Sleepy day in Munich

Sunday October 18, 2009

Today we didn't do much. We slept pretty late, or at least I did, and then headed out around noon on a walk to the train station in Freising. It didn't take too long to get there and the station is a lot nicer than I thought it would be. We found the track for the S bahn line and then I had to figure out the German ticket machine. Yeah that was pretty difficult since I know like no German. But I figured something out and got a partner ticket for three zones. We had to wait quite a while for the next train, so I was playing with the ticket machine to see what I'll have to get for my travels the rest of the week. Then I realized that we didn't exactly have the right ticket since Freising is like four zones from Munich or something really confusing. So I bought another ticket to cover what we didn't have and soon after that our train showed up. It took pretty long to get into the city because of all the stops along the way, but we finally got to the Marienplatz which is the main tourist area of the city. Coming out of the subway it was so cold and wet, miserable. I was starving so we just headed to the first place we saw. The food and service was good, I had currywurst, and after that we walked around the pedestrian shopping areas. Everything was closed because it was Sunday so there was pretty much nothing to do. We stopped in a couple churches that I saw last time and then we found a starbucks. After that it started snowing, really wet yucky snow, so we decided to just give up and start heading back to Freising. We got down to the S bahn track but there weren't any trains listed going to Freising, so we took a train on the same line going the opposite way thinking we could just ride it until it turned around. Yeah, apparently you couldn't do that on this train and some train guy yelled at us that we had to get off here. Oh well, at least the next train to Freising was there right away, only it was two tracks away. So we had to quickly run down under the tracks and run up to the right track and jump on. Then we thought everything was fine till we find out that the train splits before Freising and the back half goes to the airport. Of course we're on the back half, so at the last stop before the split we had to get off and run to the front section and get on, while everyone with luggage ran to the back. We finally got back to Freising and walked around downtown a bit before heading back to the hotel. It's a cute town that seems to have a lot going on, too bad nothing is open on Sunday! So we go back to the hotel and just veg out for a bit. Then Dad's coworker Mike arrives and our group goes to dinner at some place off the town square. I guess that's about it, didn't really do much today, just trying to get the lay of the land so hopefully I'll be able to understand what's going on tomorrow when I have to go it alone...

This is something I have to do for myself

Saturday October 17, 2009

First of all KLM is one of the nicest airlines I have ever flown. The best part, besides awesome layover in Amsterdam the Venice of the north, is each personal tv comes with a little remote so you're not forced to watch whatever tv/movie is on the 3 to 4 movie channels they give you. So you get to pick your movie or show and start it whenever you want. And you get to pause and rewind/fastforward just like a dvr! Best thing ever. Why don't all international planes have this feature?? One more thing about KLM, the food is just ok but reminded me of ikea. yuck.

Alright, so flight was good. I actually slept most of the way like I wanted to so I would be able to function in the city. Side note: they sure like to drink on this airline. They kept pushing beer, wine, and after dinner bailey's shots haha. We landed early, about 7am and I made my way to the arrivals area for passport control which was a total joke. No line, took about 1 minute. The guy was cute though, and told me Centraal was just 15 min away on the train and I should be back in no time when I told him I was just here on a layover to see the Anne Frank Huis. Thanks rando Dutch guy. After that was baggage claim, which was easy since I had none, and then I just walked through a door that said nothing to claim and I was out into a train station. The train station part of Schipol is huge and open with lots of shops and people all over. There were little machines that you could get tickets from but I went over to the huge ticket booths and bought mine from a person. I just wanted to make super sure I was getting the right ticket and headed to the right platform; not like it even matter because no one ever asked to see a ticket from me. So a few minutes after I go down to the tracks the train gets there, and its a double decker...umm, awesome! The doors open to a little platform and you can either go upstairs or down to two different seating areas. It was really nice for a little 15 minute train ride, you really get your 7 euro worth haha. Next stop was Centraal station Amsterdam.

Walking out of central was little scary. It wasn't at all crowded yet, with what I hear to be beggars and drug pushers, but the sun had barely started to rise and the area around the station was under construction. So it was hard to gain my bearings, but I just followed a few people and ended up on Damrak, the main tourist street in the city. And this is where I got a little lost. I decided to go to Anne Frank first since it was the most important thing to me, and I heard the line gets super long if you wait too late. So I was just walking down Damrak looking for something bigger than a tiny/scary alley to cross over to the outer canal rings where the house is. After a while I reach the Dam Square and there was a carnival set up, probably is super cute at night. I decided then to turn right down a street bigger than an alley but after walking it for a few minutes I began to wonder why it's talking so long. So i turned up a canal to an even bigger street I could see straight ahead that looked super busy, always a good sign. I was right, the Westerkirk Church was right up on the corner and Anne Frank is like next door to the church!


Feeling accomplished I sat down on a little bench outside the church to look at my map and see what went wrong...I just went too far south on Damrak. I should have turned at another street that was hidden by the stupid carnival set up. Oh well. So I walked up the block to Anne Frank and there were already people in line, and it was 30 minutes before it opened! I wandered up the street a little and took a few photographs before settling into the line behind them. The people in front of me were in Ams on a layover as well, on their way home to New Jersey from Africa. It rained a little off and on until the house opened, and the line was pretty deep behind me. The museum is awesome. You start in the warehouse and offices and then make your way up to the secret annex. It's a self guided tour, but there is so much to read, watch, and look at. Something I really liked about the museum were the quotes from Anne's diary on the wall that pertained to whatever was on exhibit in that room. After going through all the office rooms and up some steep stairs it was time to go behind the moveable staircase and up to the annex. The stairs up were extremely steep and very tiny and led to what was Anne's parents and sister's room. Otto Frank, Anne's dad kept a map of Normandy on the wall and tracked attacks made in the war, and he marked Anne and her sister Margot's height as they grew in the annex. The next room is Anne's that she shared with the dentist. The walls are still covered with all the photos and postcared she put up to make living there more bearable. Being in her room where she sat at her desk and wrote her diary was unreal. Up another set of stairs, again unbelieveably steep, narrow and tiny, was the main room/kitchen of the apartment which was also room to the Van Pels. Their son Peter lived in the stairwell to the attic next to their room. After leaving the annex and finding out the fates of all who lived there, they have Anne's actual diary on display. Anne had plans to turn her diary into a novel after the war, so there is a section in the diary room where you can see revisions she had typed up in preparation for publication. Another cool part of the museum is right at the end there is Shelly Winters Oscar she won for her portrayal of Mrs. Van Pels in the movie based on Anne Frank's diary. She told Otto that she would give it to the museum if she won, and she actually did. Leaving the museum and walking past the front of the little brownstone that contains the secret annex, you can't help but look at the canal and think about the face that this is the last thing Anne saw of Amsterdam as she was being taken from her hiding place to Auschwtiz.


On that note it started to rain. Of course I didn't put my umbrella in my carry on bag, wasn't sure if it could come through security, so I put the hood up on my jacket and headed back to the main part of the city. A few times it really started pouring so i hid under store overhangs until it let up. At one point I ran into the people from New Jersey, it was funny seeing familiar faces in a city where you know no one. Eventually it stopped raining and I turned a few corners and found the cat boat!


De Poezenboot is a house boat on the Singel canal that gives refuge to stray cats in the city. I'm guessing there are a lot because I saw two earlier at the church next to Anne Frank Huis. I didn't see any cats in the boat, but I just had to go check it out. You can even go inside and play with the cats, but I wasn't there the right day. By then I was feeling pretty tired but it was only like 10:30, so I made my way back to Damrak. I had to take a few scary alleys, that probably aren't so scary as I think they are, but I made it to one of the main pedestrian shopping streets which was super crowded by now. I checked out a few stores, but I still wasn't feeling great so I continued to Damrak and then it started randomly hailing/sleeting. I had just crossed the street behind this tram and I thought it was just the tram kicking up rocks, it took a minute to realize it wasn't.


It only lasted a minute and I made it back to Damrak where I saw a bunch of canal tour places. I picked one at random because it was fairly cheap and looked like it was about to leave. I thought this would be a great way to see more of the city and kill some time. It was alright. I got a window seat but my window couldn't slide open so a lot of my photos have a glare. The tour went around the main canal of the city and pointed out many interesting sites, we even went by the cat boat! It was a round trip so at the end we were brought back to Damrak and I decided to just go back to Schiphol.


This time Central was much more crowded, but I was able to look at the boards and find my platform right away. The train came not much later and I hopped on like a pro. I started a conversation with the lady sitting across from me, i figured she was doing a layover like me since she was looking at a boarding pass. She thought I was European haha! We talked a little bit about where she was from (Seattle), where she was going (Dusseldorf, Germany) and how this was her first time overseas. We split up at the Schiphol train station because she had to go find the locker she had stored her carryon bag. Security wasn't too bad, and I didn't have to go through passport control since I was just going to Munich. Ummm, ok whatever. Dad and I landed in Munich around the same time, met up and caught a cab to the hotel. We planned on walking around after dinner but it was super busy and took too long and we were exhausted after the trip so it was time for bed.


***sorry this is sooooo long, and it took even longer for me to type up! I might not get another one done before I get back, but eventually I'll post all my entries...***

6 months lata

So here we are, six months after my first journey to Europe, although it feels like years ago, and I am preparing to do it all again. The whole thing is pretty spur of the moment, I bought my ticket like a month before I was scheduled to leave, and here I am a little over a week before I board a plane and hop over the pond back to the motherland. I decided to go because my dad will be going over for business, and this way I can go and get out of paying for a hotel! The type A personality in me has everything pretty well planned out, so here is a little preview of what you'll be reading/seeing in my blog while I am overseas......


8 hour layover in Amsterdam

train day trips to Lindau Amberg Regensburg and Salzburg

and of course a full day or two in Munich! Even though I was just there in March, there is still plenty to see and do, and you know I love just sitting on a bench and people watching :)

dad and I will be staying in Freising, a little town just north of Munich with the oldest brewery in the world!

the great thing about Germany/Bavaria is the Bayern Ticket. It's like a day pass to ride any regional train in Bavaria (Bayern) for only 20 Euros! That's how I'll be getting around to anywhere outside Munich, I hope it's not too confusing haha.

guess that's all....wish me luck!

Jenny


ps...this time around I am determined to buy a swatch of felt from the felt store! We saw the store back in March and I stepped in and snapped a pic and I must get some this time. Not sure what I will be doing with the felt, but I love that only in Germany is there an entire store devoted to felt haha!

The surreal life/it was all a dream

Friday March 27, 2009
I truly can not believe that we have already been back from our European vacation for a week already. Going back to “real life” was hard at first, but the routine is getting easier now that we are a week out. It really feels like the whole trip was just a dream and that we never left and came back. I hate how I felt so stressed and unprepared before the trip and so I kept telling myself it’s only a week; I wish i would have like calmed down and enjoyed the whole experience more. Not to say that I didn’t, because I certainly did have a great time, but I know that it could have been even better. I guess that is what return trips to Europe are for! At least with this trip all we had to do was show up, and I think I miss that the most! Being told what time you had to be somewhere, not having to worry about breakfast and dinner, always having transportation, and knowledgeable guides to show you around the city.

Once we actually got the hang of the trip it was relatively stress free, at least for me haha. I really miss seeing most of the people everyday. Most, not all haha. Some of those people I can certainly do without seeing for a long time! We were very fortunate in that we had an excellent driver and tour director. They really went above and beyond what I think was considered their job requirements, and our tour was so much better because of that. And the kids! I would have never thought before going on this trip that I could have so much fun with people 5+ years younger than me, but I did. It just feels so strange to me to be friends with people who aren’t as independent as my older friends. Oh well, maybe the group will have a reunion or something, but I know it won’t be the same. It’s just like with my Hong Kong group. Once you leave the crazy living together, sleep deprived, foreign bubble, the group’s not as tight when you see each other after returning. Its funny what happens when you go on big trips with a group or people you don't know too well. You end up banding together and becoming friends with and meeting people you would have never talked to normally because the situation is special and calls for it. Then you come back and it’s just not the same. Ok enough with the Debbie Downer moment!

The trip was amazing and I can’t wait to go back someday. I would really love to go back and explore more of Eastern Europe like we did on this trip, like Poland, Hungary, and Austria. The most fascinating aspect of these countries is all their recent history with World War II and communism. I think that even though I didn’t love it at first, Berlin was one of my favorite places on the trip. I definitely feel like I need to go back there and explore it more. Prague of course was amazing and I would go back there in a heartbeat. There was so much more to see in that city! Munich was lovely, but I feel like I saw pretty much everything I wanted to. I would go back of course, but I would plan on spending more time in other places. There is way too much to do and see and never enough time or money!Well, I guess that brings my little email blogs to an end for now. I’m working on making a movie thing using some of our pics and German music of course as well as a book with select photos to show everyone. But really, you just gotta go there to fully understand it! Next trip: hopefully back to Asia! I love that I am now able to compare Asia and Europe, and appreciate each for their pros and cons. I’ll have to get back to you on which I prefer haha!