Hey everyone, it hasn´t been too long and I´m at it again. Since I last wrote to you I have done quite a bit in a short amount of time, let me briefly recap it for you. On Monday of last week I was planning on going to see the show Les Mis with Rachel. We went to get tickets but it was sold out so we decided to go to a cabaret called Le Clique. It was an excellent show and was extremely entertaining. It contained various acts of comedy, magic, and unbelievable talents. After the show we met up with some friends at a local pub called the Porcupine.
On Tuesday I was lucky to get to go to a Pablo Picasso special exhibit at the National Gallery in London. It was nice because my art history professor was able to give us complimentary passes to the exhibit and it was probably something I otherwise would not have done.
On Wednesday I flew to Munich on a last minute unplanned trip. It was actually quite the airport hassle and for awhile I was thinking I was meant to not go on this trip. It started by me not correctly reading my flight time, and thinking it was an hour later than it actually was. I ended up rushing to the airport and had arrived at the exact time my flight was supposed to start boarding. I hadn´t even checked in and the line was tremendously long. When I finally got my ticket I sprinted to security only to get denied because my backpack was too big for carryon. I was extremely frusterated because I had used the bag as a carry on 5 or 6 times already. I had to rush back to check my bag, but I didn´t have enough to pay in cash, so they had to send me to their info counter to do a credit card transaction. When I finally got back to check my bag they told me because it had straps that I should bring it to oversize luggage to insure that it doesn´t get caught up. Again, I SPRINTED through security, and as I was sprinting to my terminal, I was literally the guy in the airport whose name was being called via the loud speaker: would Mr. Brandt please report to gate 18 for your flight to Munich. I ended up arriving and was the last passenger on the plane. BUT, I made it. Of course when I landed in Munich the baggage reclaim quit and all bags were picked up, except mine never came. I was talking with the airline staff two grounds crew workers came up with my bag saying it was almost left on the plane. To say the least, it was a very hectic start to the day.
When I got into Munich I was realizing that not booking any hotels or hostels might´ve been an issue, I was really roughing this trip out. I did contact three of my friends from Ireland to meet up with them and they were staying with a guy. They asked if I could stay with him and luckily the guy said yes. They met this guy, Tom, threw an online program called couch surfers in which you get in contact with people in different cities and they let you crash on their couch. My friends from Ireland have hosted a few people back at their place. After I dropped my bag off we headed straight to none other than the Hofbräuhaus. It´s probably the most famous place to drink a beer in the world. We ordered some sausages and saurkraut and beer by the liter. It was a great night, a little too much beer was consumed, but it was a great night that I was able to spend with some good friends from St. John´s. We made it back to Tom´s apartment and stayed up talking about Germany, the US, and whatnot while listening to music around a Hookah.
On Thursday we made our way around town consuming sausages, seeing the Glockenspiel, and some of the great Bavarian architecture. We then found a great park that we chilled at for a couple of hours. After the park we went to Augustiner´s (the most famous beer in Germany) but we made it to one of their brew houses for a half-liter of beer. It was great, they still keep their beer in wooden kegs. After our pint we went to train station and booked some train tickets to Salzberg, Austria. We went online and lined up another place to crash at and then made our 2 hour decent to Austria through the Alps. It was a beautiful and peaceful train ride and we could tell we were in for a good Friday. When we got to Salzberg we found the guys place, who was ironically a Tom again, and crashed for the night. Tom had a beautiful apartment that overlooked the Alps, he loved having us and the company, I kind of got the vibe that he was a lonely 34 year old, so this couch surfers thing was a great way to meet people from different cultures.
On Friday we got up extremely early because we wanted to see the entire city in just one day. Our plan was to pretty much throw the map to the side and see the whole city by foot, Salzberg is a relatively small city that lies just at the base of the Alps. We made our way around and into some beautiful parks during the early morning. The city is surrounded by three massive mountains and then has one high point right in the center of the city. We summited the hill, went and saw the fortress that overlooks the whole city getting great pictures all the while. By early afternoon we decended into the city center. Salzberg has one of the most classic, untouched, bavarian city centres that still exhists. There is so much culture and so little English. The restaurants and shops are like something I´ve never seen. For those who have seen Sound of Music, its where the movie was filmed in (1967) and it seems like nothing has changed since. It is also the city where Mozart was born and raised so there are a lot of references to him around the city. The city had street performers on violins and accordians playing classic German-Bavarian songs that really help make the atomoshpere. The city also has three very old and beautiful church´s that we were able to tour. By late afternoon we decided that we had seen enough of the city. I got a train ticket back to Munich and my friends from Ireland continued on to Vienna, Austria (they are backpacking for awhile). I called the first Tom we stayed with and he said it was cool that I come back to Munich to stay with him for night. My train ride back was just as beautiful as the one on the way there and I got back to Tom´s place to call it a night.
I woke up pretty early to hit Munich. I started the morning by heading to the Olympiapark. This is where the 1972 olympics were held (Mark Spitz breaking records and the terrorist hold up). The Olympic grounds were extremely modern and unique when they were built in 72 and trust me they still look crazy unique today. The grounds have been very well kept up and it is absolutely beautiful. Great green grass, walking and biking paths, all on a hill and around some man made lakes.
After checking out the Olympic grounds I decided to go to BMW Welt. This is the BMW headquarters and main global showroom. It also contains a BMW museum as well as a room with all of their concept cars. It was really great looking at cars I'll probably never be able to afford...no actually it was a cool experience and the building had some awesome architecture. Around noon I decided to head back into the city center or Marienplatz. The city center was absolutely packed because a) it was 78 degrees b) it was a Saturday c) FC Bayern Munich had a football match (soccer game). The beer gardens were absolutely packed by noon. Literally thousands of people were sitting out at these out door beer gardens. I had to stop and grab a half liter and enjoy all of the commotion. I continued on getting some lunch at an our door sausage stand. I couldn't complain about the German cuisine, it was awesome. After some more walking I decided I need to relax at the Hofbrauhaus one last time, it could've been my last. Both levels and the outdoor garden were packed. Luckily a friendly local told me to grab a seat at the corner of his table. He was a really nice, educated, and well traveled man. We talked for almost two hours about the cities I had scene, what he thought of them, and then he talked about the US cities that he had visited. After my time at the Hofbrauhaus I decided to go to Englischer Park to people watch and enjoy the beautiful weather. I ended up staying all afternoon and got pretty sun burnt. After the park I had to head back to London. I got to the airport extremely early after my previous airport experience. With my luck my flight was delayed an hour :) Karma. But, I made it back and had an awesome trip.
I think this was probably one of my most fun weekends, if you like beer there's probably no better city in the world. You never have to feel bad, people are out in masses consuming beer at all times of the day.
I'll update again next week with all my happenings over the coming week. Have a happy Easter and take care.
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