Category: Europe

Around the City

Today I went to Izmailova Markets which is a huge bazaar full of souvenirs and crafts. As I walked through the stalls, I saw the same tshirts, trinkets, soviet gear, and stacking dolls that I’d seen each time before, so it was less interesting. I did find a few things that I did like and got, but overall prices make me feel like a poor American. Things are not cheap, nor overly expensive rather, but they are simply a metropolitan prices.

I went through the stalls for a while weaving up and down and came across the BBQ stands, so I had lunch. The guy cooking spoke pretty good English. Later in the afternoon as I was looking at another stall, I heard, oh hey friend! And I looked up, and there he was again hanging out behind a ‘lighter’ stand helping his buddy sell the ‘best lighters in Moscow’. Actually, that’s one thing I’ve noticed here is how cheap the cigarettes are. They’re about $2 a pack. No wonder everyone is a chain smoker.

 

After Izmailova, I headed for Park Pebedi which is a huge war memorial plaza. They were setting up for a volleyball tournament that was coming here soon. Walking along the paths to the big obelisk at the end, people were swimming in the fountains and eating and enjoying the warm weather. Thankfully today was sunny so it was good to be outside. It was about 3:30 at this point, so I had a snack of a hot dog. The woman who sold me the hot dog was funny. She didn’t speak a word of English, but knew ‘ketchup and mayo’. When she went to dress the hot dog, she said, ‘Garchitsa’ (mustard), I said ‘Da’. Then she moved to Ketchup? ‘Net’. Mayo ‘Net’. Puchimu (why). Ya Ne Hachu. (I don’t want it). So she went back to Ketchup and smiled and said it again. I said ‘Net’. She then went to mayo again, so I said Garchitsa, ‘da’, and waved my hands together  trying to signal—that’s it! She was laughing which made me laugh and reminded me why I enjoy traveling so much. These interactions in a foreign country, with a foreign language are really priceless and precious.

After Park Pabedi, I headed for another park Tsaritsyno, which was the vacation place of Tsar’s apparently. I’ll need to look up the history, but it was a huge Germanesque type architected castle perched on a hillside overlooking a lake. Everyone was out enjoying the weather and music provided near the fountains. After walking around the lake, Katya told me to meet her near her work so we could go have dinner. I then went to Tretyovskaya Gallery to meet her. My legs and feet at this point were ridiculously tired for my backpack was the heaviest it’s been. Stupidly, I brought my netbook, my thermos, my big camera, my small camera, an umbrella, etc so it weighed a bit.

Once Katya and I met up, the evening was so nice that we walked, despite my feet not wanting to anymore. We walked almost an hour to the restaurant. I was parched and hungry. When we entered, a tray of food with the most amazing fries went by, so I was salivating to order. We got seated immediately since Katya had reserved our table. However, that’s where the service ended. I got the menu, and right when the girl came to speak to us, I asked Katya to get us a huge water as I was ridiculously thirsty. We also ordered a smoothie each. I found a smoothie that was made with red wine, but all the other fruits sounded delisious, so I asked if the wine could be substituted out. NET. So I ordered a different one. Katya ordered a Caesar Salad and added chicken. I found a Papparadelle pasta with mushrooms and cream sauce. So I asked if I could add chicken as well. NET. Finally, at the bottom of the menu, it shows the side of Fries, so I ordered those as well. NET. Wait, what? Why not?? Fries only come with meals right now. But, it’s listed as a side item. We’re out of French fries as a side item today. But… NET.

At this point I was truly annoyed, but I almost lost it when she came back to the table. It will be a while for your drinks because the bar is serving other people. Well, I was truly amazed that no one could pour me a glass of water in the time it took for OUR COMPLETE DINNER to be served to us, still without drinks. It wasn’t until I was half done with my meal that she brought over the water and smoothie. I found a new level of irritation in myself. I used to think I could only get amazingly irritated with someone withholds me from being fed, but I found a new heightened sense of fury when someone withheld me from quenching my thirst. Especially at a restaurant! Needless to say, I left a big fat 0 of a tip—but it’s not much of a smack in Russia, as it’s rare to tip, and a most, they leave 10%.

After dinner we walked to another station to head home. It was 10pm, and the sun still was out and made the walk to the station very relaxing and nice. After our metro ride, we met up with Zhenya and bought some fruit and helped him home with groceries to enjoy fun conversation over some food and drinks (yes, Dinner part deux).

Rainy Day in Moscow

Today was rainy outside and as I was preparing to leave the flat, Evgeny’s maid came. She was ‘warned’ that an American would be at home and that I didn’t speak any Russian, but that didn’t stop her from trying to interact with me. She spoke very slowly and clearly, to which basic things I understood. Good morning, how are you, to which I replied, but after that it was just all smiles and shrugs. When I left, she made sure I carried an umbrella with me :)

I headed to a place I picked on the subway map simply to have another long walk. I walked and walked but the rain kept me from doing any amazing pictures.

Moscow Walks

Today I got up and headed out to walk around the city. It’s funny the little tricks of Moscow I’ve picked up over the times I”ve been here that actually come in handy. The one I keep thinking about is the voice on the train. A man does the speaker announcements when you head Towards the city, and a woman does the announcements as you leave the city, so you always know what direction you’re heading depending on the voice. The day started out pretty overcast, so I brought an umbrella with me. I made my way to the Revolution Square metro stop, my favorite station in Moscow. I think it’s because of how Russian and Soviet it looks, and reminds me of our first trip here back in 1997. Seeing the figures at each corner of men posed for war, women strong with crops etc seem to always rush back memories and thoughts about my connection to Russia. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since I was introduced to the country by simple air mail letters stamped with CCCP on them..

Leaving the station, I went to go to Red Square. It’s unfortunately not my favorite route to see St Basil’s in the background, as this way simply takes you to the south west corner of Red Square. I think the Southeast corner is more breathtaking. I’ll never tire of seeing Red Square in all its glory. It’s a cobble stoned plaza that’s so open and focuses on the symbol I have etched in my mind of what Russia’s icon is. Seeing Lenin’s Mausoleum on the right also flushes memories of marching through to see him preserved in a line that’s silenced by soldiers standing guard. I think I may go there to see him again.

 

After leaving Red Square, I went around the Kremlin toward the Church of Christ our Savior. This for some reason is always in my mind of Evgeny’s wedding, as it’s one of the stops we had during the wedding party. I can’t believe how much I’ve walked around – it’s so nice to wander around the city and have a vague idea of where you’re going, but not a plan to prohibit surprise. I’m taking in all the architecture and sights and strolling along the streets watching people, seeing interesting shops, and noticing how terrible traffic is.

In the evening, I met up with Katya and I was exhausted. She told me to meet her at the Bolshoi Theater, so I walked there to wait at the fountains for her. It’s a great place to people watch as it seems to be an easy meeting place. We walked toward Arbat street to find dinner at an Italian chain call Il Patio. I had a good pizza there while we chatted and laughed. After dinner we went searching for a dessert but ended up just coming home instead.

First Day in Moscow

After a wonderful night’s sleep, we all had breakfast and continued our conversations from the previous night. For the day, Masha suggested we go to a nearby park where we can sunbathe. So after a leisurely breakfast, we headed to find a car to drive us to the park. I say car here, because it was not a taxi. In Russia, when you need to go somewhere, there are several cars that simply drive around waiting to make a buck. You can just signal that you need a car, and someone will pull over. It’s a form of hitchhiking + taxi, and kind of a win win.

We got to the park and headed to pick a spot. I recognized the lake as it was the same lake which was completely frozen over just 4 years ago in the winter when I last visited. It’s crazy that a place can be so bone chilling in the winter, yet so hot in the summer. Actually, the heat is nice—it’s a normal nice warm summer. We laid out blankets and talked a while more. We then started a game of Russian Monopoly. All the place names are something Russian, and while Zhenya was the banker, we speculated corruption in the financial sector ;) We then paused the game to get some lunch at a nearby stand selling Shashlik/BBQ. It was very tasty.

After a bit of Monopoly, we played some volleyball. During the beginning of our game, Zhenya hit one a little off and it headed for a woman on her blanket. She was lying on her stomach, and a coke can was right in front of her face. I saw the ball rolling, but I couldn’t even warn her because she wouldn’t understand me. The ball dashed in front of her knocking over her coke can. Thankfully it didn’t hit her face, but she was not impressed.

Katya joined the volleyball game a bit as well and finally our arms were too sore. We then headed back to the apartment to shower and change. After about an hour, we took the train to the city to take some photographs of some buildings that Masha’s company was working on for a photo brochure. They needed some good pictures of the building so we used my camera. It was a nice evening to walk. We found a Georgian restaurant to have some food for dinner. I got Georgian style Pelmini which was fantastic. The meat was seasoned really well, and it was all packaged in a little spicy dumpling with a cold sauce and sour cream on top. Definitely a low carb option.

After a hilarious dinner with jokes and funny stories, we went outside around 10pm and the sun was starting to set. The sky was lit up pink and had a great silhouette of one of Moscow’s ‘candles’.

Our way home was quite an adventure. Again we used one of the car ‘services’, and we ended up in a car with really loud Russian folk music. All of a sudden, Katya sitting up front started a dialog with the driver and everyone got quiet. From the tone, it seemed like she was telling him to do something, and he wasn’t liking to be told. Then Masha and Zhenya got involved. Before I knew it, we were let out on the side of the road at a BP station half way home. It was so baffling, but then cracked me up as to what had happened. Apparently no one liked the music in the car, and Katya said could you please change it. He then said that’s not part of the driving service and you’ll listen to what I listen to. Then it just spiraled from that point on to her saying, if you won’t provide us with the service, we’re not paying and we’ll find another driver.  So he says, fine, and let us out.

Luckily, the BP randomly had a Citibank ATM which is where we had gone looking for a Citibank before so I could get money. The Citibank branch we tried to find had closed up shop and moved out. So it was a lucky situation at least for me J

We then got home by another driver and we were all tired. We took Katya home and then got ready for bed. I was exhausted, yet somehow my mind was still active, and I ended up not being able to sleep well that night.

Off To Moscow!

Today, I got up around 8:30am to be ready to be picked up for my ride to the airport. The previous night, I had spent a lot of time cleaning up and getting everything packed for my trip. I always leave it to the last day, but feel a little anxious when I think I haven’t thought of everything that I’d need. Fortunately, there’s not a lot that I think I need while traveling.

I was able to get my entire 3 weeks worth of ‘needs’ into my backpack :) This also included the gift backpack and ipad that I am bringing over for Grisha and Katya. I’ve got a long layover in Houston so I’ll be able to do some work and not be rushed to get to the gates by any means.

It was interesting to be able to score a nonstop from Houston to Moscow via Singapore Airlines. What a treat. This airline is fantastic. It was a big 777, roomy, and not so packed where I actually had a seat free next to me. The reclining mechanism was nice, and the 10” entertainment screen that supplied over 500 on demand videos songs etc was really great. I watched ‘Limitless’, as well as some Japanese TV programs.

Soon after, they served us our first meal. Absolutely the best food I’ve ever had on a plane. I had pork strips on a bed of rice with steamed vegetables. It was incredible. Nothing was oddly cooked or microwaved hard. After dinner was an ice cream treat. I was really satisfied by the meal.

After about 5 hours into the flight, they turned down the lights to allow us to start resting. I finished up the movie and tried to get in a position that would let me sleep. I felt good in one position, but felt like I was conscious the whole time that I was lying back. It was so strange, because when I looked up awakened, it was because they were coming by to serve breakfast. There was just 1:50 left in the flight.

Breakfast was incredible. Scrambled eggs with chicken sausage, mushrooms, and potatoes, yogurt, fresh fruit, and orange juice. Everything tasted great. Definitely the best flying experience I’ve had for a quite a while.

As we were flying over Moscow coming into DME, which was my first time coming south of the city, was all the housing with colored roofs. Purple, green, red, black, orange, yellow. It looked almost like a Vegas type setting. We also saw a lot of traffic that was bumper to bumper flying in.

After an extremely smooth landing, we taxied into the terminals. We saw lots of airlines that were unfamiliar, and a lot of planes just parked on the tarmac. After getting off the plane, we headed for passport control which was a huge mess. There are no stanchions or anything helping guide people into lines, and everyone literally crowds the passport aisles. After waiting for a long while, I changed to another area that seemed to get the word line. Quickly I was stamped in, and headed for baggage claim to get my backpack. When I found the carousel,  I looked at the baggage that was already taken off, as well as watched for a bit while the other stuff came over too. Finally the carousel stopped, and my backpack was no where in sight.

I didn’t panic yet because I wasn’t completely sure the carousel was completed, as not many people from the flight was over there. I talked to a woman while another customer was saying her baggage wasn’t there. That’s when I started to get nervous. She took us over to another area, and as we turned the corner, I saw my backpack just sitting there on the floor. I thought, now why would someone have moved it over here?? She said because it was considered fragile.

In any case, it was a huge relief to get my backpack and head out through customs. When I exited, I found a place to be found and turned on my phone. I got a message from Katya that she was stuck at traffic at the door coming in and to stay put. So I changed into shorts and just a little while later, Katya came and found me.

We then headed for the Aeroexpress that takes us to the center to meet up with Evgeny. As we traveled about 45 minutes to the city, we transferred and instantly I’m refreshed with memories flooding back from my times before in Russia. The subway system. The one thing of Moscow that doesn’t change. The long escalators that sink you down to the depths of subway mazes of amazing soviet architecture, mosaics of hammers and sickles, Lenin. As we headed down, we were chatting and all of a sudden, we saw Evgeny nonchalantly going up on the other side. He was trying to get up there to surprise us first, but we were too fast!
We then headed for home. I was surprised at how awake and non-tired I was. Simply because it was an extremely long day, but I felt fine. We headed to his place and left Katya as she was going to a birthday party for the evening. Evgeny’s new apartment looked great—they had gutted out the entire thing and redone it very modern and ikea like. I took a shower and got ready to go out to meet Masha for dinner.

We walked to a Sushi restaurant that has now popped up in their neighborhood. Crazy! Masha was there waiting for us, and it was so nice for all of us to be together. It’s like no time has passed, and to be with them is so incredible. We were laughing and chatting throughout the entire dinner, which continued into the night. The sun wasn’t even close to setting at 9pm, and we headed back home to laugh and chat more. By 10:30 I was starting to get tired, despite it still being light out, so I played some PS3 with them, and crashed.

 

Heidelberg and back to Frankfurt

Today I left Ulm to visit a little town called Heidelberg, which is famous for it’s quaint German setting underneath a great castle. After winding back through the old town from the hostel and saying goodbye to Anja, I got to the train station to get an earlier train to Heidelberg. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything nonstop, but I figured I could handle a transfer halfway through to arrive earlier. The train was late by about 5 minutes so it made me nervous about making the transfer, but I went ahead and gave it a shot anyhow. That’s part of the adventure, right?

After a train ride through the countryside, then to Stuttgart, I got a little nervous that somehow the train had changed without me knowing it. Now all the signs said Salzburg, and I definitely didn’t want to be heading for Austria. Alas, it was the correct train, and I saw my transfer point as the next stop. The train was still a little late, and once we arrived at the station, I literally had just enough time to step out the train, lug my luggage down the stairs on one platform, up the other to get on board as it pulled up. I’ve surprised myself this time with the amount of luggage, but it was an unusual trip as I needed to bring nicer clothes, so I brought 3-4 dress shirts just in case.. but of course, I didn’t use them, and they’ve added room to my already full luggage. I have ended up buying some clothes here too, along with the Milka chocolate, and still have to get my favorite Nivea products that I can’t get at home.

After arriving in Heidelberg, I headed for the luggage storage area. Of course, the machine I select ate the money and didn’t function, so I had to get someone to help. She overrided the system, and gave me a certificate for me to come back that evening—that worried me a bit since I just had to think, what if I can’t find HER, and what if no one can be FOUND in the station to help get my luggage out. They do often seem shorthanded in service.

I left the station and headed for the Hauptstrasse, or Main Street which is one of Germany’s longest pedestrian shopping areas. It was nice to see all the old buildings along the cobbledstone drive and everyone out and about. I wandered along the streets and alleys looking at things, and couldn’t help but feel that everywhere has become so ameicanized. All these brands that look like you’re shopping in an American mall, yet facades are simply ‘euro’. Of course the big castle peering down at the street along with plazas with everyone enjoying their meals and the church that dates back to so many centries ago make this environment very European. Nevertheless, shopping seemed less ‘market’ like and more stripmallish. I found a restaurant that had some Japanese menu items, so I had a great Katsudon meal that felt really filling.

I then made my way up to where the main street parts to go up to the castle, so I went along the VERY steep pathway that leads up to the castle gates. I wasn’t interested in going in, but I did want to see the view of Heidelberg from above. After about 20 minutes, I arrived at the top, pretty worn out from the hike with my backpack, and my non hiking shoes making my feet feel like they are completely flat. Looking out over the city, it was nice to treat myself to the last 2 pieces of chocolate Mathias had gotten us as a symbol of Switzerland.

After the castle, I went back down towards the river to cross the bridge over to the other side which has another mountain facing the city. It has a famous bridge which everyone was taking pictures in front of. I then headed for Philospher’s Way, which is a pathway up on the hill overlooking the city. Now this was a climb, and I had to stop a couple of times to let my feet rest. These shoes have seen some miles!

At the top, seeing the city from this side was even better because of the castle in the background. Heidelberg does seem like  the typical German city. I then made my way down through what seemed to be a ritzy part of town with large houses, all built Hansel Gretel style. It was nice to see everyone doing their daily lives and simply taking a peek of life here in Heidelberg.

I then headed back down to go once more a different way to the shopping area, to do some shopping before I head to Frankfurt for the evening. Unfortunately, it sounds like Judith is sick so I’m not sure if I’ll get to see her tomorrow or not before I head back home…

I got back to the station, and found the woman to retrieve my luggage. All went well with getting everything and now I’m on the train to Frankfurt to meet up with Volker, who is a good friend of Ulf’s. I’ll stay there tonight to then see ulf and hopefully Judith tomorrow for some sightseeing around Frankfurt before my journey back home!

The beautiful Luzern, Switzerland

The weather since I got here has been really nice. Last night, Mathias and I decided that Luzern would be a great place to hike, see some Swiss mountains, and enjoy a nice view from the top of the mountain. He helped with trying to find the best tickets for us along with the routing. The costs here are really high—the USD is so low, it’s almost at parity with the Swiss Franc, so everything is ridiculously priced. $7 for a bottle of orange juice. $15 for a simple lunch, and $25 – $35 for a simple dinner. I miss the times where the USD actually was great to have.

We headed on for our journey and shortly after we started, I got a text from my friend Vera, who lived in San Francisco on Nob Hill just a few blocks down the street from me. She was originally from Switzerland and moved back just a while back to Zurich. She and her fiancé were planning to go somewhere to hike, so they decided to join us. We got there around 11am and started on the tram incline way that goes up the mountain. After and exhilarating trip up, we started hiking around and enjoying the view.

It was an absolutely impeccable blue sky with the snow capped mountains jiggering throughout the landscape. The view to the green grass below and little towns was so scenic and gorgeous. I can’t believe how lucky I was with the weather! After a load of pictures, we grabbed some lunch. After our bratwurst lunch, we did a little more hiking until Vera and Leandro joined us.

With Vera and Leandro, we continued walking around the mountain tops and started winding down the path. There was a lot of snow melting on the pathway down, so some parts were slippery. We made it to another station and took the other side of the mountain down. After a very steep descent to the bottom of the mountain while overlooking the lake, we saw lots of houses perched up on the sides of the mountain. It’s so curious to see these houses in such a remote setting and wonder what their lives are like. Children are playing in the gardens and such, but I still wasn’t able to make out any roads anywhere other than gravel paths.

When we reached the bottom, the ferry/boat station was there, and our ticket that Mathias had planned out included a boat ride to the other side of the lake to the town of Luzern. We boarded the boat and decided to meet Leandro and Vera on the other side as they had driven down for the day. The boat ride was great, but the sun was very strong. The air was perfect and clean feeling, but not cold. Jeans were getting a big warm, and I had now only a tshirt on. After about an hour relaxing boat ride, we arrived at Luzern’s station and headed for our meeting point while walking along this great promenade. We met up with Leandro and Vera and had some drinks at a posh looking hotel/bar outside looking out at the lake.

We then continued a walking tour of Luzern and went through all sorts of skinny pathways through the city’s cobble stone streets. My feet are so sore from how much walking I’ve done over the last couple of weeks! Still, the weather made it impossible to stay in one place! We walked across the old bridge of Luzern, and grabbed a doner kebap for dinner. While we ate our dinner at a bench on the lake, a live band was playsing some blues/folk music singing in English on this dock on the lake. It was right behind a creperie stand, and I tried to get a Nutella crepe, but the owner had run out of eggs. I thought there might have been a chance…

At this point, I was utterly exhausted, and Vera and Leandro offered us a ride back to Zurich. I wanted to fall asleep on the car ride home it was so comfortable to be sitting. We got back to Mathias’ place and went to bed after a dessert with his flatmates who were entertaining that evening. I was about to fall over asleep in my chair. It was an amazing, beautiful, and unforgettable day in Switzerland.

Dachau + Most Annoying School Group Award Goes to…

Today I headed to Dachau to see the Concentration Camp that’s now a museum. It was a fairly easy ride on the train and everything was well marked. When I arrived at the station, there was a bus full of people so it was easy to find. It was odd because the residential area and I kept waiting for it to open up to a big space where it would be the whole camp area. But street after street, it felt like we were just going deeper into a neighborhood. Finally it had a little clearing, but not nearly enough, and what’s shocking is what I learned after being at the camp.

When I got in, I wanted to do the 2 hour tour, but it only started at 11am, and I got there around 9:30am, so I figured I’d just go ahead with an audio tour instead. There were tons of groups from schools, and I’ve decided that I’m going to give a personal award to a couple of generalized groups. The winner for the most annoying group of tourists this trip goes to the Italians, with the French and Koreans tying for 2nd place. The Italian kids were loud and obnoxious, and tried to play soccer with anything that rolled or was shaped like a circle. It was horrible. The French kids shoved and were just oblivious and loud, and the Korean groups were more vandals rather than audible. There was so much Korean scribbled on walls where exit signs were as in (acknowledge our language, please put it on the door).

Despite these groups, I plugged myself up to the audio tour which helped drown the nuisance and let me concentrate on the story of the camp. Entering into the camp, you see the railroad tracks that were used of bringing train loads of prisoners to the camp, and these tracks are still visible as well as part of the foundation of the ‘station’ deck. Walking into the camp, the gate has been reconstructed to its original form, and you emter through the famous iron gate that reads ‘Arbeiten Macht Frei’.

Inside the gate walls, see immediately see the large area, the main square, and the main building. The barracks have been reconstructed as well as the remainder of the foundations relief-ed to show their alignment and rows. They did an amazing job of the reconstruction resembling what I saw in the pictures on all the plaques that described things in more detail. Throughout the walk outside, the thoughts of what my grandfather saw and wondering what it was like for him to see what I was hearing simple words that effected such emotion from me, I immediately wanted to ask questions to him. It’s a shame that that generation endured what they did, but also that so many memories have gone untold.

Walking through the barracks (which were built for about 200 and by the end housed 2000 each), it was amazing to think what went on here. The sacred ashes of so many innocent lives that had been burned simply for no reason. There were a lot of commerative items throughout the park donated by specific groups. Catholics, Jews, etc.. any group that was deemed prison worthy — they all had a very structured symbol. The upside down triangle, obviously showing degradation, color-coded to the ‘offense’. I didn’t know this, but this is where the pink triangle representing Gay Rights came from–the pink triangle was used for imprisoning homosexuals, just as there were colors imprisoning Jahovah’s witnesses. Add being a jew to the mix, and you simply put a right side yellow triangle behind it, and you have the star of David–and yes, try putting the yellow triangle behind the Jahovah’s Witness upside down one. Crazy, right? The nonsensical nature of everything they did was simply appalling to think someone had the amount of power he had to coerce people to follow this evil regime into torture and terrorism. I also felt like the word terror was used consistently, that made me realize that our ‘terrorism’ today, while not even a fraction of what has happened then, but resembles the terror that Hitler brought to thousands upon thousands. We are in a new age of terrorism, one that luckily doesn’t create physical torture as this was, but one that still affects our daily living–think all the ridiculous security measures we have to endure now.

The Crematorium, gas chambers, fumigation rooms and such were unbelievable. It’s just eerie to even be where such things occurred, and I found myself wondering over and over again what my grandfather saw. I wanted to know so many details of his time there, and wonder what exactly he did. I kept finding myself looking at all the videos trying to see any images of the US troops and wonder, was he there, was he the one helping.

There was a film that showed about 35 minutes worth of a short story version of all film that was available. It was really interesting, and just showed amazing inhumane, non-shuttering actions of these men. I learned a lot today, and saw a lot that will be a reminder of how thankful I am to live in this time period and country where I don’t have to endure government torture and persecution simply because of who I am. There is still a fight for equality, but it’s not for mere survival.

I walked around Dachau and despite it being a quaint town, there really wasn’t anything much to do there. I found myself lunch and then headed back to the train to get back home. I got back to the hostel and relaxed a bit and caught up on some emails. Tomorrow I’ll head to Zurich, Switzerland!

 

On to the Castle Fantasy Land

The journey to see Ludwig’s fantasy like castles is about 2 hours from Munich. Germany seems to enjoy rubbing your singlehood into your face because for E24, 1 person can make the voyage and for just E34, 5 people can. I tried to find people in the hostel that would join to split the cost, but to no avail. Alas, I headed out in the morning to catch the 8:52 train. The pass I got of course doesn’t start until 9am, and the next train would be at 9:52. So I went and asked, surely this is ok to get on, and the ticket beeyotch said, “You can but you’ll have to pay for the 8 minutes of use before 9am.” HA. So I went ahead to the conductor, and shrugged my shoulders and in broken German asked if it was ok with the time. He laughed and said yah.

The train was a regional train, which was fitting since the terrain going away from Munich was very regional. Farm houses after farm houses we passed and then out of nowhere, a huge peak peeked over the hillside. It was snowcapped, rugged, and looked like a fake theatre backdrop. We continued chugging through the meadows of green green grass and after a while ended up at a town called Fussen. It’s funny, because when my brain hears a word, it seems like it goes through, is this English, next, logically is this German? If I don’t know the German word, which is MANY, it then goes to Japanese for some reason. Actually I guess they both fight for 2nd place. Fussen when I hear it sounds like the word for balloon in Japanese.

It was surprisingly not crowded. At the station, there were 2 buses waiting for us to take us to the castle ticket area. The guy at the hostel said it wasn’t worth the money to go inside, and I wrestled with what I should do. I opted to go into the Neuscwanstein one, but not the Hohenschwangau. I got my tickets after a short 5 minute wait in line (Note: Go here during spring! No lines!). I then made my way up to Hohenschwangau to see the amazing view of Neuschwanstein above. It really was a fantastic day, though the way the castle is facing, the sun seemed to always be in the way. Hopefully I’ve captured a fraction of what it felt to see it in real life.

I then made my hike up the hill to Neuschwanstein. Since I was a little ahead of schedule, I stopped and got a Bratwurst. Again, there was really no line, so as my time was called, I headed for the turnstyles and clinbed up the stairs. We climbed about 70 stairs to the main floor. Apparently, when Ludwig died, the castle hadn’t been completed and only about 33% had been outfitted with his royal décor, so in actuality, as grand as the castle is on the outside, there’s a lot left to be finished inside. It’s a shame because it would have been cool to see what other amazing rooms he would come up with.

The tour was ok, and I’m glad I did it just for the views out of the windows and knowing that I was inside this remarkable feat of architecture. It was a quick 35 minute tour and then we headed out. I started up the hike again to Marian’s Bridge to get a great view of the castle, but as seemingly everything in Munich is closed for renovation, so was the bridge! I was so disappointed because I really wanted a stellar photo of this marvel, but it’s etched in my mind.

I then headed back down after trying to see if there were any other hikes that may give me a nice view, but nothing looked very promising and I didn’t want to trespass and something happen.

I then did the hike back down to where the bus let me off, and headed to Fussen. Here I did a walking tour from my guidebook which was actually quite good. It took me through some cemeteries of this quaint town. I was starting to get hungry and wanted something other than a bratwurst or schnitzel, so I went to an Italian place. However, on my way to the Italian place, I passed a place that was called Snowballs. Inside they had traditional soft-ball sized desserts with a coating of various flavors and items. Honestly, it looked like a softball dipped in chocolate covered with nuts. I felt like a squirrel in the middle of the road, not sure which way to go. I did however opt for an actual meal, and think about the snowball afterwards, but unfortunately, I was too full and didn’t want to have it melt by me holding it on the way home.

After my afternoon in Fussen I headed back to the train for the 2 hour journey home. Once I got back from the trip, I got my tickets for my trip to Zurich. The computer touch screens are really good to get you where you want and let you search and reserve seats. I like the system, and was pleased to see it was just E49.

When I got back to the hostel, I went out again for some dinner and had a great caprese sandwich with fresh mozzarella and ham. It then was getting late so I walked around a little and came home to crash.