Munich

June 11

I got up and got ready so that I could catch the 9am shuttle to the train station. As we were walking to the car (I was the only one taking the shuttle), the guy asked if I was interested in the tour that goes to a WWII Jewish Memorial, Neuschwanstein Castle and Andechs Monastery. I was interested and he said that they were going today, but not tomorrow. As I only had today and tomorrow, I decided to go on the tour instead of go into the city. I still needed to get money though so the guy took me to the train station where there was an ATM. The tour didn’t leave until 11am so I just hung out in the lounge. I wish I would have known I was going on the tour earlier though so I could have slept in!

The tour was lead by the owner of the hostel, a Kiwi and there were 8 of us on the tour- 2 Australian girls and 6 Americans (3 girls and 3 guys). Three of the Americans (2 guys [18 and 20] and 1 girl [18]) were traveling together and they were annoying as only immature 18-year-old Americans can be (I would later find out that they’re Trump supporters so everything made a lot more sense and I hated them even more). But the Australians, the American guy traveling alone and I hung out together and they were really nice.

Our first stop was the WWII Jewish Memorial. It’s the sight where 100 Jews were murdered and it’s sad, because it’s hidden away in all of these bushes that it’s clear no one comes out there much. No one (or so we were told) knows why they were brought out there to be murdered or who all was murdered. It’s actually a pretty picturesque setting along the river.

Then it was onto the Neuschwanstein Castle which was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland. The place was packed! You can’t drive up to the castle so we had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk about 20 minutes up to the castle. You can only go into the castle if you go on a tour and we all opted not to do that. So we just admired the outside.

After a couple hours at the castle we drove to Andechs Monastery Brewery. The Monastery is most famous for their beer that they’ve been brewing for hundreds of years. On Erika’s recommendation I got the Doppelbock Dunkel and it was delicious!

Then it was back to the hostel where we just watched more soccer and played games.

June 12

I finally got to the city today! I took the 9am shuttle and made it to the city in plenty of time to meet up for the 10:45 walking tour. It was a good way to orient myself in the city. After the tour I went and got lunch at a “make your own salad” restaurant. My salad was delicious! Then I walked through the street festival that was going on and headed to the English Garden which is Munich’s version of Central Park – only bigger! I found the famous Munich surfers and watched them for a while. In the river that flows through the English Garden there are a couple of standing waves and adventurous folks have started surfing on them. They’re really fun to watch.

I walked around the English Garden some more and grabbed a beer at the biergarten which is supposed to be one of the best in the city. I went up one of the church’s clock tower and got an amazing view of Munich. Then I walked around some more, grabbed dinner and headed back to the train station. I caught the shuttle back to the hostel and then watched some soccer and packed. Tomorrow I’m off to Prague.

June 13

My bus leaves at 12 so I caught the 10am shuttle just to be safe. The train connects to the bus station and I was there in plenty of time. I grabbed some food and snacks for the road and then waited for my bus. The bus ride was nice and uneventful and I didn’t have a seatmate! I made it to the Prague bus station around 5pm and made my way to the hostel which was just a metro ride away. I got checked in and relaxed for a little and then headed out to find food before the 7pm night walking tour the hostel was putting on. When I got down to reception I saw Jeanne, one of my friends from Belgrade! We caught up real quick, I grabbed some food and then we left on our tour.

This wasn’t really an informative tour, but we grabbed some beers and then Brent showed us around. We saw a lot of interesting statues the famous Czech artist, David Cerny. Along the way we picked up an American couple and come to find out the wife is a Gaucho! So we bonded 🙂 After the walk around the city, we grabbed a couple more beers and sat along the riverfront for a while. Then Brent took us to a local pub where they have a bar in the basement which actually used to be the first floor of the home, but, as the river tends to flood badly and often, the city was raised about 5 meters so now there are a lot of basement restaurants and pubs. The American couple, 2 Canadian guys (Wilson and Vinny) and I sat at a table and chatted. The American couple left but then Jeanne joined us and the 4 of us went out after the pub. We were headed to this live music bar but we ran into some other American/Canadians and they invited us to go out with them. We ended up at this lame, expensive bar around 2am so Jeanne, Wilson, Vinny and I left after 1 drink and just headed back to the hostel.