Munich!!!
We arrived safe and sound after a night on the train in a sleeper car
with four other people. It wasn't so bad, but that did mean that
Cyrus and I had to bring in the New Year in transit. Also, we had an
early arrival. So, we ended up hiding out in an unbooked sleeper car
(no dining car on the train), eating what little food we had stored
in our back packs, cracking open a TINY bottle of Asti (that one was
for you mom), and going to sleep well before midnight. It was worth
it though, since trains are not the most comfortable means of
transport and we would need every hour we could fit in to find our
hostel the next morning. All-in-all though, our New Years
celebrations were not that bad considering
our surprising and fantastic discovery earlier that day! (P.S. Forgive how poorly the pictures line up with the story. All of them are Berlin.)
Our
train wasn't scheduled to leave Berlin until 9pm, but we had to check
out of our hostel no later than 11am. Therefore, we had one last day
to catch some last-minute sights. Thankfully we were able to store
our luggage with the hostel so we wouldn't have to drag it around
everywhere. Unfortunately, we also forgot to take into account that
it was New Years Eve.... aka. the whole of Germany was once again
closed
down tighter
than a ghost town. This meant that the Deutsch-Russisch Museum that
we were so careful to check the times on was also closed. However,
the fence was not locked, so we were able to get on the grounds and
Cyrus was able to see the tanks that surrounded the former Soviet
Headquarters, and he was happy. (I
CLIMBED A TANK..
and saved the motherland
:D)
After,
we stopped by Alexanderplatz one last time for some heiße
schokolade and Market food before heading back towards Brandenburg
Tor for one last look at the Reichstag and so I could see the Jewish
Memorial. As
we passed the Reichstag and walked towards Brandenburg Tor, however,
we began to hear music and the sounds of a large crowd. As we got
closer we saw a humongous, out-door, live New Years Eve concert going
on right at the base of the gate! We passed the barriers and soon
found that it was not only a concert, but an entire festival complete
with a ferris wheel, fire-work cannons, and hundreds of vendors
stretching down Tiergarten! We spent hours taking in the sights and
smells (and some Glühwein)
of the magical NYE party that we would have to miss. 
Soon
enough, the cold started to sink through our coats (despite the
Glühwein),
and we headed to the Jewish Memorial while we could still feel our
faces. The memorial was unique. If you didn't know any better you
would have thought it was just some messy slabs of concrete arranged
on the most uneven ground in the city. It looked more like a grave
yard than anything else (I know, that's the point right?). The slabs,
all ranging in height were around the same length and width and
arranged in orderly rows. I read that this was meant to give the
observer a sense of unease and the feeling of order gone terribly
wrong. However, it just seemed to act as an adult playground as
people (around the same age as Cyrus and I) challenged themselves by
leaping from one slab to the next. Needless to say, not the sentiment
I was looking for. Either way it was too cold to stay for long and we
soon headed into a cafe for warmth before making our way lazily back
to the hostel. There, we ate in the lobby trying to waste as much
time as possible until we had to collect our luggage and head to the
station. 
We
finally arrived at the station about three hours before we needed to
and spent the time sitting in the freezing Hauptbahnhof being silly,
trying to entertain each other, and finding ways to fight the cold.
In all the time (as opposed to “in no time”), the train arrived
and we were off to Munich, but you already know that part... At
6am the conductor woke us up with an announcement that we were close
to Munich (I assume from what I managed to understand- it was all in
German). So, Cyrus and I ate a quick breakfast of yogurt, clementines
and whatever else we had left in our packs and prepared for our new
home. Wearily we lugged everything off of the train and with the
admitted help of Starbucks wifi and the grace of God we (somehow)
managed to find the hostel on the first attempt! However, our
adventure did not stop there since we were able to check our luggage,
but could not check into our room till after 2pm. So, we tried to
fill our remaining 6 HOURS until check-in by exploring in our
pathetically groggy state while hauling half of what we owned (really
just the remaining food and odds-n-ins) on our backs. We
were not disappointed! At least I wasn't. I'm pretty sure Cyrus was
too tired to care much at this point.
We
walked into Munich center (which, I swear, is NOT a 20 minute walk,
no matter what Cyrus and his lying watch say) not knowing what to
expect. As we approached we began to make-out the most beautiful
steeples in the distance and, in no time, stumbled upon the Neues
Rathaus (New Town Hall- though it's not really new...)!!! It is a
very famous landmark in Bavaria and one of the things I wanted to see
most! It was striking! Gorgeous architecture decorated with beautiful
statues, not unlike many of the other buildings in the city. This
reminds me:
First
impressions
of Munich: Everything is SO nice here!!! The building facades are
beautiful, the streets seem cleaner than Berlin, there is almost no
construction going on, and everything just seems “nicer”. You
can DEFINITELY tell that this area was owned by America in the Cold
War while Berlin was in Soviet territory (and that's not just the
“new car smell” talking either). Though, I am convinced that
Germany as a whole is a broken glass factory...
Anyway,
as we walked through the streets littered with the previous night's
party we were beginning to wonder if anywhere would open and give us
a reprieve from the cold. Just as the feeling of true homelessness
crossed my mind we spotted a … wait for it... McDonalds- one of the
only open places in the entire Viktualienmarkt. So, for the second
time in a few hours we had no choice but to rely upon another of my
least favorite chains in the world (figuratively and literally) and
stopped in to take advantage of toilets and warmth for a few hours.
One key point to mention:
Second
impression of Munich (or confirmed impression of Germany as a whole):
Toilets cost here! This was not news to Cyrus, but was to me. In
London, toilets never cost but are rare! I have been known to use a
sketchy, tucked-away, outhouse-like toilet behind a random shop in
one of my more desperate situations in London, but it was free!
After
we had had enough of McDonalds we walked back to the hostel to hang
out until we were allowed to check-in. In this time I learned how to
play Minecraft and Cyrus wrote his guest blog entry (soon
to come)!
:D This
hostel, while not nearly as nice as the first we stayed at (that was
truly living in style... for me... :D)... CYRUS
(coming back from his first Crossfit session since Russia) TAKES OVER
(on a work-out high).
(CYRUS
SECTION)
WOD
01/2/14
5-5-5-5-5
Dead Lifts (I goofed, maxed instead)
my
max- 120KG (2? 3? sets of 5)
Apprx
3
sets 110, 2 sets 100, 2 sets 90... meh
4
RFT
15
Kettlebell Squats
15
Pullups
300m
Row
Cyrus-
13:24
(still
my section)
German
trainer man was very nice and very German,
and met German man named Andy who gave me a ride home in his fancy
German car, he prob drove like 100km/h and it was scary, but also
awesome, and I lived, so no complaints. Also did not get murdered,
good time.
Crossfit
first place :D
Also
finding Crossfit Munich was a pain, cause it was dark and scary and
sketchy BUT did find it, it was in an abandoned factory covered with
graffiti and tiny Crossfit Munich sign. I had to climb 2 flights of
stairs of abandoned factory and then found Crossfit. Which was great
because basically was totally abandoned until I stumbled into people
doing pullups and deadlifts. Home sweet home.
(ok
Lexi
can have her essay back)
XD
HAHA! Well, Cyrus just got back from Crossfit... and I'm not really
sure how to segway back into what I was talking about. So, forgive
the blunt transition, but I don't really know what to say after
that... So, new hostel is fairly nice (though Cyrus does not
particularly agree) and we are getting to know Munich, and areas
around it, very well. As for the specifics, I'm afraid I'll have to
save that for another blog post so I don't end up trying to cram
everything in last-minute again like for Berlin. So, as always, hope
you enjoyed and more to come! Plus Cyrus needs chicken now, so we're
going to the hauptbahnhof
(the only place open and selling chicken at 10pm) to find his
post-crossfit-rampage-protein. Tschüs!
Oh. And at the Memorial we saw this awesome bike that Cyrus said his dad would like. :D
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