Munich
Arriving here after another night train- on which was once again quite difficult to sleep! The 80% chance of rain proved to be a modest report-at first. I won't even try to cover it up! The weather was miserable! My poor umbrella already has one broken joint, so the wind and rain seemed to have the upper hand at this feat. Lack of sleep did not help in my pursuit. I stumbled across a cozy looking cafe' and took refuge. Cleaned myself up, changed my clothes, washed my face, and ordered a nice warm breakfast.
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| Alter Botanischer Garten |
Once I was rejuvenated I could start to notice the more beautiful things about the rain. For one, (and maybe the only) the flowers all look stunning! Colors are much more vibrant with a thin layer of water to better reflect the light to your eyes.
For some reason or another, I had a little trouble figuring out the map of Munich. I think it was a combination of not having a good map, nor a compass, nor the desire to stop often and re-calculate.
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| This courtyard was very impressive, and overall very Greek looking. |
Hey! Looks like Berlin a little. This is simply a pretty common set up in European cities, the city arch.
But alas, I finally found the Gardens that I was looking for the whole time! And it proved to be absolutely worth it!
I accidentally hit my camera to manual so these pictures came out more blue... but kinda looks enchanted too. This is my absolutely favorite picture.
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| Squirrels in Germany have very furry ears. Protection from the cold? |
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| Flowers on Fire |
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| Munich, Germany. Has Asian and Greek styled buildings. |
Temple on the Hill
And my time was up in Munich, time to speed walk back to the train station: Key: without getting lost.
Fussen:
There were two castles to see near Fussen. Hohenschwangou, and Neushwanstein. I would like to bring attention to this sign. Welcome to the world of Wizard of Oz: featuring the scarecrow.
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| Neushwanstein- Of course: under renovation. Just imagine it looks like the Walt Disney Castle. |
I did meet two people from Spain on this trip; Uxia and Jordi. I learned a little bit more about Catalan; it's like a mix between French and Spanish. Jordi enjoyed the opportunity to practice speaking English, despite his remark that he has never had such an opportunity before, his English was pretty good, I often forgot that he wasn't fluent!
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| Uxia with Neushwanstein in the background. |
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| Alas, even the small towers are accompanied by scaffolds. I wonder if Towers are not a conventional form of architectural design. |
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| Painted crest on Hohenschwangou |
Back in the little town of Fussen, with a large amount of time to use up!
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| The houses are so colorful. They look good together though, while in America a random yellow house might look a little ridiculous! |
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| It was Easter time after all! |
It was nice outside, but eventually I retired to a nearby 4 star hotel for warmth. Apparently travelers are sometimes allowed to reside in the lounge area as they wait for a later train. Such was the case for myself. I drew a little, watched some World Cup Figuring skating competition. I was a little disappointed when I realized it was occurring in Nice! I could have been there! Did you get to watch it this year Mom?
Treis Karten
Thus far the journey had gone smoothly and the 80% chance of rain everywhere puttered out by the time I reached the park in Munich. My journey to Treis Karten, however, certainly threw a twist in things! My train left Fussen to another station Kaufbeuren, of which I waited for half an hour, to take me to a station in Munich (where I would wait from 12:00am-3:00am to catch my next train). As I was not in the city center, there was much fewer options for spending these 3 hours- but preferably somewhere inside. I did a lot of stairs that night as I waited in between train stations to stay warm. It was by no means freezing, but not particularly warm either. I went to a local bar which had been apparently reserved for a birthday party that night. So hello my traveling friend, once again. Burger King. Then I caught the train to Koblenz after a slight worry that they changed the train schedules. But to conclude, this was one more night of little to no sleep. Though I did achieve the sleep on command to get every half hour possible! And once again a destination! (Treis Karten in case I lost you on the way) from which point I could see several things in the distance:
Treis Karten is the absolute smallest town I have visited. One street basically... but very quaint.
Yet not a soul around to meet.
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| A reassuring sign of inhabitance.. |
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| Unfortunately these were not closer than across a river and up on a hill. |
I waited a long time for the bus to go to Burg Eltz. The castle of my real destination. But it did not come as scheduled, nor arrived within 20 minutes late. If you stare at a foreign language long enough, you mind manages to decipher it. The sign began to say that the bus only runs on Saturdays between the months of May and October.
Okay... been everywhere, time to come up with a new plan. The Eurail was particularly useful at this point.
I took the train to the next town over, Cochem, where there was actually a breathing population- enough to order some food at least. Studied the train schedules. There was one to Luxembourg in 3 hours, but look there was one to Trier also! I had been there not too long ago with LCC, (when you are traveling, any familiar location, Strasbourg for example, substitutes for a good place to turn to); well that train was leaving in a half hour, and from there I could get to Luxembourg and to Metz. I could be home in 3-4 hours!
