Saturday, 13 April, 2013 – On the River

I didn’t do much today, but my hostel roommates dragged me out to the river, so here are a couple of pictures!

Thursday, 11 April, 2013 – Pinakothek and Jewish Museum

So finally an update! Sorry it took so long…the sickness knocked me out for two days and then I was with a friend in Paris and we were rather busy distracting each other and eating good food.

Anyways, this is the day before I got sick. I spent the morning at the Alte Pinakothek, an art museum with a really cool staircase. 

Afterwards, I went over the Sendlinger Tor, which was rather beautiful in the rain (which this picture doesn’t show well)

After more wandering and exploring the lovely shops and atmosphere in that area, I walked over to St.-Jakobs-Platz to visit the Jewish Museum, which was mainly an exhibition on the history of Jewish life in Munich with a focus on Jewish traditions and celebrations. There were some really cool old relics, like the entire cupboard of a Holocaust survivor (donated by his wife). You can learn a lot about a person from their cupboard – there were books, badges from Dachau, posters, both related and unrelated. Lots of cool.

And then I went back to the hostel and got sick…more updating soon!

Quick update

Hey guys,
sorry I haven't been that exciting. Basically, I got sick. So, I did do some fun things yesterday (which I will post about later) but then promptly got back to the hostel and collapsed and I literally only went out today to get food. I'm feeling much better now (thanks for asking), so I most certainly plan to be back to planned (and unplanned) activities tomorrow :-)

Wednesday, April 10, 2013 – Stadtmuseum and Marienplatz

So, the hostel doesn’t provide coffee-making facilities (hrmphs) so today started with a brisk walk towards Munich center to get coffee. Afterwards, I wandered through a few stores and ended up at the Stadtmuseum (City Museum). It’s amazing!

Once exhibit was mainly on the history of Munich. And included lots of models of buildings and the city and churches and cool things!

Another was all about the history of protest in Munich, up until present day. I do sometimes wonder about the stuff that activists call art and its actual purpose, but, you know, do each their own. There was a lot of German in that exhibit so I went to look at puppets next because my brain was fried and puppets don’t require German to be appreciated. 

(Dad will probably know who I think this is and what I think he’s holding).

The final exhibit was all about 70s fashion in Munich, also really awesome. Some of the clothing was clothing I would totally wear and some was so absurd I couldn’t imagine anyone wearing ever. Also, apparently the 70s was the beginning of when companies started marketing children’s clothing and considering children a target audience…meaning children’s clothing became a lot more exciting at that time, at least in Munich.

I had lunch at the Viktualienmarkt – a really huge open air market for food near Munich center. It rained during lunch (in Munich, it alternates about every half hour between rain and beautiful sunshine) and was rather pretty (I was sitting outside under an awning). It felt almost like rainbow weather.

I spent the rest of the day wandering around Marienplatz, the city square-like-thing. I explored some clothing stores, and a book store. Also, there was a really good klezmer band playing the middle in the square at one point.

And that’s it for today. Yeah no, I pretty much went back to the hostel and ate and am now internetting. But, all in all, an exciting day and a good start for Munich. 

Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - Arrival in Munich

And here is Moomin sitting on my bed this morning, all prepared to travel! Not going to say today was a terribly exciting day – it actually started last night because there was a huge nasty leak going on in some of the ceiling of my floor, so there were people filling buckets with water, mopping, and, of course, screeching until pretty late (plus, you know, using water was impossible). And then I had to wake up early to catch my flight! (which was, delayed, but only by 15 minutes, so it wasn’t a huge deal).

Finally got to Munich, went very quickly through passport control and the airport, travel that stays within the EU is always ten times easier than going between the US and the EU…got on a train, and had my first view of Munich…

Not very city-like, no? Funny. Some American person sitting next to me was commenting on how they should get some foreign company to come develop it…I was confused. Basically, the airport is just pretty far from the actual city, because I am totally in a city currently.

I was early to the hostel, so I wandered around for  a bit, found a nice park, had a German pastry, because those are yummy.

Once settled into my room, I took the S-Bahn (public transportation) over to Marienplatz, which is pretty much central Munich. I wandered into some clothing stores and was thoroughly disturbed by the pink jeans. The most impressive building right on Marienplatz is the Rathaus, city hall, which even has moomin-sized windows!

I also found the Viktuelmarkt (Food market) and had an absolutely amazing smoothie/juice thing. I wandered back to the hostel via the supermarket (food is so cheap here, it’s quite different than in Central London) and am now here, somewhat exhausted (see screeching above and lack of sleep), and really really really exciting because Munich seems pretty awesome so far. It’s so pretty too!

Saturday, August 18 – Galway alone and arrival in Ennis

So…Emily left…which was very sad, but I wasn’t alone for very long because the French people from last night came and joined me…they are obsessed with food, it was fun

And then I wandered again, trip is calming down, not as much to see in Ireland, doing the relaxing thing. I went to Griffins and had porridge – the porridge itself was pretty  average, but it came with strawberries and cream – it wasn’t sugary enough to be whipped cream, but it was the same texture. – and honey! So yummy.

I wandered through a mall (without much excitement, did the shopping thing yesterday) (ok, not completely, I also finished up all my gift shopping, quite pleased with myself) and then wandered down towards the harbor and found out that Seattle, Washington and Galway are sister cities.

And then a walk by the canal, which was very pretty (I was intermittently reading this entire time as well). There’s this bridge called the “Friar’s Bridge” which I thought was very nice and then later learned that it was the Galway version of a wishing well, which made me like it even more.

Then I took a walking tour for the fun of it, it wasn’t that exciting – except for two stories – one about a monkey saving a baby from a burning building. The other was about the mayor’s son, who was a complete flirt, until a Spanish guy came in and one-upped him. So, the mayor’s son went and killed the Spanish guy, which was punishable by death, so, the mayor brought him up to a window and hung him. Lovely, no? Anyways, this is what was below the window. Yay skulls!

After a late lunch (at Griffins, notice a pattern?), I wandered down to the harbor, saw lots of boats and walked around a bit. I got to go past lots and lots of adorable houses, one of which was a hotel (which I want to visit now, just because its so cute on the outside)

And then – a train ride to Ennis. I spent some of the ride talking with my neighbor, who studies French, Spanish, and Japanese at the University of Limerick – cool, no? if it hadn’t been for Finnish, I would have gone there, because, you know, three languages are better than two.

Also, I knew I loved Ennis upon arrival because the train station had an adorable bridge (which I got to walk over!)

In Ennis, I did stop by a pub for a session, which was tiny – 3 people! So, I danced for a bit, felt unwelcome, and left, but at least I got to dance (which is better than the past four weeks)

Final picture! From Ennis – I think it speaks for itself.

Friday, August 17 – Galway with Emily

So, we slept super late, woohoo! And then went to this lovely tea shop called Griffins for a HUGE breakfast/lunch combo and lots and lots of tea (because coffee in Ireland is terrible)

Then we wandered around the Latin Quarter, which could also be known as the “Quaint Quarter” or the “Tourist-pleasing District”. Its unpaved, pretty much car-free, lots of buskers, pretty awesome minus the seas of tourists.

And then we went shopping – Emily ended up with an awesome new shirt and I ended up with a new hat (!) and skirt.

We took a walk down to the water and waded into the strangely unsalty and warm other side of the Atlantic Ocean (wheeeee! Now I’ve waded in both sides of the “pond”)

(also, check out Emily’s new shirt!) We then went back to Griffins for afternoon tea, like any proper Irish person.

Then, we busked for a little bit, just for the heck of it and earned about 3ish euros (woot).

We ended the night having pub food and listening to super-amazing Irish music in the King’s Head, which is apparently a famous bar. (well, actually, we took a walk afterwards, I also met some French people at the hostel, but, you know “end” can mean a lot of things) Anyways, these are the fancy chairs we sat across from.