We arrived early to Munich and settled quickly into our hotel. Luckily the central train station is right across the street from our hotel, however we still took the scenic route as we didn't know it was that close. It was sunny but quite cold and they were expecting snow before the end of the week.
We dropped our bags and walked along Bayerstrasse (our Fleming's hotel's street) toward Karlsplatz/Marienplatz. It's a pedestrian only area with open shopping and at the end of this street there was a Christmas market. We were quite tired the first day as we had to wake up early so we walked half way down (before the Christmas market) and then head back to the hotel for a snooze. When we woke, we just went to grab a bite to eat at this tasty and cheap(!!!) restaurant and went back to the Christmas Market as it was closing.
The next day we went to the Neuschwanstein castle. It was an all day tour. We caught the grayhound bus close by to our hotel. The cost of this day was 49 euro/per person plus entrance fee per person which was about 13 euros each, I think. They took us to another castle that was built by Ludwig, a small town called "O-baw-haw-ga" and then we went to the main castle. It was HUGE! We ate lunch first and then proceeded to the horse drawn carriage ride. The princess that I am, wanted to ride in the front seat so James patiently waited for me to choose which carriage I wanted. Unfortunately, the carriage I wanted only had us as customers and decided that it wasn't worth his time nor his two horses so James and I had to take the bus. It had just started to rain when we went for lunch and didn't stop the entire time we were there. The bus only took us, what seemed half way, up to the castle. After (not) carefully reading the signs, James directed us the wrong way. After hiking about 5 minutes, we were faced with a bridge that stretched for a mile long. After being with James for 12 years, this was the first time he ever knew about my fear of bridges and heights. My legs gave way under me and was cemented to the ground as we approached this bridge. It did not allow me to cross. James promised that this was the only way to this beautiful castle that I've been dreaming about exploring. Reluctantly, very reluctantly, i grabbed onto James, closed my eyes, and he dragged me across this bridge. With tears almost coming through, we made it safely across. After a few seconds, we realized that we went the wrong way which meant we had to cross the stupid bridge again! I was pissed! This day was supposed to be super romantic and something that I've wanted to do for a long time. About 20 minutes later (we had to cross the bridge and hike up a hill) we finally made it to the entrance of this castle drenched. We were not happy campers but I was the only one who voiced it, of course. The tour was amazing. It was worth it, so worth it!
We were quite tired the next day so we took it easy. We went to the Olympic park and the BMW centre and called it a day, knowing that we would be heading out again to meet up with Denise, Tino and Lily for dinner. We made it to their flat in no time (about a 5 minute train ride and then 10 minutes to find their place). They took us to this very traditional Barvarian restaurant where we consumed so much meat. I could eat that meat everyday! It was super delicious. I also drank beer! It's called Radler and it's a mix of beer with lemonade. Yum! We also learned that each restaurant is sponsored by a different beer company and that's all they had but it seems like every type of German beer is delicious. After dinner, Tino took us to a nearby grocery market to buy some German treats for our loved ones back home and we went back to their place for some more beer and yep, I was drinking it!
Our last full day before we went to Paris, we knew we had to make two more important stops: firstly, the concentration camp called Dachau and then to the most famous beer hall called Hofbrauhaus . The concentration camp was unbelievable, in a really bad way. James and I got the audio tour and OMG! the things that the two interviewed prisoners and several other workers had to say was just incredibly sad and just plain unbelievable. The torture that these men had to endure was inhumane and completely insane. It was no way to end our glorious German trip so we HAD to find something more fun to end this part of our tour. Next stop was the beer hall. It was close to 4pm when we decided to head there and we were thinking we would just stop in for a beer and then meet up with Denise, Tino and Lily. A couple hours later, we had met a couple from Ireland who just got engaged that same day in the English garden, met two older guys from Japan, had a German wiener with some sauerkraut, two litres of beer for James and a litre for me (each of this glasses of beer was a litre each!) Tino came to meet us as we were still there. When he came, we ordered another round for James, one for Tino and it was time for me to try their traditional hot red wine - it was only okay, I enjoyed the Radler much more. Near the end of James third drink, we had decided to go upstairs to enjoy some traditional German dancing. By the time we went up there, James was not doing very well. He went to the washroom to get the beer out. With little success, he came back to the table and slept while Tino and I chatted away. Tino and I decided that when he finishes his beer, that we would start heading home as it was getting kind of late and we still had to pack for an early flight in the morning. Tino had about a few more sips when James finally awoke. He looked super pale and super sick. Tino, I guess the expert that he is, immediately gave James his nearly finished beer to puke some more. As he was barfing into the glass, Tino and I were laughing our heads off while I was capturing this moment in time with our little camera. Say cheese!!!
Tino helped us get to the train station and then we parted ways. James passed out right away when we got back to the hotel - natch! - and lucky me got to pack up everything!
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