When in rome, act like a Roman ! Well
….. it really does not fit for me always. I love travelling like anyone else in
earth, and whenever I can, I head to odd roads. But U know, we students
always have to think of the money, and of course I start planning my
next trip while returning from one. So the motto is good places and great foods
at cheap prices ;)
This new year eve, I was in
Wurzburg ,and we were thinking of a good place to spend the next day , which
fits our pocket well. We tried booking a car for Prague
and were delighted to find that another couple is going there
to spend the first day of the year. But we had to drop the plan, as we found no
way to come back at night to Germany, next day I had my flight to India. So, we
decided to go to Munchen, the city by monks. Indeed, Bavaria is the best part
of Germany , Munich is the heart of bavaria.The city's name derives from the
monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on
the city's coat of arms.When Bavaria was reunited in 1506, Munich became its
capital. After US occupation in 1945, Munich was completely rebuilt
following a meticulous and rather conservative plan which preserved its
pre-war street grid.Indeed it is a city which gave birth to seven
nobel laureates, and both Adolf Hitlar and Einstein lived here. My friend
is a inquisitive student of Physics and I am kinda admirer of both
these personalities. So the idea of visiting Munchen seemed appealing to
both of us.
Our friends had
already told us about the group traveler tickets and the Bayern
tickets.. We went to the hauptbahnhof .
An old man was sitting in the help desk, he started asking our destination.
I asked for two tickets for Munich, obviously the Bavaria
day/night tickets, so he started looking for trains. We anxiously asked how
much it will be, he said 29 Euro for two. So I calculated and took out 58 Euros
from my purse for return journey, and told him to book the return ticket as
well. After issuing the ticket , he said 29Euro, I surprisingly asked,but we
need the return as well!
"Well
, it's 29 Euro" …… I was overjoyed. As they say"Rail one day with the Bavaria-Ticket through Bavaria with
up to 4 accompanying persons on all local trains! Enjoy the vineyards in the
north or the Alps in the south. Bavaria has a lot to offer! Come and convince
yourself!" It seemed fascinating to me… We hurried back to
room, and packed.I got loads of wishes as the clock ticked 00.00 … I threw
myself to bed to have a little sleep.
With the
shrill alarm, I woke up and got ready. We stepped out our rooms , luckily
it was not snowing. We went to the bus stop , and waited , but no bus came .
Suddenly we realised , it is new year and all the schedules for buses and tram
had changed . :P We ran , we walked, I scolded my friend , I shouted
"we r gonna miss it". My friend knew it, but was not ready to admit,
we ran, we saw the dark streets , filled with broken beer
bottles, remnant of fire works. They had a real good celebration, I thought. At
last , we reached, I heard the whistle of the train, and as I was up in the
platform, I saw the last coach was fading in the fog.. I sat in the bench and
started crying and blaming . I told, my year gonna be a mess, as the first hour
starts with failing to catch the train. My friend was upset as well, but still
managed to go to the railway ticket counter and back with a ticket.
"Well, we have a train in half an hour".. ….
The
train compartment was hell dirty… left over foods, empty or half filled
beer bottles,
newspapers ,..
Some one came and cleaned a little. Our journey to munich started.
We
had to change the
train in Nuremburg. We reached Munich at about 11 am. The station is big,
and scattered. No free user guides or Map is available unlike other
stations in Germany. We didn't really wanna buy a book to read the map …
so we clicked the map shown in the wall of the station,but that did not
help. We knew we have to go Marienplatz, the
centre of the city. So we bought a day card for two which allows you unlimited
travel in public vehicles throughout the city . We started seeing and capturing
the city. The famous city gate and the sushi bar opposite to it! Every building
seemed to have unique architecture. The city is an inspiring mix of
historic buildings and impressive architecture, since Munich reconstructed the
ruins of their historic buildings but also created new landmarks of
architecture. A survey, conducted by the Society's Center for Sustainable
Destinations for the national
geographic traveler, chose over 100 historic places around the world and ranked
Munich as the 30th best destination. We walked to the Marienplatz and
soon realised we wasted 14 Euro for the day card because most places are
nearby . Soon we
saw the Rathaus-the city town hall, and I bet I can visit
Munich only to see this building.The Patereskirche close to
Marienplatz is the oldest church of the inner city. It was the focus of
the early monastic settlement in Munich.The Frauenkirche is
the most famous building in the city centre and serves as the cathedral. The
nearby Michaekskirche is the
largest renaissance church north of the Alps. We walked to
the The Viktulienmarket , Munich's most popular market for fresh food
and delicatessen. A very old feature of Munich's Fasching (carnival) is the
dance of the Marktfrauen (market women) of the Viktualienmarkt in comical
costumes.
My stomach started remind me it is
almost 2. I knew the weiBwurst - the white sausage Leberknödel Soup
and the Weizenbier - wheat beer gonna to be my
lunch , it would be accompanied by Münchner Wurstsalat,
Munich's famous sausage salad with thinly sliced Knackwurst marinated in
vinegar and oil with onions on a bed of lettuce and I would like to
finish with apfelstrudel, a popular desert in Munchen. My friend
who happened to be a titotolar strongly opposed the idea of Weizenbier ..
But the real blow came with the price lists… it seemed I have to spend per
head 30 Euro at least to satisfy my food quest .
We saw a small restaurant
with few people waiting outside,we walked there. It is a Japanese restaurant
named Tokyo and happy people were sitting inside. I felt delighted to see the
menu, "aaah it is perfect for my pocket". Only 6.9
Euros, beside a picture which seemed quite a meal to us. We had no
idea what they are serving and we ordered chicken hunan" seeing the name
of chicken. It came out delicious. It is a combo of specially prepared rice,
chicken with bamboo shoots and a salad with fresh tomatoes in a
bed of lettuce. We ordered another and also some noodles. We typically ate
with two wooden sticks and I felt no low for not being
"Roman" … Instead go beer, we had pepsi, but I didn't
complain. Only thing we did not like is that the staffs are not well mannered,
rather rude if I be truthful. But I was determined not to ruin my new year for
some petty reason.
As we were full, we used the day
card now. We roamed throughout the city in trams and buses and went to
the Deutsches Museum,
located on an island in the River Isar, and is the largest and one of the
oldest science museums in the world. Then we saw many churches.. and I
was surprised to see the clocks hanging on them, all different and
beautiful. At around 6.30 pm, we said goodbye to Munchen … but we knew it
was not really possible for anyone to explore the beauty of this old and
beautiful city in one day..May be I am gonna back there in some time.
