We woke up at 6:45, still quite groggy for our 7:15 arrival in Munich. Even though many Germans speak English, there is something to be said about being in a country where we could speak and read and understand the language, so it was a bit hard to leave France. I would definitely love to go back again someday! But I had heard many good things about Munich, so I was looking forward to finding out about this city.

This next paragraph is a bit of a rant as I have decided that using a travel agent just isn’t worth it and I’d much rather book things online on my own. I had paid for 3 nights in Munich through Flight Centre, but because we had decided to take the night train, I had emailed my travel agent to cancel our first night to get a refund as we’d still be on the train. She emailed me back that it was cancelled, but that we wouldn’t get a refund. Included in our hotel stay, we had also paid for a breakfast. Because she cancelled that first night without thinking that since we’d be paying the full amount anyway maybe she should just keep the reservation so that we could at least get the food (and non-smoking room), we also lost breakfast privileges. A thinking person would have either found a way to get the refund or keep it knowing that I had told her we’d be arriving early in the a.m. and would likely appreciate at least a meal out of it. Nope, not our agent. If I had booked it online, I would have been able to cancel up to 18:00 on the day of our stay, i.e, full refund! So from now on, I’m using booking.com–not a paid advertisement :). We paid the €18 for our breakfasts and I’ll fight it out with Flight Centre (along with the problems we had for our Eurail pass–charged more by Flight Centre and with 1 less day) when I get home.

Anyway, it was good to grab a shower after the train ride and though we were tired, we set out to view a bit of Munich. We made it into the central plaza area, but Sean looked ready to keel over, so he went back to the hotel to try to sleep while I continued sightseeing.

Sadly, it was a national holiday, so absolutely everything was closed except for a few restaurants and only a few sightseeing places. I skipped the Hunting and Fishing Museum, though it looked for a bit like that might in fact be the only thing to do! I was thinking that Munich was not what it had been stacked up to be when I rounded a corner and saw the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall) in the Marienplatz. The Marienplatz is a huge gathering square named after the Mariensäule (Mary’s Column), which was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation. The Neues Rathaus is a gothic beast of a building that houses a Glockenspiel (moving figures clock) in the tower. There are 43 bells and 32 figures that perform two actual events. The top half tells the story of a knight’s tournament held in celebration of a royal wedding in 1568. The bottom half shows dancers portraying the Schäfflertanz (a dance). As I had nothing else to do, I waited the 15-20 minutes it took to see the figures dance. While I waited, the bells in all the towers in the buildings surrounding the square rang frequently, something that probably annoys the locals working nearby as much as it entertains us tourists. The bell songs escalated as we all stared in anticipation at the figures, waiting for them to move. When they finally did, they put on a good show. After about 10 minutes, I left as I didn’t want to be part of the crowd that had now started to grow. I later discovered that a lot more people would be crowding into the square in the late afternoon. I guess all that beer drinking makes for late risers.

I walked through the arch of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) which has been rebuilt because it has been twice destroyed, once by lightning and once by bombs in WWII. I thought I’d save checking this out for when Sean would be with me as it now houses a toy museum. Unfortunately, we ended up never getting the time to go inside. We did, however, later take note of the bronze statue of Juliet (of Romeo and Juliet fame) at the side of the building and couldn’t help but noticed that one of her breasts (the other one is protected by her arm) has been rubbed shiny.

I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but found the Virtualienmarkt, a market square for food. Still, all the shops were closed, but a chance to sell beer is never lost and there were already a number of people imbibing–some men dressed in lederhosen–while a brass band played music.

I didn’t join them in a beer, but instead continued on to St. Peterskirche to climb the 306 narrow stairs for a view off Munich from the 92m tall tower. It’s always good to see a city from up high to get a full view. Plus, I was happy to have the exercise.

I figured it was about time for me to head back to get Sean so we could grab a bite and wander around. It took me longer than I had planned to find my way back, but I think I now have a pretty good feel for direction now in that area of Munich. When Sean and I headed back toward the Marienplatz we noticed how many more people were there. We also noticed the number people in red shirts chanting cheers. We hadn’t known it, but Munich would be hosting the European soccer finals soccer with Bayern Munich’s team playing against Chelsea on Saturday night. No wonder the hotel prices were so ridiculous for that night–€300 for 2-star hotels, up to €4500 for what I would hope would be 6-star!

We wandered around for just a bit to find Mike’s Bike Tours shop to book a tour of Neuschwanstein Castle. Then off to dinner. A plate full of meat for me, barely any of which I ate as it was both too heavy and not very good. On the way back to the hotel I noted that there was actually one restaurant that tweak passed that had vegetables! Oh how I crave veggies now!

As much as I love traveling, there are sometimes days (or just moments) when I feel like I could be happy going home. I think that the combo of being tired, some frustration with my not being able to understand German, and also not liking being surrounded by an increasing number of drinkers getting louder and louder left me a bit homesick. I had heard such great things about Munich and really wanted to like it, but I’m not really into the Bavarian machismo. I found the people to be gruff and felt unwelcomed as an outsider. It was still worth the visit though as it’s an interesting city.