Easter weekend: Munich

After arriving back safely in Frankfurt on Thursday after a 3-4 hour trip on the Autobahn, I had dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant down the road with my friend Yannic and then walked home to rush around unpacking/repacking/printing directions&maps&guidebooks for my 6AM Friday departure to Munich/Prague. Friday morning, I met my Swedish au pair friend Louise at the Frankfurt Suedbahnhof, where we took the ICE to Aschaffenberg (the closest city to Frankfurt in Bavaria, the other side of the state border).

Ahh, early morning train travel :)

From here, we were able to buy cheap all-encompassing "state tickets," where we could travel by regional trains anywhere within Bavaria for the day (regional trains meaning slow trains). Our trip went something like this:

- Aschaffenberg --> Wuerzburg: pretty uneventful. There was a several troupes of bikes on the train, and apparently when one troupe got off, they accidentally unloaded one extra bike. The announcement went something like this, "If you are travelling with your bike today, please check and make sure you still have yours on the train. If not, it was unloaded at our previous stop... sorry about that." We sat across from 4 very typical Bavarian men- large, wearing short shorts, and drinking beers at 8:30 in the morning.

- Wuerzburg --> Nurnberg: packed train! Many people were sitting on the floor, and people with strollers were not glanced highly upon. We could barely move through the cars but finally found 2 seats together - albeit, with little to no space for luggage, so we were still fairly crammed. On the trains in Germany, there is occasionally a cart that goes up and down the aisles selling chips, coffee, candy, and beer. On this particular train, it was so crowded that the buggy could barely get through. When he got to our seats, there was a man standing there that stood his ground and would not even try to let the poor German man with the buggy through- to the point that there was yelling from the other passengers... and the man just stood there. Then the yelling evolved into pushing and they pretty much almost duked it out on the train - had there been enough space, they probably would have. In the meantime, the buggy man stayed and chatted with us passengers. I tried getting a photo of the occasion:

 

We all decided that the man must just be Russian and just wanting to fight. Which leads to our next train, 

Wuerzburg --> Munich!! Another packed train - after walking through 4 cars, we finally found 2 empty seats - one with a family of Russians and one next to a large German. After asking the youngest of the Russian family if the seat next to him was free, he responded with a, "For you? Yes." ... so I got the lovely pleasure of sitting between him and the window and across from his parents. After telling them about the last encounter on our train of the near-fight, they looked at me as if still waiting for the punch line. I continued - hello? They were yelling and pushing the whole way here! Right next to me! They shrugged and replied, "Yeah, and? That is completely normal... in Russia, anyway." ... which basically confirmed our beliefs that the fighter on the other train was also a Russian. Anyway, it was a lovely trip, them asking me about "Obama and Donald Trump Land," while I sat there trying to decipher their language of mixed Russian, German, and English. After 2 hours on the train (with a grand total of 6.5 hours of travelling), we finally made it to Munich! It was a BEAUTIFUL day- we "checked in" to our couchsurfer's house and then did some sightseeing: 

Decorated for Easter!

Frauenkirche

Neues Rathaus ("New" City Hall)

Random girls on the street dressed in traditional German garb!

Hofbraeuhaus, woohoo! One of Munich's oldest beer halls and the 2nd largest beer tent at Oktoberfest.

My ONE LITER stein of Starkbier :)

Giant pretzels!

I am mildly skeptical about finishing this... but don't worry...

I did! (Thumbs up)

Then we walked to the Englischer Garten...

Naked man! With a non-naked man! Sunbathing! What the hell!?

Chinaesische Biergarten

More giant pretzels!

My friend Louise and I on a bike taxi :)

The neverending wave in Munich

Such a surfer girl ... 

 

 

 

After having been in Munich two times already, I can still safely say that it is one of my favorite cities: friendly natives, German-speaking, good beer, beautiful landscape, gorgeous architecture - all-encompassingly amazing! I can't wait to be able to visit again. 

And after a great afternoon sightseeing, we went back to our wonderful couchsurfer's apartment and decided that since we had to wake up at 5:15 to catch our bus to Prague, we ordered in a mushroom pizza and a bottle of white wine and called it a day. :) A wonderful start to our Easter weekend... the rest to come tomorrow.

 

Easter week has started!

As per a last minute notification from my host family, I am writing this post from Muenster, Germany. My host family informed me that they would be gone for the week preceding Easter- two days in Legoland and the long weekend in Bawinkel, which is where Andrea’s parents live in North Germany. They invited me along with them, but my host father’s argument for Bawinkel being “fun” was that they had an indoor pool I could swim in… I opted to stay behind and make my own trips. Earlier, when I was in Cologne, I met a group of people from Muenster that told me I should visit sometime- so, I called them up, and they told me of course, and I found a rideshare that left Frankfurt yesterday and am now here today. For Easter weekend, I found a bus ticket from Munich to Prague for 9 euros, which I immediately bought, rather than spending Easter weekend by myself in Frankfurt. So my week is going to look something like this: 

Yesterday: Frankfurt --> Muenster (via rideshare)

Today: Muenster

Tomorrow: Muenster --> Frankfurt (via my friend Yannic driving on his way home from Amsterdam)

Friday: Frankfurt --> Munich (via train)

Saturday: Munich --> Prague (via bus)

Sunday: Prague

Monday: Prague --> Frankfurt (via rideshare)

(A little about rideshare: when someone decides to take a trip, they put up the “ride” online on the rideshare website, along with their starting city, cities they’re passing through on the way, time they’re leaving, final city, and their low fee of riding along with them.) 

So! A lot of travelling – but I am excited. I feel like I have done a good job making my plans to see as much as possible, in the smallest amount of time, for the smallest amount of money. I left Frankfurt yesterday around 2:30 and got into Muenster around 5:30. The ride itself – a little scary! (On the Autobahn) The roads here are much more narrow, few side lanes to speak of, and many guardrails and semis imposing into your lane. The people I was riding with, however, were really great. It was a couple driving from Frankfurt to Bremen to take a cycling tour along the river for their Easter holiday and another ridesharer that had just arrived at the Frankfurt airport after a 30 hour journey from the Phillippines, where he had spent the last 2 months on a type of job helping teach the kids there and build buildings – now going back home to Bremen, where he studies sociology. Needless to say, we were able to share many stories and have a ride that passed quickly for the 3 hour trip. They dropped me off right in Muenster, where my friend Christoph met me on his bike to start showing me around the city. 

The first thing I noticed right away: BIKES! Everywhere! Lined up on the sidewalk like sardines, people biking everywhere, bike shops galore. It was a great day and we still had 5 hours of light left, so we grabbed a couple beers from the market, a picnic blanket, and went to the park to meet up with his brothers and friends. It was really packed, students grilling everywhere, people playing soccer, sailing on the lake, paddle boating, walking dogs, jogging, etc. The weather was so nice, and it seemed every person in the city was by the lake to enjoy it, along with us. The city itself is basically a university city, so the population is mostly comprised of students and the ones who teach them – so it reminds me a lot of Gainesville. 

Today, woke up early, had a typical German breakfast (freshly baked rolls, meat slices, 3 different types of cheeses, Frischkaese, Quark with kiwis and bananas, and jam). Then Christoph and his brother needed to work on their other brother’s bike, so I went for a run around the lake- really nice, despite getting shat upon by a duck! I couldn’t believe it! It was disgusting. It went all over my hand and I really just had to laugh to myself, especially since last week my friends and I had been discussing who had ever been shat on by a bird and who hadn’t  - me being in the latter group. It seems I am now a proud member of the former. Anyway, I washed off my arm in the lake and kept jogging. Now I am just waiting for the boys to finish up their bike work so that we can go explore the city! Tonight, they will be hosting a small house party here before going to an Indie bar to watch some music- I am really excited because in Frankfurt, there aren’t very many “Indie music” followers, and it will be nice to get to see again! Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you all! Will write more about my past weekend later!

The beginning.

Ahh, finally… a travel blog: a means of documentation, creativity, and (most importantly) communication. I have already experienced so many amazing things, but have yet to fully reflect on them since I haven’t written about the travels. And they need to be shared! So here goes… my life and times here in Frankfurt, Germany...

 

...the transportation hub of Europe and just one city in this world I plan on unraveling one thread at a time- the people I meet, the places I go, and the stories my mom may or may not want to read about. But let’s be honest… she’ll likely be more critical of the grammar and language within the blog than the content itself. Fingers crossed. 

So, a little about my daily life here: I live in a small suburb on the outskirts of Frankfurt with a great host family of 6: host mom (translator for ECB), host dad (lawyer), and four little loving German rascals (4, 6, 8, and 10). They are all extremely open, flexible, and friendly (however non-German that typically is). I was attending German classes during the day, but after doing that for 20 hours/week + 30 hours/week of work at home + homework and commute time (1 hour each way), it was really becoming more of a burden than a blessing. So now I take some German courses online and occasionally meet up with friendly Germans to practice my speaking- perhaps I’ll take another class down the road, but I usually learn better on my own, anyway.

During my first couple months here, I got pretty out of shape due to the dramatic weather change. I mean, I know I was expecting it to be cold. But it’s a lot easier wanting to live in cold weather while sitting on the beach in 100+ degrees of flaming sun searing off my top layer of flesh than it is to actually be living in it. I wasn’t unhappy, but the thought of running outside in the grey-slate-industrial-iced-smog wind could have easily made me laugh. I don’t even know how they commuted to the car. Florida itself would have been in a state of emergency and so that was the declaration my body made. I was happy inside with a bowl of oatmeal and a book to read. Turns out, winter’s not my thing. I got stir crazy fast.

Now spring is just around the corner! The birds are singing, people are sitting on their previously abandoned back porches, and the gardens are flourishing.

After this past week, I’m already getting some color back! I never realized the effect the weather was having on everyone’s mood. Just one month ago, had I waved at another runner on the path, they probably would have pretended I didn’t exist and then non-discretely harden their stare straight ahead to focus on their pace. Now that the flowers are blossoming and the trees are coming back to life, strangers make eye contact and sometimes even wave back at the “crazy” American trying to be friendly. It’s wonderful! There is a 10K called the Frankfurt Stadtlauf (“city run”) that I’m now training for to get back in shape. We live pretty close to the Main River, so it’s an easy bike to where I can start my runs along the riverside. The race is on May 22^nd, which is one week before my host family and I travel to Sardinia, so it’s perfect timing !

This upcoming week will also be filled with travels: I’ve just found out a few days ago that my host family is travelling to Legoland next week and then heading to North Germany to visit their family for Easter. I was invited, but I have decided not to go and stay here to make my own travels. My host mother and father disagreed over whether I would have fun or not, and my host father’s argument was: “of course it would be fun for her, they have an indoor pool she can swim in.” So not that being at Legoland with excited screaming children followed by spending several days with intimidating rich Germans that own a Mercedes dealership doesn’t sound fun, I think I would have a better time on my own / with friends. Therefore, I have decided that next Tuesday, I will be travelling to Münster to visit with a friend that I made while in Cologne. On Thursday, I will head to Munich, where I was able to secure a 9 euro bus ticket to Prague, where I will then spend Easter weekend. J I can’t wait! As for my previous adventures, I will write more about these later: 

- Burns' supper / eating haggis 

- Karneval in Cologne/ Dusseldorf

- Brussels and Amsterdam with Michelle

- Night trips to Offenbach and Hanau

- Soccer game here in Frankfurt 

So this is all for now. Enough to read, enough to write. Guten Nacht. Schlaf gut.