Hello again! We decided to stick to more day trips this weekend, as we really didn't plan anything and last minute night trains are expensive. So we headed to Munich on Friday morning.
The train ride was nothing to write home about (funny, considering I'm doing exactly that). Munich's train station, though, is pretty damn big. All of the trains come in under this massive dome shelter thing-y (I think that's the technical name for it). It was pretty cool to see, as thus far we've only really seen moderately sized train station, so being in one in a metropolitan area was a lot of fun. Also, we got to ride in a private car on the way there! We'd never been in one before. Until we managed to find an empty one, they were mostly filled with old people who were under the impression that they needed a whole six seats to themselves. Two for themselves and their luggage, and four extra seats as a buffer from us "common folk". I have more horrible things to say about people like that, but it's probably best not to dwell on it. Needless to say, we were stoked to find an empty one and enjoyed the trip in style.
So we got into town and got ourselves oriented, and then it was off to the churches! Honestly, I'm not really religious. At all. So aside from the initial wonder of the decadent architecture, they kind of wore on me after a while. Fortunately, we only visited two, and they were both interesting enough to hold my attention (aside from the second one seeming to have an issue with fun or being in any way upbeat).
Afterwards, Matt was pretty adamant about wanting to eat, so we ventured over to one of the most famous places in all of Munich, the Hofbräuhaus! This place was awesome. Great German food and mugs of beer as big as your head! Literally! They even had a live band playing polka music when we entered. This place was about as German as you can get, and we loved every second of it. Our meal ended up taking us three hours (there are so many people that service can be a little slow). Stay tuned, this detail comes back to bite us in the ass later.
Once we'd been stuffed with beer and pork, we naturally (as men) felt it was the time to look at cars. Fortunately, the BMW Museum was just a short walk away! Wait, did I say short walk? I meant REALLY FUCKING LONG.... It took us about an hour of winding up German streets (and having to follow Jon into heavy traffic) to finally get there. This was also partially because we took a detour through the English Gardens. It's basically a giant park, but they have this old, Greek-looking gazebo in the center that afforded some great views. Anyways, the best part of our adventure? We got to the museum at about 5:30... and it closed at 6:00... What a bust... At this point we were pretty defeated, and considered giving up and going back to Ulm.
That was, until we saw a massive tower nearby and decided to check it out. This turned out to be the Olympic Tower in Olympiapark, the place where they hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics. We considered eating at the revolving restaurant in the tower until we found out it was a high class joint and the prices were waaaay more than we were willing to pay. Instead, we took the elevator up to the viewing deck. Honestly, aside from a pushy elevator operator that seemed to confuse the work "up" with "off", it was awesome. The view was great and it was the perfect way to cap off our day. They also had a small rock and roll museum up at the top, which had some cool things on display and had an old jukebox that we used to play Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. After coming down, we made the hour trek back to the train station and boarded our train home, absolutely exhausted from the day's adventures.
And below, more pictures! Enjoy!
I think this is some kind of government building. This was the best picture I could get without a fucking tram blocking my view. The thing was there for a good 10 minutes while I tried to get a picture. Annoying, to say the least.
St. Michael's Church.
I think this basin is filled with Holy Water. I would have touched it to find out, but I had a feeling I wasn't supposed to. Also, I didn't want to burst into flames.
That's a lot of gold...
There wasn't a lot of stuff in English here, so I didn't get much information on some of these pictures. I think this is Roman, to say the least, but that's all I know.
Crucifixes. Everywhere.
Flat Sarah, Boba Fett, and I are amazed by the scale of this place.
The Metropolitan Church of Our Lady
We stopped at the Ferrari store before heading into the church. Here's Jon, Chris, and Matt admiring a formula one car.
Somehow, this place was bigger than the last one.
These Asian ladies walked into my picture and DID NOT MOVE, so now I'm putting them on the internet.
I wanted to high five the Pope, but Chris yelled at me and told me it'd be disrespectful, so I didn't. Just look at him though. He totally wants a high five...
Notice how the floors here are all immaculately clean...
...I'm fairly certain that's because it's someone's full time job to mop them. This is the second time I've seen people doing this.
That is the biggest pipe organ I've ever seen.
This is the crypt. It has pews. For funeral ceremonies and stuff.
Giant, hanging crucifix in the center of the church. Yay suffering!
There was a lot of stained glass. It was really pretty.
And the church has a gift shop... I don't know why...
This bell tower was pretty cool. It played music at noon and the parts in the center moved like a carousel.
Toy museum! Sadly, we never went inside...
This was the sign for the museum. All of the parts moved like clockwork! Still kinda peeved we never went inside...
WARNING. BEER AHEAD.
The view from the entrance. A little intimidating at first.
You know the place is awesome when it has its own band in lederhosen playing polka music.
Chris is upset because we don't have beer yet.
And now we do! Happy Chris has appeared!
The beer is almost as tall as Flat Sarah o_0
And it's also as big as my head.
The view from the inside looking towards the door. That blur on the left? Yeah, that's the waiter. He yelled at me to get out of the way.
Another view from inside.
I took a picture with this German human statue. He decided to pet my head.
He was curious about what I was holding.
Awww, he wants to see Flat Sarah! How cute...
And now he's reading her shirt.
And now he's realized what's written on her shirt...
I got a penalty for that one.
This may look like good fun, but seriously, that hurt like hell. I had a headache for about 20 minutes afterward.
I guess he still can't believe I would carry around a flat girl that has "Tyrannosaurus Sex" written on her shirt.
Dat face...
And now it's Chris's turn for some fun.
The human statue mimes instructions on how to make Chris look foolish.
C'mon Chris, pretend to drink! (Shouldn't be that hard)
Drink up!
Uh oh, now he's in trouble! (And Chris concurred, that guy's ear pulls HURT)
The human statue: catching drunk tourists since 2:00.
Now touch your toes!
We found these guys surfing the river in the English Park. We were constantly afraid we were going to see one of the them hit their head on the sides of the river, but they didn't. They were actually pretty good!
I took a picture of this goose. Then he hissed at me. Guess he's not photogenic.
It seems like everywhere in Europe has a pretty waterfall.
Chris enjoying the English Park.
This place was massive. If you look closely, you can see a small gazebo in the distance.
Again, a lot of Europe seems very picturesque.
We made it to the gazebo!
We found this tower while walking through the park. I wanted to climb it, but didn't have the time. Also, down in front is a vehicle filled with Irish dudes that I have dubbed the Beermobile.
Beermobile! Away!
Expensive car is expensive (v2)
The BMW tower and museum.
This is really the only thing I got to take a picture of in the museum.
This was BMW Welt (world). We don't know what's inside.
View of the Olympic football pitch from the top of the Olympic Tower!
BMW! (Again, from the top of the Olympic Tower)
Boba Fett, Flat Sarah, and I at the top of the world.
A drawing done by James Hetfield of Metallica in the tiny Rock Museum.
Elton John's piano! So sparkly!
Freddy Mercury's pants. I am not worthy.
A neat old jukebox. We used it to play Bohemian Rhapsody, like any self-respecting human should.
Apparently Arnold used to promote progressive music. While mostly naked. Go figure...
The Olympic Tower!
Freddy Mercury's lyrics!
A beautiful panoramic view of the main area of the English Park.
Panorama from the top of the Olympic Tower.
