I end spring holiday by taking a little trip to Germany to visit my friend Destiny. Destiny came here to Scotland for several days. I'm now returning the favour.
I've learned how to travel better this time around. The university transportation I took to Paris a couple months ago cost me £100, but this time, I'm not fooled. Instead, I take a bus to Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Airlink to the airport. It takes me a lot longer, but the total, round-trip cost is about £16. Can't be beat.
I arrive safely in Munich, take a couple of trains and meet Destiny at the München Haubtbanhof, or train station. We find the hostel where we'll be staying for the night, and wander around Munich a bit. Destiny's been here before and is a good tour guide. She's also a good translator, a useful skill, since I've never learned German.
Some of the first things anyone traveling to Munich notices are the arches. Some are more historical than others, but they exist throughout the city and are pretty cool. This arch is a bit newer
and this one is fairly old.
Destiny and I also get to see the city hall, an architectural gem,
as is much of Munich,
including this yellow church,
which inside is covered in white, Baroque mouldings. Unfortunately, they're having a service so we can't take pictures.Most of this central part of Munich we visited is old,
but some of it looks more modern.
Destiny and I enjoy wandering around the city, walking through several public markets, buying several delicious things, including several scoops of ice cream (we decide we have to try as many of the weird flavours as possible) and a McFlurry, which apparently are different in Germany, though I've never had a McFlurry in the States, so I couldn't tell you the difference.
That night, we have dinner and drinks in Munich's famous beer hall, the Hofbräuhaus. If there's a place to drink beer, it's here, as it's supposedly the best, most traditional beer hall in Munich, and Munich is the beer capital of the world. I order the dark beer, and some sausages (which I am now used to referring to as 'bangers') and German noodles: a traditional meal.
Destiny and I are both tired after traveling and walking, and call it an early night (though in our defence, we did have dinner rather late).
We begin the next morning with some German bakery: salty, hard pretzle-bread, which sounds gross when you say it like that. It's actually good, though I know some people who are not fans.
We make our way over to the English Garden, a famously beautiful spot in Munich. It lives up to its reputation and name, having quite a calm atmosphere.
People are running there, walking with their children, and just enjoying the day. It's a really beautiful public spot.
Of course, like any good public spot in Munich, there's a beer garden there, as well, and who are Destiny and I to pass that up? I order a German specialty: white beer mixed with lemonade (actually something like Sprite or 7Up over here in Europe, including in Scotland). It sounds gross and I'm skeptical at first, but Destiny convinces me it's popular over here, and I end up liking it. Maybe not as much as my hefty, dark beers, but liking it nonetheless.
The beer garden where we ate:
Then, since Destiny hadn't been there yet, and since I'd never been to a Concentration Camp at all, we decided to make our way via train to Dachau, the first concentration camp. It was the model for most of the other concentration camps that existed, we learn there.
Like any other concentration camp, it's rather depressing, but informative. The buildings are mostly reproductions, since everything that was there was burnt down, in order to forget it all.
Unfortunately, we don't get to see all of it, since we're there a little too close to closing time, but we see enough to sober us.
We head back into Munich, where we have another typically German dinner (beer and sausages) and wander around at night. The city was fairly active in the dark, and Destiny and I enjoyed ourselves. We took a night train to Tubingen, the town in which Destiny lives and studies, and got there at around 2 in the morning.
The next day we wander around Tubingen, which is a beautiful, picturesque German town.
There are a number of churches there
as well as some nice street scenes.
We peek into a couple of shops (I can't pass up some "Poet's Tea") and eventually make our way up to Tubingen Castle.
It's completely different from any castle I've seen in Scotland - with much less gothic architecture, though it's equally as interesting to visit. We don't get inside, but wander around the courtyard and surrounding gardens. It's a lovely, warm, sunny day, something I've lately learnt to fully appreciate.
Destiny shows me the rest of Tubingen, which is much like any other small town. There's a pretty town square with a fountain, and lots of university students. We check out the University and the botanical gardens, and find a free book giveaway. I snag The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde - Bonus! in English - and Destiny grabs a couple of books in German. We head to a lovely place just outside town for a German lunch of (you guessed it) more sausages, and enjoy the view from the top of the hill it sits on. We meet up with her friends to go out that night, and I have my very first German street food (actually coming from their immigrants): a döner. It's pretty delicious, and tastes like a gyro. The next day, Destiny and I take the train to two cities in the Black Forrest, beginning our trip at Schiltach. Its houses are nestled into the hillside, literally, making the cliché true, and I'm ptretty certain I've just fallen into a storybook.
We get what Destiny says is the realest Black Forrest Cake I'll ever have, since it's at a non-touristy place in the Black Forrest itself, and it is indeed delicious, even though I'm not really a cake person. I am, however, a forrest person, and Destiny and I take a trail in the forrest
up to the top of a hill, from which we can see the town below.
We eat a picnic lunch in a pretty meadow.
We also make it to the next town over, Freudenstadt, which is more touristy but has a lovely town square, one of the biggest in Germany, and finally head home for the night, concluding a lovely trip.
After 4 trains, a 2-hour nightmare at the border and security, a 2-hour plane ride, 2 busses and 11 hours total, I arrived home.
5 things I did in Germany that I could never do in Scotland:
5) Drank alcohol in public places, other than restaurants and pubs. Here in the UK, as in the US, that is not allowed. In Germany, we brought our beer by the fountain in the public square.
4) Ordered a litre of beer because it's cheaper than a litre of water
3) Was forced to learn a few German words: "Tschus," if I've spelt it correctly, which I probably haven't, means "bye" or "cheers," "hautbanhof" is train station or central station, and "bitte" means both "please" and "you're welcome."
2) Ate lemon basil ice cream (surprisingly refreshing and delicious).
1) Got a sunburn.
1 thing I'm doing in Scotland I could never do anywhere else:
1) Write a paper on a play called Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Despite their nationalism, the Scots do have a sense of humour.
No comments:
Post a Comment