We arrived in Munich with a bunch of AirBNB requests put in, and one of them we put through as booked. We also had a few hotels researched but when we arrived we ended up at the train station at 9pm with zero responses from AirBNB and the researched hotels (5 or 6 we called) all booked full with no openings! We quickly found a Wifi spot and we left the station to figure out lodging at the local Cafe. Pickings were the sparcest we had seen our entire trip and we ended up booking a hotel for $130 euros that has terrible reviews, just because it was only a block away and the only thing left anyways. The room was also booked as a single, which we forgot to notice.
Right before we walked into the hotel we spotted a strip club next-door, and across the street, AND down the street further. So anyways, we walked into the hotel and the guy argued with me that the room was for a single and I politely explained that this girl with me has arrangements for her bags and such elsewhere at the hostel around the block. Finally I got a room-key and stepped into the hotel from hell. We walked through what looked like a service corridor at a dirty construction site filled with mops, old empty drink carts. dirt caked in the crevasses between the floor and walls, wall paper peeling away and splotches of water damage run along the ceilings. Through another door leads to a hallway of rooms with numbers that have fallen off where we encountered a 2x2 sq. foot spatch of mold on the wall to the right. Our room's bed was small enough to be called a cot and the closet had a door coming off the hinges, the carpet was stained and the sink and shower had dirt built up in the caulking with no toilette in the room.
So THATS why it was the last one available =). Anyways we figured this would make for a great story and we made sure to take plenty of pictures and document the ridiculousness of the place and get out of there and off to celebrate the 4th of July asap. We took Candace's bag on the way out and checked it at the Euro Youth Hostel around the block so we stayed true to our word. I thought it was funny to ask where the 4th of July party was at to people, but it soon became boring as we realized that there wasn't one, even at the Euro Youth Hostel's bar, which consisted of plenty of Americans. We took a walk over to the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall, one of Munich's oldest beer hall founded in 1589. On the way we saw a nice evening view of the Town Hall
And had a good walk checking out stuff along the way like other Beer Halls and stuff along this main strip area we were on. By the time we got to the brewery/beer hall it was closing, and the Hard Rock across the street closed at the same time, which was silly since there were plenty of people at both establishments. One of those business owners will have a great revelation someday to leave their business open at least an hour longer than the other and get a nice hour of business as the people from the closed establishment would form the habit wandering to the open place for a final drink or two. Oh well, we headed back to a beer hall that we saw was open on the walk to Hofbrauhaus but they were closed too, so we decided to head back. We randomly passed a Michael Jackson Shrine which was oddly placed around a statue that had apparently nothing to do with MJ, get to our place where nextdoor strippers were outside trying to sell some guys on coming in.
We crammed into bed using the comforter and one of my shirts for an extra pillow and case, got rest, and in the morning immediately leave the hotel we were at.
Euro Youth Hostel (on http://www.famoushostels.com/, super legit site rec. from Matt), a recommendation from our buddy Matt Crowther, had openings for a double for the night so we booked that, paying almost half of what the hotel from hell was, dropped off our bags, and headed out for some sightseeing in Munich! 1st we ate a great meal at a vegan place down the road that was promoted on the City Map we picked up from the Youth Hostel. It was really good and hit the spot for sure
We mapped out what we wanted to do and headed off on the metro to Northeast Munich. Walking over and into the park we engaged the geese and the Masta Huge Geese King -
This thing was twice as big as other geese and twice as big as Sputnick - like 40lbs. We had a great walk along the river and into the woods and soon were at our 1st destination, which looked like some kind of Shanghi huge Chinese temple on the map. It actually did have one of those things
But the purpose of the area was simply to supply beer to as many people as possible - 6,000 maximum. WOW. Well, I'm curious how many it serves on AVERAGE. Could be fun to go there on a busy day. A Vector trip wouldn't even make a dent. Heck, fly the whole company managers CSPs and employees at the factory, its all good, we still have thousands of seats left including all the normal people there that day. Lol. There were picnic tables everywhere, so after touring the huge area itself, we grabbed an empty table and enjoyed the weather, outside, size of beers
The atmosphere and the sausage + sauerkraut!
Which was pretty good, and I loved the heaping mound of sauerkraut I got. After relaxing and reading our books a bit and trying to get into the Chinese Tower and to the top (locked), and I then expressed to Candace how I wished I had the skill of picking locks, we continued our walk around the park. We soon came upon a river that people were floating down. The current was super fast. Seeing a low bridge, we headed to where kids were jumping off.
Some of them would grab under the bridge on the opposite side they jumped off and let the current pull their bodies horizontal (yeah it was that strong). One kid climbed back up from under the bridge and in the water to up and back on top of the bridge and I was immediately hooked. No boardshorts though and we had other stuff on our mind so we walked to where people were surfing on the river
It was cool to watch. It's definitely different from regular surfing in the fact that the water is going backwards from regular surfing. So it gets pushed upwards over a ledge and before that ledge you can ride the water down while it flows underneath you. Anyone that just stays in one spot can usually hold it for 5 or so seconds using gravity before the river pushes you back over the bump. However, as it appears, I learned the next day finally after watching and seeing that if the surfer is smart or just skilled enough I suppose, they can cut back and forth across the wave, which gives you the needed speed to keep from getting pushed back by the river. One can continue on like this for minutes if they like.
Following the river further south, we made it to Hofbrauhaus brewery and it was open this time! =)
We weren't drinking yesterday, but today is different! So we entered the famous beerhall and had a seat and had one of the giant mugs of brew soon enough.
Following it came some more hearty German food - boiled potatoes, meat, and sauerkraut.
We enjoyed the live music, which you can see most every player also had a large mug of beer too to help them play better!
Candace soon became Hoover. Time for Hard Rock! Heading across the street we grabbed a drink there and watched a live band warming up. We had the sudden urgent urge to leave so we put on our rainjackets and headed out into the pouring rain (we saw the forecast in the morning so packed our raincoats). Running around and playing in the rain and sometimes dodging it with overhangs, we soon stopped at that other beerhall that was closed the other day too on our walk home and took a break there where it was completely packed.
At this point for fun I just ordered us a "beer", "wine", and "no-meat food". Didn't even look at the menu. The guy was like "OK.. what beer? Food?" I was like: beer, wine, and food no-meat. He repeated the phrase back to me and off he went. Taking in the atmosphere we enjoyed our drinks and continued to be silly and memorize our little "phrase-page" we had created. This included things like "hello", "please", "thank you", "see you later", and so on, which we had fun using and locals always appreciated and treated us better when we did use some of the language and said our Ps&Qs.
The food was pretty cool, it was some sort of balls of stuffing with gravy but thats not what it was, but the closest thing I can think it to be.
We kept on towards our way home and kept on hiding from each other for fun in the little rain-havens. We ended up getting separated and then getting mad at each other because we both thought about the same thing in a different way. It turned out being funny and Candace ended up hiding in the laundry room of the hostel. When I found her she was laughing so hard she couldn't even carry her bag. Shenanigans! I later ended up hiding in the closet in the room of the hostel because the "base of the bed was for Candace's feet" and we had to check out our non-balcony balcony of course!
It was great staying in the clean, huge, private room we had with its own shower and toilette IN the room. Definitely a difference over the previous nights accommodations. Now when morning hit for some reason we randomly couldn't find Candace's one shoe. I found it and then demanded a smile and a kiss if I told her where it was. Agreed, so I pointed and she looked up and found it up above the top of a closet!
The mornings breakfast was amazing and ranged from sandwiches to granola to bananas and fruit bowls and meat and cheese plus a few other random things. We checked our bags and headed out with our goal to see 3 main things in Munich we didn't see the day before and then head to Fussen in the evening to check into our hotel from which you could actually see the Neuschwanstein Castle.
We made the walk to the place where the "clock tower show" was happening, from which "puppet" looking statues and such moved and rotated around telling stories and playing music. Anything from two knights approaching from different directions and then one hitting the other with their lance, to a conductor looking guy conducting everything. Keep in mind these were Not puppets, but all metal or some sort of statue with everything done mechanically. It was interesting.
We then headed across the street to St. Peters and checked it out
Then climbed St Peters 306 steps to get to the top and get a great view of Munich!
Kind of anti-climatic after views like the Eiffel Tower and atop The Bascilicia on Rome, but we appreciated it nonetheless because that's what life is all about, being appreciative of what you have, grateful. Life is happier. Try a life where you appreciate nothing and are ungrateful for anything you have… You could almost label that unhappiness. To the degree that you do the opposite of that at any given moment could very well determine how happy you are at that moment. Prove this by looking at happy people who have "nothing" in underdeveloped countries. They still find little things to appreciate and that helps to make them content with life and to live more enjoyably regardless of "what they have".
We headed to the royal residence and then walked through the royal gardens (or gardins in Spanish), and found a cool place in the center under the "Gazebo" structure where we could have a lil picnic.
As we got settled in, a man began playing classical music on a Chello looking instrument. It made for a pleasant time.
Soon we were walking to the next item on the agenda. We soon passed by the bridge that had the "bigger surf" in town and where a bunch of surfers were. It was fun to watch and there were better surfers at this location than the one yesterday (previous video earlier in blog was of surfers at this bridge). It was also cool to see some of the interesting boards that people had, some looking homemade.
Catching a bike ride in one of the carriage things, our biker took us east and soon we were at Villa Stuck. We walked into the garden area
and climbed into this cool tea thing
and we both climbed inside and checked it out. The inside of the house was very unique, but small & not very extensive
After taking metro back home and getting our bags, we took the 2 hr train to Fussen then a taxi to our hotel literally in view of Neuschwanstein Castle. We were definitely excited to see this castle and had been talking about it well before the trip. In fact, I had 1st heard of in high school when my pre-calculus math teacher had a picture of it saved on his computer. I was instantly in awe. Over and over again I'd heard about it from customers and, lets just be frank, this castle has inspired the imagination of much of the world through its magnificence. For example, any time you watch a Disney Movie, the castle in the opening and in the logo was inspired by this castle. Walt based his Disney castles and theme of Disney and Disney World on this castle which was built by "Mad" King Ludwig II. Kids look up and go Woooow when they see the castle in Orlando, no matter what part of the planet they are from, just like I looked at the picture of this castle and knew I had to someday go.
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