Yo

Since I post blog updates, from day 1 to day 9, I guess you should start with Erste Tag (Day 1), and work backwards to the ninth day.  Other than that, I pretty much posted our itinerary of our Bavarian vacation.  I don't know when I return to Europe, but other cities in Germany such as Cologne, Berlin, etc our higher on my priority, but I would love to return to Munich. Since you can't really get Augustiner beer here, since they really don't export it.  I still also want to go to other places such as Prague, Brussels, and most definitely, a return trip to Rome.  I definitely miss the public transportation of Munich already, and how you pretty much never need to drive in the city itself.  From the trams to the S-bahn, to the U-Bahn, to the bus system, and to using the train to get to other cities.  I don't mind all the walking we did, because it's healthy exercise, and it helps work off what you eat/build an appetite for you.  It's crazy how much people bike in Munich, and I definitely would bike everywhere if I lived there.  Never really did much public drinking in Munich besides at the beer halls/gardens, but you're definitely allowed to do it.  I'm not going to miss the "heavy" German food, and I probably won't eat it again until Oktoberfest here, but it won't be as good. I won't ever get as good Wienerschnitzel, Bratwurst, Schweinshaxe again.  This vacation, and the return to Europe at a cheaper rate, was an awesome vacation. 9 days, almost felt way too short!  But this is more time than most people spend in Munich.  Auf Wiedersehen, until I return on my own dime in the hopefully near future (5-10 years??) Oh yeah, you can click pictures to enlarge them. Encase that wasn't clear. 

Neunte Tag. das Endspiel. The final day of Munich

Today we had the morning to do whatever we wanted, so I only wanted to go take a picture of the gate I didn't get to, the Siegestor gate near the University and the English garden.  It was a pretty packed U-bahn ride to get here, since you take the university stop, so it was filled with college students. Once I got my pictures, there is a nearby statue of King Ludwig the 1st, on the mile long walk from Siegestor gate to Odeonsplatz.

From there, we walked to the Marienplatz, so we could get our final shopping in. Davis at H&M, me at Muenzinger sport.  Davis dropped over 100 euros at H&M on this trip, on some European fashion stuff you can't get in Brea.  After this, we went back to the hotel and checked out.  Our car service Mercedez van was already parked in front, ready to take us back to the airport. Our driver this time, Stephen, was cool, and acted sort of as a guide on the way back. From talking about the speed limit, to different factories in Munich, to different architectural landmarks.  He told us to stop by Airbrau before we left, but it was definitely already on our itinerary.  How many airports have an Audi dealership and a beer garden in their airport?  Well Munich does.  Airbrau is actually one of the cheapest places in our whole trip, but the food and beer was just as good as the other places.  I had to have one helles beer before we left, and some more bratwurst.  After lunch, I then got some last minute shopping in at the Bayern Munich fanshop. 

Then we had to go through security at the terminal. You don't have to take your shoes off, they just scan them.  A much more efficient thing to do.  And they check and wand you, like you're at a concert. Then there is like a whole mall in the airport terminal. We got to cruise through some of it, before we had to go to go upstairs and go through passport checks to leave the country.  The line was pretty long, but moved decently quick enough.  We then had to walk to our gate, but we had to go through ANOTHER security check. This was, was just to make sure you had your ticket and were going to the right terminal. Completely pointless, and frustrating, but whatever.  Then once we got through our gate at the terminal, we got crammed into a bus to get to our plane.  Our bus was too packed, they had to bring a second bus to the plane.  The plane ride back, was easier then the plane right there, even though it takes longer.  Maybe because I was a little tired from the beer at lunch. The same crappy movies I already watched we're on, so I got some shuteye in.  Going over Greenland was cool, because you can see all the glaciers and stuff.  Then I actually slept the whole time we were going over Canada, because it takes forever to get over Canada, and woke up over Montana or something.  They served us our meal at like 1 hour before we landed, so that was weird.  And kind of stupid.  Then once we landed in LA, they had advertisements for Commerce casino in Chinese on the way to the passport check. Really, Commerce Casino?!  Going through passport thing was pretty fast, but they kept some Indian kid there by himself for like 20 minutes, or the whole  time we were in line, sucks to be him. And they denied some dude, probably for not having a Visa?  Anyways, once we got our bags we had to wait in another security line for customs. Once we got to the guy it was fast as hell.  But man, some of those Europeans have crazy amounts of baggage with them.  Like a family of 4, had like 15 things of luggage. Presumably for shopping, since America is cheaper, but Jesus.  Took a while to get our car, but we're home I guess.  :(

Achte Tag

Day 8-Pretty much our last day to do anything else we wanted to do. We started at St Michael’s Church since this is where King Ludwig II and all the other important family members are buried.  The crypt of this church, is just full of tombs, from a babies tomb, to the elaborately decorated tomb of King Ludwig II. 

After this, we went to BMW Welt/Museum next to the Olympia Park.  The architecture on this building is pretty amazing and has the same wacky designs as the Olympiastadium itself.  BMW Welt is a working car dealership, so we kind of ignored it and went to the  BMW museum instead.  The museum was alright, and they showed all the engines they had made from their beginnings in 1919 in the aeroplane industry to their 2010 stuff.  They showed different motorcycles, different race cars, and the history of the different classes of BMW’s cars.  But it’s a very innovate looking museum, so BMW obviously had to show they can make a top class museum as well as cars. Except the gift show was terrible, and the one t-shirt there that sucked.

After this we ended up in Marienplatz, to look for somewhere to eat, preferably not German.  So we ended up at an Italian restaurant near Saint Peter’s church. It was manned by Italian waiters and stuff, so it was pretty legit. The outside area is kind of small, but the weather was perfect, but the interior of the restaurant was deceptively huge.  Some Italian construction workers came and sat by us, and the waiter looked like he was thrilled to be speaking Italian to his fellow Italians.  After this, we walked up the tower of the Saint Peter church, for the “best view” of Munich.  You get an outstanding view of the Marienplatz, and other landmarks, but if you were a little bit higher, you could see over the top of some buildings.  It still made for a great view, and showed us how far we had to travel to other locations, and how good Munich’s public transportation is since it can you get places really fast.   

We walked around Munich some more, and walked around the new Congress building (well it's actually old) and saw the Maximilian statue.  From there, we went to the Asamkirche, which isn’t that well maintained since it was privately owned but opened to the public.  The interior design here is crazy, and it was extremely decorated in there!  I did some shopping for some soccer clothes on my way back to the Marienplatz/Karlplatz, and after that, was done for the day.   

We went to the Augustiner Keller for dinner for the last time in Munich, since it is after all, the best beer in Munich.  Had a Weissbier  for dinner, and some suckling pig, and a giant pretzel to finish the night off. We ate at the restaurant side of the place, but the beer garden here is pretty damn big.  Augustiner's beer is so good, my mom even drank it And it was filled with tons of locals, who were getting off work, and drinking their steins of Augustiner edelstoff bier.  

Siebte Tag

Day 7-Today was the day we went to Castle Neuschwanstein.  The fairy tale castle, Walt Disney fell in love with.  We went with a tour group, and it was like a 2 hour train rideto get to Fussen.  We had 3 train cars booked exclusively to us, but the train was so packed, that some American and Chinese tourists invaded our cabin.  Our tour guide Jeff, was very knowledgeable about the story of Ludwig and other members of the royal family during the train ride.  Our cart was full of Americans from California to Ohio to Texas.  We ate a shack his friend runs once we got to Füssen because it was very fast service.  It was storming outside, and we were given the option to walk up the hill or take a bus to get to the Marienbrucke, or bridge that overlooks Neuschwanstein. We decided to walk, and our legs paid for it dearly.  It was raining hard at the time, the hill was a non-stop uphill on some sand/gravel/dirt path, so the traction was decent.  It was also hot as hell wearing a jacket trying to hike up the hill. But once you got to the Marienbrucke, the view was absolutely gorgeous.  That view made up for the pain the legs felt, but they became rejuvenated after that view.  We got another view of the other castle, Hohenswangau, where King Ludwig II spent his summers as a child.  (NO THAT'S NOT A BOOGER, JUST A PERFECTLY PLACED RAINDROP! LIKE, COULD IT GET ANY MORE WELL PLACED?  BAD TIMING ON THE PHOTO DAD)

We then went to our guided tour of the Castle.  They’re very strict about when you can come in, and it really is every 10 minutes. It sucks that you can’t take any photographs in there, because some rooms were insanely decorated.  Ludwig II only completed 1/3^rd of the rooms before he died, and they stopped building after that. My favorites were the throne room, and his bed room, which were both beautifully designed.  I bought a guide book just for interior photographs of the castle.  A lot of the artwork is dedicated to Richard Wagner's operas, and his bedroom was full of Tristan and Isolde artwork. The tour itself was pretty short, and only lasted  around 30 minutes.  It’s funny, that once you get down, you go through a gift shop, then the former kitchen, and then another castle gift shop. 

We then had to race downhill to make sure we would reach our bus stop in time.  The train ride back was pretty slow, and I could eavesdrop on the conversation this kid was having with an old lady because he was trying to speak German to her.  Once we got back into Munich, we ate at an Italian restaurant nearby our hotel, which was a welcome relief to all the German food.  We cruised the Statue of Bavaria again and the Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest area) because it was nighttime. Tons of kids also go long boarding down a hill there and carve and do that crazy power stop around the statue.  I guess on Monday nights, it's skate night in Munich (roller blades that is), and thousands of Munich citizens go roller blading and meet behind the Statue. I had never seen so many roller blades my entire life.  Apparently you can rent roller blades for free with a valid id, or you can make a 2 euro donation and get a free beer when you return your skates.  I had the same awesome concoction of Paulaner Wheat beer topped with Coca Cola at the hotel bar before the night ended