready to go back and apologize, but Aaron beat me to it. We both apologized, and we were OK then. This just demonstrates how much like brothers Aaron and I are. For those of you who don’t know, Aaron and I have been best friends since we were 4 years old, and we’ve been in the same class in school since kindergarten.
The house of parliament, with Big Ben
Looking up at Big Ben
Aaron next to the House of Parliament
The arch over the entrance to Westminster Abbey
The towers of Westminster Abbey
The view of the "Eye of London" on the way to Buckingham Palace
Aaron under one of the gates
Me and Big Ben
Big Ben viewed from Trafalgar Square
We got up at around 9 and went down to the bar, which was packed. We ordered pizza which we got cheap because we were guests. Aaron got a shot of “Absinthe”, which turned out to not be real Absinthe. It tasted like strong mouthwash. Plus it was 4 pounds for a shot. I got a shot of Jameson, and liked it better this time, compared with when I tasted it in Dublin. After that, we just got cheap Alcopops. We played a couple games of pool with two English guys our age. They were nice. At 11:30, the bartender told us we had to stop playing, and we went up to bed.
Aaron in the cab
The cab driver
When we got out in O'Hare, we were supposed to go to a different terminal to get our baggage, but we went to baggage claim in the same one we came in at, so we got lost. I finally stopped at a payphone to call my dad's cellphone, and he came and got us. But our bags weren't there. They had been left in Toronto, and would arrive in the morning. And they did, so it all worked out. Yay!
Email me at ngeorgegeige@yahoo.com
and let me know what you thought!
-Nathan