Quite the interesting way to celebrate the beginning of the new month a very late night and a late start to the day...
As I mentioned at the end of the last blog, I slept until about 1pm. Then I got ready before Julius woke up. He woke up at around 2pm when his Mom called him, inviting both of us over for lunch/dinner at 3pm. So we went over, and they were very nice people.
Both parents spoke quite good English and we talked about politics, health care, and even Biology since Julius' mother had gotten her doctorate in Zoology, but is now working in politics.
Following his parents advice, we went over to this big park overlooking an imperial palace. We walked down the hill, and then around the palace grounds which had some nice gardens. It is quite a beautiful place, so I hope to go back there one of these days. Plus it is right next to the zoo, which Julius' Mom recommended I go to.
I had talked to a CouchSurfing friend of mine who also goes to BSU, named Conor. We had talked before I left and I found out that he was going to Vienna for an internship, and he agreed to meet up with me that night. So at 6:30pm I met up with him and another intern who had just flown into Vienna a few hours early, Javier. At the restaurant we met two more interns, Mark and Andrew I think there names were. Got to hear some interesting stories, a couple of them were from Boston, one had gone to Yale.
After hanging out for a bit and eating a snitzel, I headed back to Julius' place. A few of his friends had came over, but didn't stay too long. We decided to just take it easy after the previous night, and so we just watched Boondock Saints. Unfortunately about halfway through the English version stopped working. The German version worked fine, but we couldn't change the language or add subtitles. Eventually Julius said he was too tired and went off to bed. I tried watching for a bit longer, but wasn't getting much out of it. So I shut it off and called Mom, Dad, Grandma Shirley, and Jeff.
Now it is already past 1am again! So I am headed off to bed. At least I'm completely caught up now after several long nights that prevented me from writing these. Depending on the social aptitude and sleeping habits of my CS hosts, I may get behind like this. But no worries, I am keeping notes and I will catch up after not too long.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Europe Trip: Day 11, May 31st
After another late night at Robert's, we decided to sleep in. I woke up an hour or so before he did, got ready and packed up my stuff. We left his place by about 11:30am or so in order to get a traditional Bavarian breakfast, which turned out to be these white sausages with a big pretzel. They were actually quite good, maybe in some ways like Norwegian hotdogs I've ate at Grandma Anna's, but with no spices at all.
We relaxed there for a while, and he offered to walk me over to the train station. I got a last look at downtown Munich, and made it to Hauptbahnhof (central station) with 10-15 minutes to spare.
Nobody sat in the seat next to me, and it was a quiet ride all the way to Vienna. The Austrian countryside was quite beautiful, especially near Salzburg. The view as we made our way to the Hbf train station in Salzburg (one of the stops) was very picturesque and made me consider visiting it someday.
I met my host, Julius, at the U-bahn stop right near his place. Then we walked to his apartment and I was able to drop off my stuff. He then offered to show me around downtown and give me a sort of mini tour to get my bearings and see a bit of what Vienna has to offer. So we walked all around, seeing some of the key places, and went on quite the search for a restaurant. Since it was Sunday, many places were closed, and it took us like half an hour of searching just to find out that his favorite Austrian restaurant was closed! So he called his dad and we found a Greek restaurant to eat at, both ordering Giros.
Since Monday was a day off for everyone in Austria, Julius had one of his friends, Marcus, come over. We watched the Matrix on TV, which was in German -- hilarious, by the way, Morpheus loses all of his bravado in the dubbing.
Then after much coaxing, I finally gave in to peer pressure and agreed to go downtown with them to this electro club. There was a famous British DJ who was there. Unfortunately this meant that the cover, which was usually 10 euros, went up to 20 euros! I must admit, though, that it was quite an interesting experience. The DJ played drum-bass and it was well worth it.
We left the club at about 5:30am, and it was already light in Vienna, grabbing a hotdog (meatier than it sounds) on the way to stave off hunger. Marcus split when we entered the U-bahn and Julius and I headed back to his place to collapse and get as much sleep as we could manage -- he managed a bit more than me :P I woke up quite a few times and ended up getting up for good around 1pm.
But now I'm starting to mix up this entry with the one for the next day :)
We relaxed there for a while, and he offered to walk me over to the train station. I got a last look at downtown Munich, and made it to Hauptbahnhof (central station) with 10-15 minutes to spare.
Nobody sat in the seat next to me, and it was a quiet ride all the way to Vienna. The Austrian countryside was quite beautiful, especially near Salzburg. The view as we made our way to the Hbf train station in Salzburg (one of the stops) was very picturesque and made me consider visiting it someday.
I met my host, Julius, at the U-bahn stop right near his place. Then we walked to his apartment and I was able to drop off my stuff. He then offered to show me around downtown and give me a sort of mini tour to get my bearings and see a bit of what Vienna has to offer. So we walked all around, seeing some of the key places, and went on quite the search for a restaurant. Since it was Sunday, many places were closed, and it took us like half an hour of searching just to find out that his favorite Austrian restaurant was closed! So he called his dad and we found a Greek restaurant to eat at, both ordering Giros.
Since Monday was a day off for everyone in Austria, Julius had one of his friends, Marcus, come over. We watched the Matrix on TV, which was in German -- hilarious, by the way, Morpheus loses all of his bravado in the dubbing.
Then after much coaxing, I finally gave in to peer pressure and agreed to go downtown with them to this electro club. There was a famous British DJ who was there. Unfortunately this meant that the cover, which was usually 10 euros, went up to 20 euros! I must admit, though, that it was quite an interesting experience. The DJ played drum-bass and it was well worth it.
We left the club at about 5:30am, and it was already light in Vienna, grabbing a hotdog (meatier than it sounds) on the way to stave off hunger. Marcus split when we entered the U-bahn and Julius and I headed back to his place to collapse and get as much sleep as we could manage -- he managed a bit more than me :P I woke up quite a few times and ended up getting up for good around 1pm.
But now I'm starting to mix up this entry with the one for the next day :)
Europe Trip: Day 10, May 30th
Since it was Saturday, we slept in at Robert's place. After we were both up and ready we discussed where a good place would be to go. My original plan had been to go to Neuswanstein castle, which is the fairy tale one that Disney used as its signature. But when we looked at how long it was going to take us, almost 3 hours by train. And when we looked at how much it would cost me, something like 40 euros to get there, plus you have to be in a tour group in order to get access -- more money.
So instead of the fairy tale castle, we decided to go to a monastery. It was much closer, only an hour or an hour and a half away by S-bahn. Also, I will admit that Robert said it was famous for brewing beer and he thought I had to go.
Once we got to the town we started asking locals how to find the trail up to the monastery. The first group of locals pointed us in the right direction, and the next person ended up being someone who worked there, a Turkish guy. He was kind enough to drive us up the 4-5 km (about 3 miles) we would have to hike.
After getting some food and a half liter of dark beer, we sat down next to a Lithuanian guy and two British girls who he was showing the place. We ended up talking a lot and spent the entire afternoon with them.
We ended up splitting up once we got back into the town, because we got confused and exited on different sides of the track.
So, back to being by ourselves, Robert took me over to a place to eat and said I should try some traditional Bavarian food. I ended up getting something akin to macaroni and cheese with onions on top. After eating and talking for a couple hours we headed back to his place.
Over all quite a simple day, meeting some nice people -- once again it showed me that it can be quite comforting just to meet some fellow native speakers. Nothing against my hosts, who spoke very good English and have shown me such kindness, but nonetheless it is nice. Maybe I am getting pathetic and showing homesickness, who knows :)
So instead of the fairy tale castle, we decided to go to a monastery. It was much closer, only an hour or an hour and a half away by S-bahn. Also, I will admit that Robert said it was famous for brewing beer and he thought I had to go.
Once we got to the town we started asking locals how to find the trail up to the monastery. The first group of locals pointed us in the right direction, and the next person ended up being someone who worked there, a Turkish guy. He was kind enough to drive us up the 4-5 km (about 3 miles) we would have to hike.
After getting some food and a half liter of dark beer, we sat down next to a Lithuanian guy and two British girls who he was showing the place. We ended up talking a lot and spent the entire afternoon with them.
We ended up splitting up once we got back into the town, because we got confused and exited on different sides of the track.
So, back to being by ourselves, Robert took me over to a place to eat and said I should try some traditional Bavarian food. I ended up getting something akin to macaroni and cheese with onions on top. After eating and talking for a couple hours we headed back to his place.
Over all quite a simple day, meeting some nice people -- once again it showed me that it can be quite comforting just to meet some fellow native speakers. Nothing against my hosts, who spoke very good English and have shown me such kindness, but nonetheless it is nice. Maybe I am getting pathetic and showing homesickness, who knows :)
Europe Trip: Day 9, May 29th
I somewhat apprehensively asked my host, Robert, about going to Dachau concentration camp for the day. He surprised me by saying that it was a great idea and something that would probably be very interesting for an American to see. When I asked what Germans thought about it, he said that in general there is an attitude that it wasn't something they did, it wasn't something their parents did, and at least in his case it wasn't even something his grandparents did. So why should he feel guilty? Yes, it was a horrible thing, but it wasn't a horrible thing that he feels responsible for. I think it might be similar to an Americans view on slavery or what happened to the Native Americans.
In order to reach Dachau you have to take the S-bahn, and since it goes outside of the city limits I had to buy a day pass for additional 'circles'. It took about an hour to get there. After getting off at the Dachau S-bahn station, which is in the nearby town, I went over to a big map that they have showing the different tourist places to go to. As I was reading it, I heard some English behind me and a guide started talking about how they were going to take the bus soon to reach the concentration camp. I listened to him, and decided to try and infiltrate the group, after all having someone knowledgeable is much better than not.
The best part of this trip was that I didn't have to pay for anything. Once I had paid for my day ticket everything else was free from the tour (okay, it probably shouldn't have been) as well as the entrance to the concentration camp.
I spent all afternoon at Dachau, first with the tour that lasted from around 1:30pm-4pm, and then another hour or so looking in the museum and at some of the monuments.
The stories definitely hit your emotions, when you hear the horrible atrocities committed by an "advanced" civilization similar in many ways to our own. How could people do such a thing? Are people naturally so cruel and evil? It is easy to lose your faith in humanity when you actually see all the pictures, and the places where these acts were done. How can you think of people as being good when you are standing next to the gas chambers and furnaces that were developed at Dachau and later implemented in the extermination camps to kill millions of people, mostly Jews? But you do feel some hope, feel it as a shiver in your spine, when you read of the acts of solidarity and bravery and kindness by people in the camps. Even when they are being slowly tortured and starved to death, there are still rays of hope.
So I left Dachau with mixed feelings. You can't call it a 'fun' place to visit, but it is an important thing to see and to know. This is not something that should be forgotten. Similar things are being done even today, especially in Africa.
After that I just hung out with Robert, we went and got something to eat, went around the city a bit. Just more of getting a feel for Munich and taking it relatively easy.
In order to reach Dachau you have to take the S-bahn, and since it goes outside of the city limits I had to buy a day pass for additional 'circles'. It took about an hour to get there. After getting off at the Dachau S-bahn station, which is in the nearby town, I went over to a big map that they have showing the different tourist places to go to. As I was reading it, I heard some English behind me and a guide started talking about how they were going to take the bus soon to reach the concentration camp. I listened to him, and decided to try and infiltrate the group, after all having someone knowledgeable is much better than not.
The best part of this trip was that I didn't have to pay for anything. Once I had paid for my day ticket everything else was free from the tour (okay, it probably shouldn't have been) as well as the entrance to the concentration camp.
I spent all afternoon at Dachau, first with the tour that lasted from around 1:30pm-4pm, and then another hour or so looking in the museum and at some of the monuments.
The stories definitely hit your emotions, when you hear the horrible atrocities committed by an "advanced" civilization similar in many ways to our own. How could people do such a thing? Are people naturally so cruel and evil? It is easy to lose your faith in humanity when you actually see all the pictures, and the places where these acts were done. How can you think of people as being good when you are standing next to the gas chambers and furnaces that were developed at Dachau and later implemented in the extermination camps to kill millions of people, mostly Jews? But you do feel some hope, feel it as a shiver in your spine, when you read of the acts of solidarity and bravery and kindness by people in the camps. Even when they are being slowly tortured and starved to death, there are still rays of hope.
So I left Dachau with mixed feelings. You can't call it a 'fun' place to visit, but it is an important thing to see and to know. This is not something that should be forgotten. Similar things are being done even today, especially in Africa.
After that I just hung out with Robert, we went and got something to eat, went around the city a bit. Just more of getting a feel for Munich and taking it relatively easy.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Europe Trip: Day 8, May 28th
As soon as I made it downtown I headed straight for St. Peter's, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it only cost 1 Euro to get access to the top. 300 stairs later I reached the top and had a good view of the city center.
I grabbed something to eat and then took the U-bahn to Olympic Park. As soon as you exit the subway and get above ground you see a strange, modern-looking building -- that is the BMW museum. My student card got me in at half price (6 euros instead of 12). My favorite thing in the museum was the WWII military-issue motorcycles complete with a sidecar, which is exactly like Indiana Jones! I could see Harrison Ford and Sean Connery riding around in it.
My host had mentioned this 'exhibit' that is only in Munich for a few months, it is all about Tutankamen and the archeologist who uncovered the tomb. So after exiting the BMW museum I started following the signs to the Event Center. The walk took me all through Olympia Park, past the buildings created specifically for the Munich games. The walk was quite far, so I took a break next to a river that runs through the park. Eventually I reached the exhibit and it was quite fascinating, although about as far from 'Munich' as you can get.
I made my way back to my host's place, going one bus stop too far. As I walked back up the street I ran into Robert at the correct stop, which was surprising since we weren't supposed to meet for another hour.
That night I just took it easy and we ordered pizza from an Italian restaurant. The pizzas over here have a very thin crust, similar to Guido's in Boise.
The plan for the next day was to visit Dachau, which promised to be a much more serious day than my vacation had provided so far...
I grabbed something to eat and then took the U-bahn to Olympic Park. As soon as you exit the subway and get above ground you see a strange, modern-looking building -- that is the BMW museum. My student card got me in at half price (6 euros instead of 12). My favorite thing in the museum was the WWII military-issue motorcycles complete with a sidecar, which is exactly like Indiana Jones! I could see Harrison Ford and Sean Connery riding around in it.
My host had mentioned this 'exhibit' that is only in Munich for a few months, it is all about Tutankamen and the archeologist who uncovered the tomb. So after exiting the BMW museum I started following the signs to the Event Center. The walk took me all through Olympia Park, past the buildings created specifically for the Munich games. The walk was quite far, so I took a break next to a river that runs through the park. Eventually I reached the exhibit and it was quite fascinating, although about as far from 'Munich' as you can get.
I made my way back to my host's place, going one bus stop too far. As I walked back up the street I ran into Robert at the correct stop, which was surprising since we weren't supposed to meet for another hour.
That night I just took it easy and we ordered pizza from an Italian restaurant. The pizzas over here have a very thin crust, similar to Guido's in Boise.
The plan for the next day was to visit Dachau, which promised to be a much more serious day than my vacation had provided so far...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Europe Trip: Day 7, May 27th
Sorry in advance for the long post, but what can I say it was a long day...
==================================
At around 6am I noticed that our train had turned into a regional train, picking people up at neighboring cities. Unfortunately that meant that two more people came into the cabin, so I had to wake up.
A little after 7am the train arrived at Muenchen Hbf (Munich central station). I picked up some bakery goods at the train station, but they were only mediocre -- it would have been better to have picked up a few extra croissants and stuff in Paris, that bakery was much, much better. So take the advice from me and don't hesitate to pick up some stuff from a decent bakery if you stop in Paris. I wish I had done it earlier and more often! Admittedly the bread I ate for a couple days straight wasn't that great, but it was basic and the point was its cheapness not its goodness.
Anyway, I made my way to my new host's place using first the U-bahn (underground/metro) and then taking a bus. That got me to his street, and I only had to walk a few blocks to get there. He buzzed me in and we talked for a couple hours about various things, namely some ideas on what I could do for the day.
My Munich host's name is Robert. His place reflected his culture, as it was much more organized than my Parisian host's place, as well as more modern looking -- both of which are things I associate with Germans. The flat was also a bit bigger than the ones I stayed at in Paris, probably because it is a little further out and Munich is a smaller city.
After talking for a couple hours, finally he couldn't put it off any later and had to head to work. I unpacked a bit, getting my daypack out and getting ready for the day. I got out of his place by about noon.
I reached downtown (Marienplatz) without too much trouble, and immediately looked for the spot that I had agreed to meet my host at 7pm, so that I wouldn't have any problems finding it when I needed to be there later. True to his word, it was as easy of a place to find as I could ask for.
At first I wanted to find St. Peter's church, because I had heard if you climb to the top you get a great view of Munich. But the church that I thought was St. Peter's said it was closed for cleaning, now that I think back it might have been the wrong church (more on that later).
So I wandered a bit and found this cute little marketplace where they sell all sorts of fruits and different things, Robert had mentioned it as a good place to check out. After circling it once, I stopped at a place called "Fleisch und Wurst" and got a Brautwurst for 2 Euros, I also got a 0.5L beer at the beer garden.
With my hunger satiated, I just picked a direction and started walking. My end goal was to find the English gardens, but I thought I would just get a feel for the city and go to some of the places that tourists never go. It was a more business area, with office buildings and that sort of stuff. It was immediately noticeable that the streets were much larger and an attempt at making parking easier had been done, unlike Paris where there are very small streets and parking is a nightmare. Not to be cliche, but the Germans probably were being more organized and efficient with their planning.
An interesting thing that I have talked with my CouchSurfing hosts about, is how people treat crosswalks. In Paris, the red 'do not walk' sign is entirely ignored. If the street is clear, you can walk. From what my hosts tell me the cops don't hand out tickets, and even if they did it is for like a couple euros. In Munich (and the rest of Germany) people take them a lot more seriously, and it is frowned upon to cross when the crosswalk. The cops definitely will give you a ticket. Nonetheless, I find it a bit irritating now to wait at the crosswalk when I know I could easily make it.
Enough of a tangent, though, from the business area I found my way to some landmarks -- a giant obelisk, a museum that looks like a Roman building, and a park. Outside the museum there were some high school age kids playing sports, the first of which was badminton (the one with the fly and the rackets). The second game was almost like volleyball, in fact they use the same type of ball, but instead of using your hands you use everything else. The rules seemed to be it can touch the ground once, and after that you have to keep it in the air and hit it over the net. The rules for how you can hit the ball are the same as soccer, so feet, knees, chest, head, everything except hands and arms.
I worked my way to the English gardens, but I ended up way at the bottom and had to walk all the way up (1.5km or so) to make it to the Chinese Tower. I had a drink there and took a rest from all my walking. Then I made my way out of the park/garden and found the nearest U-bahn, which I took back to Marienplatz. I was an hour early, though, so I decided to go on a quest to find St. Peter's and climb to the top. About 35 minutes and 5 churches later, I realized I had no idea where St. Peter's was and I also had no idea where I was at that time.
Lost again, such is the way of the lone traveler, I tried to find where I was on the map that my host had given me to use, but had no luck at all. Finally I stumbled upon a U-bahn and S-bahn station, Karlsplatz. I mistakenly thought that I needed to take the U-bahn, which was all I had been using, so I rushed down 3+ sets of escalators and tried to make sense of the signs saying where the U-bahn was headed. I gave up on that and asked an older woman, with my mixture of English and a poor excuse for German, if the train was headed to Marienplatz. She told me that I was on the U-bahn and I had to take the S-bahn, showing me on the map. I thanked her with a quick, Danke! and was up two escalators in no time, reaching the S-bahn just in time to jump on the train with less than 10 minutes to spare.
I reached Marienplatz with around 5 minutes left until I was supposed to meet Robert, and reached the fountain with 2-3 minutes left -- but at least I wasn't late!
After telling him a bit about what I had done that day, he easily pointed to St. Peter's (useful for the next day), and then showed me around a bit. We went to a German restaurant and I had currywurst and fries. A big game between Manchester United and Barcelona was going on, but we couldn't get a seat that faced the TV, so we just got to hear the reactions of the throng of football (soccer) fans. I checked the score before we headed out, and Barcelona was up 2-0.
We then headed back to his place, and I was exhausted from the long day of walking everywhere. So after talking for a while, I got to bed by around midnight. Another long day in Europe was over.
==================================
At around 6am I noticed that our train had turned into a regional train, picking people up at neighboring cities. Unfortunately that meant that two more people came into the cabin, so I had to wake up.
A little after 7am the train arrived at Muenchen Hbf (Munich central station). I picked up some bakery goods at the train station, but they were only mediocre -- it would have been better to have picked up a few extra croissants and stuff in Paris, that bakery was much, much better. So take the advice from me and don't hesitate to pick up some stuff from a decent bakery if you stop in Paris. I wish I had done it earlier and more often! Admittedly the bread I ate for a couple days straight wasn't that great, but it was basic and the point was its cheapness not its goodness.
Anyway, I made my way to my new host's place using first the U-bahn (underground/metro) and then taking a bus. That got me to his street, and I only had to walk a few blocks to get there. He buzzed me in and we talked for a couple hours about various things, namely some ideas on what I could do for the day.
My Munich host's name is Robert. His place reflected his culture, as it was much more organized than my Parisian host's place, as well as more modern looking -- both of which are things I associate with Germans. The flat was also a bit bigger than the ones I stayed at in Paris, probably because it is a little further out and Munich is a smaller city.
After talking for a couple hours, finally he couldn't put it off any later and had to head to work. I unpacked a bit, getting my daypack out and getting ready for the day. I got out of his place by about noon.
I reached downtown (Marienplatz) without too much trouble, and immediately looked for the spot that I had agreed to meet my host at 7pm, so that I wouldn't have any problems finding it when I needed to be there later. True to his word, it was as easy of a place to find as I could ask for.
At first I wanted to find St. Peter's church, because I had heard if you climb to the top you get a great view of Munich. But the church that I thought was St. Peter's said it was closed for cleaning, now that I think back it might have been the wrong church (more on that later).
So I wandered a bit and found this cute little marketplace where they sell all sorts of fruits and different things, Robert had mentioned it as a good place to check out. After circling it once, I stopped at a place called "Fleisch und Wurst" and got a Brautwurst for 2 Euros, I also got a 0.5L beer at the beer garden.
With my hunger satiated, I just picked a direction and started walking. My end goal was to find the English gardens, but I thought I would just get a feel for the city and go to some of the places that tourists never go. It was a more business area, with office buildings and that sort of stuff. It was immediately noticeable that the streets were much larger and an attempt at making parking easier had been done, unlike Paris where there are very small streets and parking is a nightmare. Not to be cliche, but the Germans probably were being more organized and efficient with their planning.
An interesting thing that I have talked with my CouchSurfing hosts about, is how people treat crosswalks. In Paris, the red 'do not walk' sign is entirely ignored. If the street is clear, you can walk. From what my hosts tell me the cops don't hand out tickets, and even if they did it is for like a couple euros. In Munich (and the rest of Germany) people take them a lot more seriously, and it is frowned upon to cross when the crosswalk. The cops definitely will give you a ticket. Nonetheless, I find it a bit irritating now to wait at the crosswalk when I know I could easily make it.
Enough of a tangent, though, from the business area I found my way to some landmarks -- a giant obelisk, a museum that looks like a Roman building, and a park. Outside the museum there were some high school age kids playing sports, the first of which was badminton (the one with the fly and the rackets). The second game was almost like volleyball, in fact they use the same type of ball, but instead of using your hands you use everything else. The rules seemed to be it can touch the ground once, and after that you have to keep it in the air and hit it over the net. The rules for how you can hit the ball are the same as soccer, so feet, knees, chest, head, everything except hands and arms.
I worked my way to the English gardens, but I ended up way at the bottom and had to walk all the way up (1.5km or so) to make it to the Chinese Tower. I had a drink there and took a rest from all my walking. Then I made my way out of the park/garden and found the nearest U-bahn, which I took back to Marienplatz. I was an hour early, though, so I decided to go on a quest to find St. Peter's and climb to the top. About 35 minutes and 5 churches later, I realized I had no idea where St. Peter's was and I also had no idea where I was at that time.
Lost again, such is the way of the lone traveler, I tried to find where I was on the map that my host had given me to use, but had no luck at all. Finally I stumbled upon a U-bahn and S-bahn station, Karlsplatz. I mistakenly thought that I needed to take the U-bahn, which was all I had been using, so I rushed down 3+ sets of escalators and tried to make sense of the signs saying where the U-bahn was headed. I gave up on that and asked an older woman, with my mixture of English and a poor excuse for German, if the train was headed to Marienplatz. She told me that I was on the U-bahn and I had to take the S-bahn, showing me on the map. I thanked her with a quick, Danke! and was up two escalators in no time, reaching the S-bahn just in time to jump on the train with less than 10 minutes to spare.
I reached Marienplatz with around 5 minutes left until I was supposed to meet Robert, and reached the fountain with 2-3 minutes left -- but at least I wasn't late!
After telling him a bit about what I had done that day, he easily pointed to St. Peter's (useful for the next day), and then showed me around a bit. We went to a German restaurant and I had currywurst and fries. A big game between Manchester United and Barcelona was going on, but we couldn't get a seat that faced the TV, so we just got to hear the reactions of the throng of football (soccer) fans. I checked the score before we headed out, and Barcelona was up 2-0.
We then headed back to his place, and I was exhausted from the long day of walking everywhere. So after talking for a while, I got to bed by around midnight. Another long day in Europe was over.
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