It feels like it´s been weeks since i´ve been able to write. So much happens every day out here. It´s hard to imagine that so many events can fit into the hours of just one day. Well, as you can tell from the title of this message I made it to Munich, Germany last night. I left from Paris at about 8:00a with Ivan, a student in Paris traveling back to his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria. He drove across France to Strassbourg, on the border of France and Germany, and then I took the wheel to Munich. I love driving in Europe! Being so used to miles and MPH it feels like the trip flies by when measured in kilometers. And although 120 KPH is only about 72 MPH it feels much faster:) My part of the trip (Paris to Munich) was only about 520 miles but it took almost 12 hours. Even worse was that he had another 1000 or so miles to go and he wasn´t going to stop until he got there. I really enjoyed driving and talking with him I almost hated to part with him. I didn´t yet have a confirmed place to stay in Munich so I almost kept going with him to Salzburg, Austria or so. But it was already past 8:00p and it would have been about 11:00p or so by the time we reached Salzburg. If I had any chance of a place to stay it would be in Munich.
So it was goodbye to Ivan and hello to Munich. I immediately headed to the internet cafe near the train station that I frequented three years ago when I was in Munich and hoped was still there. I was in luck! Not only was it there but once I checked my email I had an invitation to stay in someone´s home in Munich!
Melanie came and picked me up to take me to her flat near the Olympic stadium. Her family was so nice! Even on such short notice they immediately welcomed me into their home. Her mother fed me of good German food and beer until I couldn´t fit anymore in. They were so wonderful and nice.
It´s so great to meet people who are comfortable welcoming strangers into their homes. Last time I was in Europe I stayed mostly in hostels. While I met a lot of people most of them were traveling Americans. This time I still meet a few travelers but I meet so many more of the people who live in the cities and countries. The local perspective and exchange of cultural ideas is an experience not to be missed.
Today Melanie took me around the city with a friend of hers. We went to a biergarten named after the deer that inhabit a part of it (of course, I can´t remember the german name for it even though I asked at least three times) and then to Nymphenschloß (i´m positive i misspelled that one), a castle of King Ludwig. Later we walked around the downtown area of Munich for a while before I went to jail!
Yep, I saw the inside of the Munich jail today. Fortunately I got to see it just as a visitor for Melanie´s mother works there. She gave me the grand tour that is usually forbidden to outsiders. I enjoyed it.
That´s enough writing today. I´m off to read a bit and try and figure out where I´m heading next. I´m going to try and not have too many completely uncertain nights like last night. I´m going to give this planning ahead thing a chance and see what happens:)
Posted April 2, 2004 11:25 AM @ (GMT - 6)
filed under:
that sounds awesome. I hope you got some good pictures of jail