I have reached the point where I can't stand traipsing through yet another palace, learning about yet another building's founding date, or visiting yet another Greek and Roman antiquities wing. This is not to say that I'm sick of travelling, on the contrary, I'm still loving it and I'm starting to relax a little more. I was nervous about parting ways with Nat and Alex after Munich, because tourist traps are always less hilarious by yourself. But while travelling by myself I have met dozens of fascinating people, as well as lots more people who are only briefly interesting.
When I left off last time, I had just left for Ireland. I got to stay with the lovely Bec, who took me out on the first night to an Irish pub where we watched the World Cup. I had some whiskey for the look of the thing. It was fun, but clearly Dublin now has these sorts of pubs for tourists who think Ireland is still populated entirely by drunkards and leprechauns. But Dublin is a great place to visit. I visited the natural history museum and got to learn about giant deer, which was one of the things I really wanted to do on this trip. And at the museum of archaeology I learnt about human sacrifice. Irish history is cool! I went to see the Book of Kells. Saw it. I did the obligatory tour of the Guinness storehouse, culminating in a free pint. I learnt here that no matter how perfectly poured a pint of Guinness may be, it is still a pint of Guinness and therefore undrinkable.
On the second day, I got to see some truly magnificent natural wonders. The horribly named "Paddywagon tour" nevertheless ran a well-organised excursion to the West coast. Photos of the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren can't quite express how incredible Western Ireland is, because only once you're there do the landscape and the history meet you in the middle. I was amazed in particular by the extent of the famine walls, built in the 1840s by the oppressed and starving Irish afflicted by the potato blight, and forced by the English to build pointless, rambling walls in exchange for a bowl of food per day.
On July 8th I Ryanaired to Munich and met up with Nat, Alex, Lauren and Lauren's friend Mary. Sadly Mary had lost her voice, but we still had an awesome time! Beer halls really are as ridiculously huge as you think they are, and people really do drink 1L steins of barley beer. The first night there, the four of us went to Augustiner Keller and all managed to finish our one glassful, all the while repeating the mantra "beer is delicious, I love beer, beer is not at all horrible". It gets a bit depressing to see German girls drinking them as easily as I would drink a glass of punch. That first night we got to see a live band perform "99 Luftballoons", which seemed far too hilarious to be real.
The next day we went on a tour to Neuschwanstein castle on the Austrian border (otherwise known as "the Disney castle"). We started off with a bike ride to the idyllic Swan Lake (not the Tchaikovsky one) where I greatly relished the chance to swim in the clear, cold water and observe the fish and dragonflies by the shore. The other four left early because they decided to go jump off a mountain.
It was tandem paragliding, but I'm sure it was nevertheless terrifying. I didn't go because I know my own mind, and I certainly wouldn't have appreciated it. Also I was starting to feel pretty unwell and was keen to stay firmly on the ground. So I just got the fun of looking up and trying to guess which spiralling figure was which, and worrying about the tensile strength of the fibres of their parachutes. Fortunately nobody died, although they looked a bit shaken when they landed. It sounded amazing, but to be honest my idea of flying is floating on the surface of a mountain lake.
After a mediocre lunch, I went on the alpine slide, which was pretty fun. Then we went up to the castle itself. We had a choice of taking the 1.6E bus or hiking up the mountain. Of course, we chose the cheaper option.
Oh horror of horrors! I am not fit at the best of times, and near-vertical inclines have never been my strong suit, but add to that a churning and demanding stomach and acute dehydration and you have me wishing fervently for the sweet release of death. It was all worth it at the top though, because Neuschwanstein really is beautiful and the surrounding countryside was nice to walk through, even if at the time you only have a strong desire to throw yourself into the churning river. The tour was made fun by the creepy tour guide whose memorised speech did a not-quite-perfect job of giving the impression that Ludwig II was "eccentric" rather than gay, and died in "mysterious circumstances", rather than being probably murdered by his Parliament. Anyway, the interior of the castle was breath-taking and the hike back was downhill.
That night we went to the Hofbrauhaus and experienced some overstated Bavarian culture. I didn't do so well on my beer, what with my stomach constantly complaining, but I did get a delicious giant bagel. It looked and tasted exactly like a giant pretzel.
The others all went to Dachau the next morning, but I lay in bed groaning and clutching my stomach. I didn't want to go to a place like Dachau while unable to think about anything but my own discomfort, besides, I'll hopefully get to go and see Auschwitz. Lauren and Mary left that afternoon, leaving Nat, Alex and I to hang around and watch the World Cup match of Germany vs Uruguay. Alex and I went out for a bit afterwards and met some bfs, but there wasn't as much dancing in the street as I had expected.
The next morning we went on an excellent free walking tour of Munich. The free tour guides work only for tips, but they must rake it in. We gave him 10E each but it was worth much more. It's a good system, I think, and I'm considering learning how to do it myself. Anyway, we learnt about the Beer Hall Putsch and the incredible history of Munich. All the old buildings, cobblestoned streets and old-timey feel are artificial. The place was almost completely flattened in WW2 but recreated so that anyone would think otherwise. One of the few remaining buildings contains the gorgeous glockenspiel.
After the tour, we acquired a friend named Marna and went to the Deutsches Museum. We didn't have much time there, but it was still fun. Then we wandered over to the Englischer Garten, a huge public park where the river has been manipulated to create a surf "beach" and a fast-current pool for the adventurous to go swimming. We had forgotten to bring our bathers, but it was still amazing to watch. We went to the huge beer garden in the centre of the garden and watched the world cup while eating more mediocre Bavarian food and drinking the more palatable wheat beer. The thousands of people there were very excited, but mostly supporting the Netherlands, so it was a little anti-climactic. But the atmosphere there more of the night was electric and exciting. We met a local guy who bought us each little bottles of Schnapps and downed his in one gulp. I tried to copy him and nearly threw up. It was like fire! I only managed a third of the bottle and it felt like my oesophagus was dissolving. He said it's "good for the digestion".
Anyway, after an eventful few days I parted company with Nat and Alex and took the train to Vienna. I was nervous to be travelling alone again, but also pretty excited. But I'll write about that more later. It's 34 degrees here and extremely humid, and I've finally found some people prepared to come with me to the lake and go swimming. Funtimes await!
Oh, also, please feel free to comment, I like to have feedback :)
