Münich: Misconceptions on meeting places and a Free Walking Tour

Friday

Cori and I woke up around 10:30 AM and ate something quickly before going to the city for coffee and some shopping in what she called "asshole shops." These, to her, are the shops that every time you go in you wind up buying something. Of course, I didn't buy anything because I had no where to put it.

We tried to find the craft store in town that Andrew's mother suggested but had no luck so instead we went to a few other shops and stopped for more coffee / tea and then she took me to the train station.
 
I caught a train to Munich but there was construction on the track so I had to take a bus for part of the way. I knew that my host in Munich wouldn't be available to meet me until 6 PM so I decided to stop in another city on the way.

I decided to stop in Sternberg and sit by the Sternberger See (or lake) in the sun. What a beautiful view too! I found a museum in the town that was near the train station and detailed how the town came to be and the trade routes it created. Cool. I got to walk through a house that has been there since the 1400s!
 
After a few hours I hopped on a train to Munich again and when I arrived at the main station, I left and walked to Marienplatz where I was to meet my host.

I was there at about 5:30 PM and I stopped for a cola at a restaurant. I was supposed to meet my host at the Fischbrunne but with the construction in the square I couldn't see the fountain and I asked some people and was told that Mary's column was where I was supposed to be. Unfortunately, my host didn't get the same message as me and he also didn't have a cell phone. Inconvenient.

I waited until 8 PM at Mary's column and my host didn't contact me so I went and got a hotel for the night near the train station. I paid 44 € for a crappy, tiny room without a bathroom, I took a shower in the hallway where there was a common bathroom for the whole floor, and then went to bed.

Saturday

I woke up on Saturday around 8 AM and went downstairs to have breakfast. Yes, the  one redeeming factor for this hotel was the inclusive breakfast. I had a typical German breakfast of rolls with different cheeses and meats with coffee / tea and juice. When I was finished I grabbed my bag from my room and went downstairs to check out. Luckily, I was able to leave my bag at the hotel while I went into the city which was also nice.

I left the hotel and went back to the Marienplatz to wait for my Munich Free Walking Tour to begin, I stopped for a cappuccino at a café and met a man and wife from Minnesota.

I then went to take my tour of Munich, the tour guide while a very nice guy is living in Munich because his girlfriend lives there yet he doesn’t speak German and doesn’t want to learn it either. I feel like the fact that he didn’t speak German really detracted from his tour of the city, none the less I did learn some things while on the tour and I even met a nice Chinese girl too.


After the tour I went back to the train station and grabbed my bag from the hotel. I hopped on a train and was on my way back home a day early.

My train was making a stop in Göttingen and so I decided I would see what Marilena had planned and if she wanted to meet up. She had a birthday party for a family friend to go to but she invited me so I got off my train in Kassel and took another train to meet her.

On this train I met a guy from Algeria who asked me for my email address so we exchanged emails and maybe I found a new pen pal.

Finally I got off the train and met Marilena outside, we went back to the house and had dinner and drinks and I saw her parents too. It got late and we had a long drive home so we drove back to her house in Göttingen and went to bed.