Currents - Munich, Germany
I woke up as early as my sleep schedule would allow me to, fully ready to depart the beautiful tragedy that was Venice, Italy. Little did I know, the train ride that was ahead would make me wish I was in Venice instead. Read about it here.
I dropped off my things at the hostel and was craving a burger. Downtown Burger in Munich had what I sought. The fries and refreshing Spezi soda (German orange-flavored cola) that accompanied the main dish after the harrowing experience just made it taste all the more satisfying.
Like an animal acting on instinct, I wolfed down the meal, and then set my sights on drinking some beer. I met Joey in my hostel dorm room, an engineering student from North Carolina studying in Ireland, and we checked out a local bar. We chatted about our musical backgrounds and experiences traveling solo.
The next morning, I set out to explore the city. My first stop was the Deutsches Museum - one of the oldest science museums in the world. I figured a science museum would be a great change of pace from all the fancy and pretentious art museums I had been visiting.
This museum had all kinds of exhibits on modern technology - robotics, engines, airplanes, space stuff, bridges, agriculture, chemistry, and optics just to name a few.
My favorite sections had to be the musical instruments, codes (like the German secret code Enigma and the British team that cracked it) and whichever room this big swirly thing made of various human-made junk was in.
I left the museum feeling like my brain was bigger from all the science. That’s how it works, right? After all that growing, I needed some brain food, so I found a bratwurst in the Viktualienmarkt in the city center. This was my first taste of mustard since I left the US and I did not realize how much I missed that tangy flavor.
Next on my list was the Hofbräu Beer Garden, a famous garden with live music, servers donning lederhosen, and huge mugs of beer. I ordered myself a full liter of beer and did some drunken writing, so if you find any errors in one of my recent posts, now you know why.
Now, apparently I did not learn my lesson about what happens when I drink beer and go walking, because I decided I was feeling spry enough to walk to the English Garden - a giant public park in the middle of the city. I got my steps in, caught some sun, and laid in the grass to watch the clouds for a bit, but then I had to backtrack to the public toilets TWO times and pay a whopping total of €1 to not have another “piss baby” story.
Upon returning to the hostel, I met Dave from Canada in my hostel dorm room and we got some dinner at a nearby German restaurant. This was my first taste of “wiener schnitzel”, which was absolutely phenomenal. It was a breaded, deep fried, thin cut of meat, with another piece of meat and some kind of yummy sauce stuffed in the middle. The potatoes on the side, however, were seasoned with fennel seeds which I do not really enjoy, but I ate anyway because it was still delicious.
(ugh, I forgot to take a photo of the schnitzel, but trust me when I say it looked scrumptious)
Dave went to bed early, as he had been on a plane for 16 hours prior to meeting me, so I went to socialize in the hostel bar. I played some rounds of cards with Fred and Andres from Canada and Dan from Israel, and also chatted with Ana from Mexico. Those from North America had fun poking fun at our respective countries together.
I’ve learned that moving from hostel to hostel so fast makes it easy to meet new acquaintances, but it can be sad when you have to say “oh man, we’re having so much fun, but I’ve gotta leave tomorrow.” I’ve decided to slow my roll a bit - moving from city to city so fast can get exhausting, but it makes it harder to form quality friendships. A few extra nights in each of the last few cities should help me relax a bit.
