German Adventures with Cristina

Cristina arrived to visit me first thing in the morning on Tuesday. After dropping her things off and a quick nap, we went off to explore the city a bit. Up and down Marienplatz, along the Isar River, and back and forth. It was a beautiful, sunny day for such exploring. We ate at my favorite German restaurant and made sure to stop at a chocolate shop to pick up something for Astrid. We then went to a New Years Dinner at Astrid and Markus' house. The attendants of the party were all German speakers, but we did our best to integrate both English and German in the dinner conversations. And of course, Astrid's cooking was phenomenal. Cristina and Markus hit it off because Markus is studying Spanish in school and enjoyed speaking with her.

On Wednesday, we went for a beautiful stroll through the sunny Englisher Garten and stopped at a Bier Garten. We then tried to go to the Deutsches Museum, but ended up just chillin at a cafe for awhile. Exploration of the city again followed.

Thursday, a holiday in Germany, made it difficult to do too many things. So we jumped on the train to Augsburg. Augsburg is a cute little town that goes back like 2000 years to Roman civilization. We saw two amazing churches (what else do you do in Europe?). The weather was a bit gloomy, but I really enjoyed the calmness that was Augsburg on Epiphanie.

Friday morning we were back at Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) headed to Salzburg with Markus and Tiffany. I absolutely love the town of Mozart and The Sound of Music...it's fabulous. We saw a castle, convent, plenty of churches, catacombs, Mozart's home, etc. The view from the castle was amazing. Also, the catacombs were really interesting to think about all of the history that they have. Built by the Romans to use as burial chambers, then used by the first Christians to worship in secret...etc....wow. When we missed our train back and had to wait an extra hour, it was a blessing as well. We were able to watch the sunset over the Alps to end our wonderful daytrip. That night, we took Cristina out to some of our favorite bars and nightspots in Schwabing.

Saturday was like the warmest day a Munich winter has seen in long time. The sunshine was great for a nice long walk in the Englisher Garten again. Man do I love living right next to the biggest and best park in Germany! Then we met Markus, Astrid, Kati, and Ingrid at Tapas Tapas (Mexican restaurant in Schwabing with the best Happy Hour in town). Good times.

Sunday morning Markus picked us up in his car and we drove about half way to Austria. The road that runs towards the Alps is surely a beautiful one. We parked the car in Prien, a little town on the edge of the Chiemsee. Then we took a boat ride across the lake to the island in the middle. On this island stands one of Ludwig II's (the crazy Bavarian king...yall should look him up, he really was rather insane) castles. Herrnchiemsee Schloss is a small version of Versailles, outside of Paris. Again, this castle is much less touristy than Neuschwanstein, which makes it much more appealing. Then, since it is winter, the castle was almost empty. After going on a tour of the castle and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while walking around the island, we got back on the boat. We took the short boat ride to another, much smaller island, Fraueninsel. The only big thing on the island is a convent. Other than that, there are a few small cafes and really adorable homes. Walking all the way around the island takes approximately 15 minutes - it's that small. Each little home on the island has it's own mini-harbour for it's mini-boats. There are definitely no cars on the island. It was much cloudier than the day before, but the clouds were high enough so not as to interfere with Alpine backdrop. I'd go back to that mini-island and look up at the beautiful Alps any day.

Monday I had classes all day, so Cristina explored the city on her own. I am so proud of her. We went out to dinner with Will and Corine.

On Tuesday we walked around the University area. Then we made our way to the JYM office to pick up my Christmas packages. (Woo Woo...Merry Christmas to Courtney for the second time!) We met Isidro at Marienplatz and took him to lunch at my favorite German restaurant (again).
Ok, now I think I remember the name: Brautwuerstherzl (actually, that was just a guess). Then we went and climbed to the top of Alter Peter (the church bell tower). From there we watched the sunset. It was a beautifully clear day and we were able to see the entire city. After the sunset, we got to watch this weird traditional dance going on in a plaza below. It was really random, but fun. Then we walked down to the iceskating rink at Karlsplatz to get some Gluehwein. Sometimes Gluehwein is the only way to get warm after being cold for awhile. You can't experience a German winter without Gluehwein...that's a rule!

On Wednesday, I had classes all day again and Cristina went to a museum. We went out to dinner with Markus and Ingrid in Marienplatz and then to Schwabing for cocktails. It was a nice relaxing evening to end Cristina's stay here in Munich.