Germany!!! I went to Munich this weekend for Springfest; but I discovered there is much more to Germany than beer!
My first day I woke up earlier with friends to explore around our hostel and start seeing Munich. Where we stayed was a convenient location from the Springfest festival. I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty a city Munich is.
The rest of the day was the Bike tour; it rained here and there but that didn’t ruin what we got see! There is a park in Munich four times as large as Central Park! We got to stop and drink at a Beer Garden — I got a wheat beer and a pretzel!
Beer + Pretzel = Typical German snack!
We went to the festival that night for our liters of beer and had a great time dancing and singing along with the live band; standing on the benches; and making friends with the Germans who were around us!
PROST = Cheers!
Our hostel had small cartons of Ben&Jerry’s; so my friend and I spoiled ourselves when we got back!
The next day I woke up early because two friends and myself signed up to go to the optional Castle Day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle; the castle that Disney modeled his after! It was a beautiful ride on the bus through the German countryside; the bright green grass and villages by the mountains made me want to live there! I saw para sailing and wanted to do that really bad; maybe next time I am in Germany!
We took pictures by the lake; the reflection of the mountain was unbelievable! A wedding was taking place here; and we got to watch the photo shoot from our table at the restaurant. I snuck a picture of a father and son in their lederhosen! We all got frankfurters and french fries for lunch!
The Castle itself was awesome to see — King Ludwig died before it was completed; but if you get to see the detail in the mosaics, gold frescoes, and woodwork in the completed rooms you would see why they didn’t finish!
On the walk back down the hill; we spoiled ourselves with a chocolate covered pretzel! We also went souvenir shopping; and I made my own German hat by buying the hat and then the feather to put on it (a lot cheaper than one already made)!
We also stopped for the Alpine slide — a metal slide that you sit in a sled with a lever to control your speed and it zig zags down a hill. It was so much fun! I pushed it all the way down to go fast; but, it didn’t go that fast!
I found a swing set to play on while I waited for the rest of our group — including our bus driver and his friends — to come down the Alpine slide!
That night; we ate a really good dinner at the brewery across from our hostel, I had roast pork with a potato dumpling and wheat beer — and made our way to the festival. We went on the Ferris Wheel first before we had more beer; probably a smart idea! The views of Munich from the top were spectacular.
Then, we waited in the crowd to get inside the beer tent. When I made it to the front an hour later; I was standing by the glass panel door… it shattered! I covered my face; but when the security guard picked up the giant pieces of glass; the crowd was so tight that he stabbed me in the arm… yeah. my luck. It was more of a poke; but it started bleeding immediately and he said “come with me!” so I followed him through the tent to the other exit and he showed me where the medical trailer was. My friends couldn’t get by the other guard to come with me! I didn’t have anyone’s number besides the Bus2Alps guide, so I let her know what was going on. This tent was not sanitary; they only had a wet paper towel to clean my wound up with! The medics looked at it and told me I should go to the hospital because I probably needed stitches. Great. So, I walked up the street from the festival to the hospital. The nurse there told me I would be waiting all night because all of the doctors were attending to a bad car accident; so I asked for another hospital since I didn’t know how severe my bleeding was, and if I needed stitches I wanted them as soon as possible! She called me a cab and I went to the other hospital. When I finally got to see the Doctor; he cleaned up the cut. I asked if I could have a numbing needle because I thought he was just going to start stitching me without telling me! But, luckily, he told me I would NOT need any stitches! He put a tight band-aid on it and wrapped my wrist with gauze. He called a cab to pick me up and I went back to the hostel. This cab driver spoke more English than the first, (actually a lot more) and we chatted as he pointed out monuments that I didn’t get to see on the bike tour on the drive back. He told be to go to Berlin if I came back to Germany!
So, the second night of Springfest, instead of drinking beer; I was in a hospital – I never made it into the tent!
At the time I was upset; but looking back now it certainly could have been a lot worse — and when I got back everyone wanted to know what happened; and it was funny seeing people’s reaction after they had been drinking at the festival! I got a lot of attention and jokes as well as the night’s stories from friends, which cheered me up. I didn’t let my adventure to the hospital ruin my weekend.
The next morning; I went with all my friends to Dachau Concentration Camp.
What a humbling experience. Anything that involves the Holocaust touches me deeply; so I got emotional inside the museum reading the history of that particular camp, and walking around seeing a barrack and where the prisoners had to stand for role call each morning.
I felt a little rushed leaving because we had to make it back to the hostel in time for the bus; however; we had to wait a while for the shuttle to pick us up from the camp to the station, and when we got to the station, the train wasn’t for another 35 minutes! So, we got Ben&Jerry’s and waited for the train back. Of course, it was raining. But we did all make it back only a few minutes “late” and got on the bus. I tried to sleep most of the bus ride back; but it ended up getting bright and sunny outside and we were driving through the snowy mountains with snow covered pine trees; so I kept my eyes open to take in the view.
Overall, Germany was full of surprises; both good and not so good; but I did enjoy my trip. Germany was such a beautiful country; I would definitely go back to see what other places it has to offer!
