EUR07: Maman, j'ai raté l'avion; or, Prost!

In my last post, I detailed the long journey I was to take from Carcassonne to Munich. In it, I planned to arrive in Munich at 3am on the 6th. Ahem. Yes, there were slight complications.

It was a long series of connections, and one thing worried me. I would arrive in Strasbourg (from Lyon) at 22:07, and have to leave (for Munich) at 22:20. Not much in the way of breathing room. Now, thus far in the trip, none of the numerous trains I’ve been on has been any more than 3 to 5 minutes late. Still, I worried that this connection would somehow fall through. I was, as always, right. Of all the trains to be late, this one had to be the one to do so… by 35 minutes. And, naturally, the 22:20 train was the last one to Munich that night.

So, I did all I really could do, which was to wander around Strasbourg in the late evening, until I found a hotel going for less than 50 euros per night (37 in fact, my favorite prime number). The next morning (this is the 7th, now), I got up early and took the first train of the day to Munich, which got me into the city at around noon.

Managed to find my way to my hostel, which was thankfully located about 2 minutes away from the station, only to find another barrier in the Quest. It seems that, since I didn’t show up on the first day of my reservation there (the 6th), and didn’t show up by 10am the next morning, somehow my entire reservation there was cancelled. And they were now full. Odd, that, but so it goes.

Dismayed, I was however pointed in the direction of the nearby YMCA, and let me tell you: it’s fun to stay here. My roommates (Tomas, from France, and Dave, a worldly and yet still very vocal American) and I needed some grub and beer last night, and dear god did we find it at the Hofbräuhaus. Mental image? It’s easy: picture your favorite stereotypical German beer hall, and that’s exactly it. Huge benches packed with people, litres upon litres of beer (of which I had two, along with my wursts and potatoes), and yes, a band in lederhosen blaring away on drums and horns (even a tuba). I have never heard a better rendition of “Hey, Jude”, with all 500 or so diners singing at the top of their lungs for the chorus. Unbelievable, and unforgettable.

Today, I went out to the Deutsches Museum, which is a fairly huge repository of technology of all kinds. Oh, and I had a shower and washed my clothes: both were long overdue. Tomorrow, I visit the fairy tale castle of Neuschwanstein.

And then Wednesday is, surprisingly enough, the midpoint of my trip. Mixed feelings about that.

Until next time: prost!