10 Lessons Learned in Munchen

Before we leave for Italy today, a little reflection. Germany is definitely a place to add to the bucket list. Munich is a beautiful city, full of interesting history, color, energy, and excitement. Our time here has been filled with fascinating sites, great street-side entertainment, and cross-your-legs laughter. Oh, and (insert your own adjective here) food.

But before we hop the train, we thought we'd share a few helpful tidbits on how to blend in with the natives.

1. Never, never, ever walk in bicycle lane.
2. Never, never, ever stand on the left of the escalator - if you're moving on the left at the speed of light, you're OK.
3. Do not pack clothes. Pack only water.
4. Know that every German you ask if he/she speaks German will either say no or just a little. They ALL speak English better than most Americans.
5. There are no toilet handles.
6. The sun rises at 4 am. Breakfast is at 8.
7. When getting directions, 100m, 200m, and 300m are all equal distances. There are also many yellow houses.
8. When tipping, know that the server will HELP figure the amount, loudly.
9. If all else fails, look for the Golden Arches.
10. Plan on meeting very nice, helpful people.

Happy 4th of July from Munchen!

We sure did miss seeing the red, white, and blue today. No fireworks, no star bangled banners, no sparklers, no watermelon or baked beans. We certainly did think of the Ol' U.S. of A. Especially when we had been walking around for 4 hours and couldn't find water anywhere. It's amazing how different the water consumption is here. But anyway, God Bless America. We wished you were here!

Our first stop was the Justizpalast (palace of Justice). It was built in 1890 by Friedrich Ritter von Thiersch. Whoever that is. EEK. We got to walk up these amazing marble stair cases and walk into some very old court rooms. Today the building contains the Bavarian Ministry of Justice and parts of the Provincial Court.

There was a lot of reconstruction going on around the city. Including the city's most famous church, the Frauenkirche. Construction began in 1468 but the two towers were not completed until 1488. The building's famous domes on top of each tower were not added until 1525. The cathedral can hold 20,000 people.

There is also a legend that is referred to as the Teufelsschritt (Devil's Footstep), at the entrance of the church. It's a black footprint, which according to legend was where the devil stood when he curiously ridiculed the windowless church. The clever builder, however, tricked the devil by positioning columns so that the windows were not visible from the spot where the devil stood in the foyer. When the devil discovered that he had been tricked, he could not enter the already church. The devil could only stand in the foyer and stomp his foot furiously, which left the dark footprint. Everyone was putting their feet in the footprint, but Mom and I decided we didn't want to be following in the devil's footsteps. So we passed.

Then we took a break for lunch. Ate at a nice little cafe called Hofer Der Stadwirt. I ordered quiche and Mom got a ham, cheese and pineapple sandwich. We paid for water for the 1,643rd time in two days. The waitress stood over mom while she was trying to figure out how many Euros to tip. And then I took this really pretty picture of mom and made her make it her new facebook picture! :)

After lunch we walked to the Residenzstrasse, which is the former home/palace of the Bavarias's ruling family the Wittelsbarchers. It is a 130 room palace and every room was trimmed in gold or marble. Basically a large part of the palace was destroyed in WWII so the rooms that were still in the original shape were few.

We both managed to get in trouble and decided to leave. Don't use flash (which sounds like fish in Deutsch) and don't touch the marble doorways. At that point the tour got a little lengthy so we picked the pace up and headed to Starbucks.

We walked through the English Garden on our way back to the hotel for a nap. Lots of musicians stood around playing the violin or cello. Quite the picturesque scene.

Dinner... oh lord dinner. We asked the receptionist at the hotel were we could eat without having to take the subway back downtown. She gave us directions.... 300 meters, 400 meters, an Italian place on the corner, and no name. After a scary encounter with some German mob restaurateurs we ended up here...

And don't ask me how I ended up with the worlds largest McDonalds cheeseburger ever. Whatever. That menu was complicated.

Day 1: Munich

We had dinner at the Hofbräuhaus, which is one of Munich's premiere beer halls. It was exactly as we imagined. Beer steins bigger than my head, pretzels and wienerschnitzel. Mom orderred an unidentifiable item off the menu and then asked the boy next to us what it was. "Four hot dogs."

The waiters were all dressed in their traditional lederhosen and they had to be flagged down quick, otherwise it'd be 20 minutes later and his arms would be full of a dozen beer steins splashing everywhere. Large groups of friends gathered at tables and would periodically burst into song while chugging beer and slamming their fists on the tables. I couldn't help but think of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast.

We each drank a liter of beer, ate a pretzel, some wieners, a little sauerkraut and then walked back through the streets of Munich to take the subway. We passed the Frauenkirche, Munich's oldest Church from the 15th Century. The architecture was amazing even in the rain and darkness.

In the short time we have been here, we realized it is our charge to make sure that citizens around the world like Americans. At least these two Americans. We watched a street performer who was dishing out jokes across all countries. He was hysterical. But he must have known we were good sports because all the jokes came back to us. Germans and Americans, Mexicans and Americans, Middle Easterners and Americans, Dutch and Americans. It was interesting to hear that most of the American stereotypes that we are aware of hold true in Europe. I was relieved that there were no surprises. It was however slightly embarrassing when we decided to break away from the crowd, he yelled, "Hey Americans! McDonald's doesn't close until 2 a.m.!"

My Turn

Some people feel hiccups more than others. Here’s a BIG one ... Hannah flies United to Frankfurt, I fly US AIR, at different times. Hannah has no worries. No need for her to, I’m worrying for the both of us. I did have 2 extremely interesting seat mates who were both extremely talkative.

Which explains the fetal position.

The Frankfurt airport is hunormous! We’re in Germany for heaven’s sake.

There are Mercedes, Volvos, BMWs, and Audis all over the airport. I just had to ignore the Germans as they stared at me with alarm as I ran from car to car.

The word concourse was nowhere to be seen! In Deutsch it probably translate into something like dumb%^*.

Let me see - beautiful German countryside with quaint little houses or Angry Birds? Right, no contest.

My excellent German kicks in as the conductor makes his announcement. I’m certain that he directs all Munich passengers to debark and take another train.

Confirmation with man on train: Me - point out the window and say Munchen? Obviously no genius, nods yes. Or maybe he’s still laughing at the joke on the American gals.

All comical; all fun!

All Aboard

Made it to Frankfurt without any hiccups. I landed on time and went to get my luggage. The plan was to get a sim card for my phone and text Mom. But the only place to buy a sim card was at a store called O2, which didn’t open until 11. It was only 7:15. Our backup plan was to meet at the intersection of concourse A and concourse B, in front of an Audi show car. (A friend suggested it as a good meeting place.) When I left the concourse to get my luggage I was not able to return. So now mom was waiting at the Audi and I had no way of contacting her. Hiccup numero uno. So I went to the help desk and had them page her over the airport loud speaker. Welcome to Germany!

We board our first train to Munich. Mom immediately falls asleep in the fetal position. I start playing Angry Birds. Every time the train slows, she opens her eyes and either says “Where are we?” or “You should be looking at this! Look at those houses!” And then immediately falls back asleep.

(Yes, that is a piece of chocolate.)

Im carefully listening for the word Munchen on the loudspeaker when the conductor finally mentions it. Mom pops up and says, “I think everybody is getting off here. Grab your stuff.” As we are scrambling to gather our things she asks the German man next to us if he speaks English. He nods.

“Did I just hear that if we are going to Munich that we should get off this train and board train 25?”

German nods again. We exit the train.

Its really cold out by the way. An unexpected 50 degrees. We start looking around and can tell that something is fishy. We are in Ulm. Mom says “Where the heck are we?!”

We both start laughing because we know we screwed up. We’ve been traveling for 26 hours now. We are sitting on our luggage, cold and exhausted in Ulm, Germany. A train pulls up. Mom gets up and says “This is it.”

“Mom, I don’t think it is. I don’t feel comfortable.”

“I do.”

I ask a man boarding next to us, “Do you speak English?”

“Yes”.

“Is this going to Munich?”

“No.”

(We did eventually make it.)

First First Class Flight

Here’s what I have to say about first class. Free drinks! Granted my flight took off at 10:15 a.m. so I was on my best behavior. I only had one bloody mary. Seats were spacious, comfy and best of all- no one talks to you.

Normally when I fly coach, the people sitting next to me want to know my story. “Where are you from?” “What do you do for a living?” “Where is your final destination?” “What are your plans while you’re there?” I try and get my headphones in in time to avoid the small talk. But first class..... no one speaks. Ha! Ok by me.

Landed not too long ago in Washington Dulles Airport. I have about 5 hours until my flight leaves for Frankfurt. Im graciously flying with a companion pass which means i’m not guaranteed a seat. Last night, mom was checking the status of my flight and informed me that there was less than a 5% chance that I would get on board. So making it on the first flight out of Charlotte was a spirit lifter. Now lets keep fingers crossed the second leg of the trip goes just as smoothly!

Mom is scheduled to land in Frankfurt at 6:10 a.m. and I am scheduled to land at 7:10 a.m. But for now, I’m on bloody mary numero dos.

Maybe "Packing Lite" Wasn't the Best Name

We did go through everything and downsize. So imagine what the backpacks were like before! Meh. They have wheels.

Here we go!!!