Europe Day 08: Munich? More like a Bier Gaarten…

The hills are alive… at 6am
We got a really early start this morning seeing as we had a bit more to do in Switzerland before heading to Munich, Germany.


Lucerne in the day
First – we got to go back into Lucerne to see everything by day. We visited the famous covered wooden bridge, the Chapel Bridge, under which there are tons of no smoking signs since once upon a time the original version of the bridge was burned down because someone stubbed their cigarette out on it – it didn’t go out – and the bridge burned down. The town is actually very picturesque and is probably exactly what you would think a Swiss town should look like. It’s right out of the movies and picture books.

Shopping!
As per what we are realizing is probably the Contiki way of earning added money, we were ushered into a few “suggested” shops for buying Swiss Army knives, Swiss watches, jewelry, chocolate and more. H-Rabbit and I stocked up on a few gifts for the folks back home as well as a ton of chocolate! I went in search of the magnet I just had to have (of the Swiss Guard monument) and it almost made me miss the bus!

Mount Stanserhorn
From Lucerne we drove a ways out to Mount Stanserhorn – one of the Alpine mountains that we were going to have the opportunity to go up to the top of. First, we rode a funicular trolley up the first part of the mountain that was more rolling than mountainous, and then our entire tour group was mashed into a cable car to go up the rest of the way. Let’s just say that ride tested a lot of people’s fear of heights.

Fantastic views from the top of the world
Once we reached the top we were privy to some incredibly fantastic views of the Alps. Once again – it was breathtaking (I really need to find a synonym for that word or you are all going to get incredibly tired of it). The air had to be the cleanest I have ever come into contact with. Funny thing though – asthmatics and fresh air apparently don’t go too well together. Or perhaps it was more that it must have been much thinner with less oxygen – cause I definitely had some trouble breathing. I think the air was just too thin for my lungs!

More driving
After getting our fill of Heidi-like vistas, and feeling queasy overlooking ridges and cliffs with absolutely no guard railings – we headed back down. Once again – the entire group of 45 people smashed into one lowly cable car. From Mount Stanserhorn we were then driving straight on to Munich. We hit a ton of bad traffic and it took hours longer than we were expecting.

Liechtenstein
For lunch we stopped off in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. This is one of the tiniest countries in the world, stuck between the borders of Switzerland and Germany. To be honest – there really wasn’t much to look at – and there definitely wasn’t anything much in Vaduz. For a Euro you can get your passport stamped with the country stamp – however we passed up this opportunity. I’m probably being really lax in saying this – but a lot of us felt – okay – we’ve seen Liechtenstein… and there’s really no reason to ever come back.

Munich?
By the time we arrived in Munich, Germany, it was fairly late at night, and the weather was extremely bad. Pouring rain had found us again. We just had time to check into our rooms (really nice hotel this time – extremely modern!), change, and then we were off to the Hofbrauhaus – the largest beer hall in Munich.

Hofbrauhaus
Because of the weather – we didn’t actually get to see anything of Munich BUT the beer hall – which was extremely aggravating and unfortunate but there was nothing to be done. The Hofbrauhaus is an authentic Bavarian beer hall with a Bier Gaarten in its centre. Because of the weather – the hall was packed to the rafters, as all the Gaarten seats were too wet to occupy.

After a lot of running around (because Contiki hadn’t reserved us seating – we were told it wasn’t possible – but we saw a ton of other non-Contiki groups that DID have reserved seating so we weren’t exactly impressed) – we finally found some tables in the upstairs portion of the building where Chris, Liz, H-Rabbit and I were able to join Peter, Megan, Valeria and Theo for dinner.

The big thing at the Hofbrauhaus is ordering their 1-Litre beer steins, which is an absolutely crazy thing to do for H-Rabbit and I when we don’t drink beer at all. But – when in “Munich” – we obviously had to order one. We decided on a Radler – which is like a beer shandy – and others at the table ordered regular beers as well. Let’s just say that 1-litre beer steins are massive… I don’t think I made it even halfway through my Radler through the night – and we even shared with Gnomie!

For dinner I ordered a Pork Knuckle, which turned out to be one hell of a chunk of meat. With it came these really weird potato dumplings – and for note – they do not taste or feel like potatoes at all. Everyone else at the table ordered a variety of things. Once we were done – we all went and picked up some souvenirs of the night – including – dum-da-da-da… our very own 1-litre steins!! While yes – I know – I’ll never drink beer in them – can you just imagine a 1-litre Mudslide! Oh yeah, baby!

A tiny-weenie bit of Munich at night
After stuffing our faces and guts with pork and beer, we staggered out into the alleyways of Munich to try and find a cab that would take us back to our hotel. However – once out – we noticed it had finally stopped raining and quickly decided that we just HAD to see something of Munich besides the beer hall. Chris, Liz, H-Rabbit and I took out our maps and tried to figure out the walk that would take us the famous Glockenspiel.

Glockenspiel?
After taking a few wayward turns – we finally got figured out and made our way to the area marked at the Glockenspiel on our maps. Our biggest problem? None of us had ever seen a picture of the thing before so we had no idea what we were looking for. We knew it was a church of some sort, and that it had a beautiful tower with moving parts – however in our walk we passed almost 10 different church towers and obviously in the middle of the night – none of the moving parts of the clock tower would be moving. Finally we asked a nearby citizen who told us we were standing right in front of it. Let’s just say it looked nothing like I thought it would. I think I had some random Disney images stuck in my head as to what it should look like and was looking for that instead of the real thing. So we took a few pictures – and because we didn’t know about anything else we should be looking for – and didn’t want to head out to the nightclub area that the others were going to go to – we headed home.

Laundry Escapades
Our hotel was pretty amazing and finally we were at one that had laundry services. H-Rabbit and I gathered everything that was necessary to wash and Liz and Chris bundled up a few things. Good thing we went when we did – there were only two machines – and the others would be back soon trying to use the laundry as well.

Disaster struck a bit for Chris and Liz – their washing machine totally went on the fritz and locked their clothes in the machine. It took them hours to get done and I think in the end they just pulled their wet clothes out of the dryer (that wasn’t drying them) and shoved them in their suitcase.

Chris and I spent the hours watching the machines, him reading and me blogging. At one point we were bombarded by the drunken masses arriving from the clubs – but when they saw there was only two machines – and we already had them stuffed with our things – they decided to give up since even our stuff wouldn’t be done until 2 or 3am.

To note – it was a bit disappointing that really, all of Germany we saw was a beer hall. Once again – another thing we have to come back and see properly. Contiki is proving to be very much a “postcard” tour where you get to see something for a split second – but then that’s it and that’s all.

Europe Day 07: From Paris to Lucerne

Oh what a night
Well – today I woke up still drunk. And as H-Rabbit keeps telling everyone – I apparently have no compunction about saying so. My retort to that is "What do you expect when you get home at 3am and are off again by 6am?" Thankfully – today is nothing but a driving day – which simply means hours and hours and hours on the bus.

From past, to present, to future
We’ve stopped now at a rest stop and I can actually use my computer here so I’m catching up on writing and adding in details to the days before. I realize I must touch upon the fact that I am NOT going to be correcting the numerous mist-matches in presence tense that you are going to be finding in these blogs. The simple fact is – sometimes I’m writing before things happen in expectation of them, other times I’m writing literally in the moment (a la now as I’m sitting here) and at other times quite a bit later than when a thing happened. That’s just how it’s going to be and there’s nothing to be done about it.

Long Ride
In everything we did in Paris – we were too busy to actually pick up any actual souvenirs, so we simply grabbed a few cute ones at the rest stop. I picked up my continuing train of magnets and H-Rabbit found a cute dish that shows the Paris skyline. The traffic is currently absolutely awful and it seems yet again we’re not going to get into Lucerne till the evening. Bus tours really include a LOT of time ON the bus – not necessarily the best way to spend one’s vacation.

Fresh air and beauty
Upon arrival in Lucerne we went straight to our hotel, which was quite nice and family run. One of the immediate things we noticed here in Switzerland was how fresh the air was, how fresh the water tasted, and how clean and beautiful everything looked. After a nice dinner and some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had (coloured and shaped like a Swiss flag) we headed down into town to catch the boat for our cruise around lake Lucerne.

Monument to Bravery
Upon arrival into town – which was very quiet and sleepy since everything was closed – we went to see what I count as another of my most memorable moments on the trip. Leona took us to view the absolutely gorgeous and astonishingly detailed monument to the fallen members of the Swiss Guard that died during the French Revolution. The monument is a carving of a fallen lion – the symbol of Swiss Guard – on top of broken symbols of the French monarchy from the time, right within the rock formations of a cliff. The slope of rock above the monument has also been carved in a way that diverts falling rainwater into a pattern around and over the carving. It is simply a breathtaking piece of artistic creativity.


Lake Lucerne
From the monument we went to the harbour to catch the boat for our Lake Lucerne cruise. From the water, you get a lovely panoramic view of the surrounding Alps – it’s no wonder that Lake Lucerne is apparently the most photographed lake in Switzerland. Our guide on the cruise pointed out the summerhouses of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren that are in the area, as well as Wagner’s house that is now kept as a museum. The ride was extremely relaxing with drinks and a great time to spend with the rest of the tour group. After the cruise – we decided that tonight was a good chance to tuck in early as every night had been long and harried so far, and so off to the hotel we went. Lights out.