Öh My Munich

So today I decided to head down to Munich for the day, and this is how it went.

I drove myself, Sonja, Toby and Hanna to church in the morning (yes I drove of the Autobahn, I wanted to scream, laugh, cry and die all in the same moment as I had a little bit of trouble switching from 3rd to 4th and I didn’t know what to do, but merging was fine in the end) I parked Micra (my car) at the church and walked to the local train station with Tobias. Toby helped me buy my train ticket and without him I would have bought a 35€ ticket but instead I only had to pay 20€, so that was awesome start to the day. I waited on the platform and hesitantly boarded the train hoping it was the right one. The train pulled out of the station and I found a seat by myself and pulled out my trust Europe on a Shoestring book. I looked through the pages to make sure I knew where I wanted to go and so forth and felt excited to see what the day would bring. About an hour later I found myself climbing off the train onto the Munich platform. What the hell have I gotten myself into and why did I decide this was a good idea. That was the first thought going throught my head, but I knew there was no point turning back now so I bravely walked through the train station (which is Massive I might add) to go outside. And thats when I saw a “tourist Information” sign and knew I would be ok. I asked how to get to the city center and although the directions were very simple I would have never gotten there on my own had I not gotten directions.
I walked past all the shops (which were closed cause it was a Sunday) and realized I had found a small slice of fashion heaven! I wanted to buy everything! As I continued to walk I found the Marienplatz ( the town square) and walked about some more, I found one of the museums I wanted to go to, but when I got there it looked lack luster and I just kept walking. I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do. What was I thinking coming to Munich with a plan that fell through so quickly. I could go to an art museam not to far away, but art isn’t really my think. I thought about going to Dachau (one of the Concentraion camps ) that was only one train stop away, but I couldn’t really make up my mind. In the mean time the Neuses Rathaus (an old building) has a large Glockenspiel (pretty much a giant co-co-clock) that goes off at 12. It was about 11:55 so I joined the growing crowd and waited. As 12 rolled around, all the surrounding churchs, and there are a lot of them, started chimming, it was so cool hearing them all go off. Then the last clock to strike 12 was the Neuses Rathaus, and off it went, it was cool but a tad anti climactic, but I was just happy to see one of the cool sights of Munich. After this was finished I again found myself not knowing what to do, there were all these old buildings and monuments around me and I had no idea what any of the meant of signified. I saw a sign that said “Free walking tour of Munich”, the sign was in English which was a good start but I was beginning to think going to Dachau was the best option. I have never really been on a tour as such and was EXTREAMLY hesitant to join this group. I very shyly joined the back of the group and stood there debating to walk away or not. James (the tour guide) was Australian, and asked us all where we were from, at this point I knew that if I said where I was from I was in it for the long haul. So I said Canada when asked, and decided going with this tour was better than wandering the streets alone. At first I hung at the back of the pack having no clue what I just got myself into BUT the tour was AMAZING!!!!! It was about a 2 hour walk around Munich and I had so much fun. The tour guide was super nice and I learned so much about Munich I never would have known. And to top it all off he gave us suggestions of what to do after the tour so I had stuff to do even after the tour was done. I felt kinda bad cause the tours run on a tips basis and well… I didn’t tip. However part of the tour was you get a free beer at the end but I knew I had to drive home after and declined the beer, so I figured I was saving them the beer money instead. After the tour I went to the st. peters tower where you can over look Munich and it was sooo beautiful, and having just finished the tour I could point out buildings and know what they were and I could find the buildings where I wanted to go next. It was great (well minus the 14 flights of stair I had to walk up to get to the look out, but to be honest it was more than worth it).

Walking into Munich I was terrified and had no idea where to go or what to do, but walking out I felt like I was a part of the city, I knew its history and I knew how to get around. I could walk confidently and I knew I had everything under control. I grabbed a soft pretzel (they are everywhere and they are super cheap and sooo good) and found my train home and relaxed in the seat, but I knew my day was not over yet. I still had to drive home.
This was my first time driving my standard car by myself, let alone driving on the Autobahn by myself. I checked my map one more time and shifted into reverse and pulled out of my parking spot at the church. I found my way around for the most part, but I took a wrong turn somewhere, I tried to get back to where I was supposed to be but couldn’t so I just followed the signs to the Autobahn. I pulled into the merging lane and quickly shifted into 4th then got nervous but again quickly shifted into 5th, and I did it. I drove all the way home, pulled off the highway, took the two roundabouts before Dorndorf and made it back “home” safe and sound.
Today was one of the best days ever.

I can NOT wait till my trip to Berlin on Sept 4. There is so much to explore here and it is all at my fingertips.
j

p.s the picture is of me on top of St. Peters Tower