I Like Munich

Yep, I am really getting lazy with the titles now.

I haven't updated in days -- so much for this being my trip journal. In any case, I had kind of a wild weekend, so I want to remember.

Friday day: Last day of classes for the week. The afternoon was very slow. At the break, a few of us decided to head to Munich on Saturday morning. Last minute planning is very exciting! We eat pie, we finish class, we all head to our respective places with plans to meet up for drinks that night.

Friday night: The plan is to get drinks in Mainz with a few classmates and one of the doctoral students from the European Business School. I meet a few people at the main station, the three of us going to Munich get our ICE tickets, then we hit the train. We take the wrong one and end up way past Mainz. We call our administrator to call Jan to let him know. We're an hour late, but we make it and, good lord, do we want a beer. We start at a cute patio, head elsewhere to get some food, then hit a discotheque. Total insanity and awesomeness. David loses his glasses in a frenzied dance fit, everyone has a lot of drinks, and I get home at 5AM. We're taking the train at 7 the next morning. Gooood.

Saturday AM: I get to the station and can't find the two people who are supposed to go with me. I have their tickets. I wait. I drink coffee. I eat a ham and cheese croissant. I wait some more. At 9AM, I get an email on my Treo from David saying that he was basically out of control the night before and there is no way in freaking hell he can go to Munich. Okay, cool. But where is Sarah? I wait a while longer but at 10AM give up and head out myself to the Frankfurt main station. Checking my email on that train, there's a note from Sarah. She was AT the Wiesbaden station all morning as well, waiting for me and David. HOW DID WE MISS EACH OTHER? No effing clue. In any case, she's now locked out of her flat as her roommates headed elsewhere for the weekend and is kind of stuck. I email her back and tell her I've already left, but she should follow on the next train. She agrees, and tells David that if he changes his mind, he can meet her at the main station. She gives me her train number and I expect to pick her up at 18:04. I happily arrive in Munich at around 2, go to my hotel, take a long shower in the best bathroom ever, get prettied up, get a city map and a transit map, and head back downtown. There is complete and utter gorgeousness everywhere. I buy some super-glam stockings at this beautiful department store and feel very European. I think I'm in love.

Saturday PM: I arrive back at the main Munich station at 17:30, just in case Sarah's train is early. I wait at her arrival stop, watch everyone come out and soon realize she isn't there. I get a fruit salad, expecting she'll be on the next one. I am now emailing David on the Treo to see if she emailed him to say she'd come back. This is the first time she's travelled entirely alone in her life and I'm pretty concerned that she got lost somehow. The 18:34 train comes. Again, no Sarah. I get a latte and a croissant. The 19:04 train comes. AHA! Sarah comes out and the joy on her face as she sees me is palpable -- the poor kid has had a crazy day. She's thrilled that I waited for her and we head to the S-Bahn to get her settled at the hotel.

While we're waiting for the train, a lady comes over and tells us that some gross man is videotaping us. We look over and she's right. I ask her why and what we should do, and she just says "I just thought you needed to know." We don't confront the crazy man and get the train. The hotel people are great, Sarah gets ready, and we head out for a night of Bavarian food and beer downtown. We are navigating the transit with ease and are starting to feel like professionals. Life is good!

Sunday AM: We head out at around 10AM and go to Marienplatz for breakfast, which is to die for. Hours of walking and photo-taking ensue. We love, love, love this city. The weather is perfect, the people are fabulous, and the sites are one of a kind. We also stalk a few walking and bikind tours to learn for free. We feel scandalous. Sadly, there is no Sunday shopping, so our attempts to bring some Munchen fashion maven home with us are dead in the water, but we look just the same. We see monuments, the opera house, palaces and castles and a garden filled with nudists (I still wish I'd photographed that old man ass, meow). We eat chocolate filled croissants and drink kirschesaftshorle. We run into another European Business School doctoral student that we've met over the last couple of weeks near Karlsplatz in yet another totally bizarro coincidence. Of course, I capture everything on digi-film.

Sunday PM: School is back on Monday, so we head for the 18:56 ICE train. Now masters of transit, we arrive in plenty of time and nap for an hour each before chatting relentlessly for the remaining three hours. We get back to Wiesbaden, help a Finnish girl living in Mainz find a local bar, and head to our respective homes.

I could seriously live like this. Pictures to come!