Munich, Bavaria, Day 1

As the weeks progress and we familiarize ourselves with the joys of the wide variety of public transportation available to us, we travel further and further away from Metz. This weekend was our Munich trip.

I have to say, first of all, that although the French are friendly in their own curious way, I prefer the boisterous and carefree spirit of the Germans. They seem a lot easier to get along with from the get-go, whereas it takes some cleverness and skill to make friends with, say, the French lady from whom you're trying to buy a complicated train ticket.

After a long train ride with a few stops and switches, we made it to our hostel, Jaeger's Munich. We picked this place for convenience and necessity of course, but it didn't hurt that with your stay, you are guaranteed a free shot of Jaeger. Ah, German hospitality. The place made me think of a modern IKEA explosion on top, and a medieval crypt in the basement living quarters, but I enjoyed living there for two days minus the mild fear I had of touching any bathroom surface. Luckily, I discovered that the IKEA floor's bathrooms were quite a majestic alternative.

The first day was, of course, raining but that didn't deter us from walking all over town. After an interesting lunch of pork, potatoes, and sauerkraut at a traditional Bavarian place called Lamm's, we saw the river, the cathedral, and a bunch of German architecture.
Munich has a more practical feel about it than Metz--it's clean-lined and has just enough fancy architecture sprinkled in that you can pay attention to all of it without being overwhelmed. And there are bikes EVERYWHERE. I almost got hit several times for ignorantly strolling in the center of the bike lane, but it was inspiring to see so many people out in the rain riding their bikes.

We got lost on the way to one of the two famous beer halls, and since it was getting late, we opted to forgo the experience and enjoyed some more German architecture on the way back towards the train station to eat. Back at the hostel, we snagged a brochure for a Neuschwanstein tour for the next day before hanging out upstairs and then retreating to the dungeon for bed.

Continued...
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