This past week has been a very busy week!
München / Munich
I got to see some of my American friends this week on an excursion to Munich! This is the first year that the program that we are associated with in Germany has planned a couple trips and invited all of the in-bound exchange students to join! We had so much fun and made new friends from other countries (including Brazil, Ecuador, Italy, China, and Korea!). On Wednesday, I caught a train from Passau to Munich (with a six minute layover in Plattling). It was a two hour journey and I arrived early at the Munich train station so naturally, I went to Starbucks. As I was enjoying my frap, someone sat down next to me and ironically, it was my friend Mason from my program! He and I caught up for a bit before our friend Sarah arrived and joined us. |
Thursday morning, we woke up and had a spectacular buffet breakfast before heading out the door to get on the "s-bahn" (subway). We traveled downtown in just a few stops and emerged in the middle of Marienplatz, the center of Munich. We were greeted with stunningly eclectic architecture throughout the city and we even got a historical city tour. During the tour, we had to ask locals (in German) what the answer to certain questions were. For example: my group had to ask what the locals called the tower on St. Peter's Church (it's "Alter Peter"). I learned so much about the city in only an hour or so! After that, we were given free time (but not much) to go and eat. My friends and I booked it to Hard Rock Cafe because we were in the mood for some authentic American cuisine. After ordering, we waited about thirty minutes for our food and realized that we had to be back with our group soon. So as soon as our food came, we asked for the check, scarfed down our delicious food (I had a burger), and left the building to "German walk" back up to the city center.
Schloss Ausflug / Castle Excursion
On Friday, we were whisked away to the fantasy land of the Bavarian Alps! Our program included a tour bus that drove us two hours southwest of Munich. Our first stop was Schloß Linderhof, one of three castles that King Ludwig II built. It was much smaller than I was expecting - it was only two floors and had a handful of rooms. The first floor was entirely devoted to the servants beside the entrance hall. The second floor included a music room, a silver room, his enormous bedroom, a dinning room (complete with a table that disappears into the floor and comes back up with food on it!), and my favorite - a hall of mirrors! The decor in this castle was exquisite even though this was simply a private residence that he did not entertain in. His dinning room table only had one chair! Our next stop on the tour was a "typical Bavarian town" called Oberammergau. You may have heard of it! Oberammergau is well-known for the Passion Play that they've put on every ten years since 1634. These plays are usually sold out five years in advance. Oberammergau is such a beautiful town nestled in the Ammergau Alps. Oberammergau is also home to the three fairytale cottages - the Hare and the Hedgehog, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Each cottage is painted according to their respective story. We were given some time to explore Oberammergau on our own so my friends and I bought some post cards and then walked around and went to the bakery before sitting down and simply enjoying the scenery! | |
Liebe Grüße, Lyndee