I left last Wednesday and got on a EuroCity train bound for Munich and I arrived to Stief's (nickname for Stefan) apartment around 6:30. After dropping stuff off, we headed for Olympic Park and set up a Slackline. You know those straps that are used to tie down heavy loads on trucks? That's what a Slackline is, so, we Slacklined.
That's Stief:
This is me trying my hand at it:
By the next day, I could stand pretty well and even walk 4 or 5 steps. It's a pretty fun hobby that I might take up.
Jessica arrived the next day from Spain, where she'd spent a few days with her family. I got to go to the airport and pick her up. We were happy to see each other.
The Munich Airport is right next to the town of Freising. If that sounds familiar, Freising is where the Huber Brewery that appeared in my post called "Munich and Oktoberfest". Jessica and I stopped there on the way home and went to the Huber Brewery for lunch. I had a Huber Burger and Huber Fries, with a Huber Weisses Beer. Mmm.
We walked by the town square, which had colored sawdust laid down in artful patterns. This is the coat of arms for Freising:
Stief was a great guide. On Thursday evening he took us on a short walking tour. One of the stops was at a bridge over the river that runs through the English Garden. People attached boards to ropes and set them in the fast moving water to form a wave that can be ridden. Apparently Jack Johnson (famed singer/songwriter and surfer) made a stop here when he played Munich last summer.
Then we had a lighter supper by the Chinese Tower. We didn't bring our own food, but we did have some yummy sausages and beer. It was a fun atmosphere which I'd like to experience in the daytime.
The next day we bid Stief farewell and went to the train station. Our train for Prague didn't leave until 4:43 pm, so we still had time to see Munich sights. We didn't want to do that with all our stuff, so we put our things in a luggage locker.
We mainly walked through the main pedestrian zone in Munich and lunch at another beer garden, this one in the Viktualienmarkt. Walking along a sidestreet, we ran into the world famous Hofbrauhaus. It has two large rooms, which can hold a couple thousand people each. Here is one, where the origins of the Nazi Party began.
For a fee, one can purchase or rent a locker for their beer stein:
After the visit to the Hofbrauhaus, we found the trainstation and got onto our train. Being one of the first ones on, we thought that we'd be the only one's in a compartment - a very good thing on a long-distance train. Suddenly a man came in and made himself comfortable and then he stood in the corridor hanging out the window. People would squeeze by him and ask us if there was room in our compartment (3 places left). He'd answer for us, saying, "Weiter, weiter." That basically means keep going. He turned away all these people but suddenly a Catholic Sister appeared at the doorway, just as the train was about to move. We thought, "Was he going to turn her away, too?" He didn't! And we only had to deal with him for about 35 minutes, when he got off the train.
We had to switch trains at the border of Germany and the Czech Republic. Once you cross the border, you know just by looking at the buildings that you are in a different country. The buildings look drab and run-down. Once we made it to Prague, our host, Ondra, wasn't on the platform to greet us. Instead, a woman in her 50s asked us in a quiet voice, "Do you have accommodations?" "Yes!" was our immediate and firm response. A couple minutes later, Ondra showed up.
We got in at about 11 pm, thendropped our stuff off at our "accommodations" and proceeded to see the city lit up beautifully at night.
He took us first to Wenceslas Square, which is better defined as a boulevard. At the beginning of it is the National Museum.
Then he took us to the Old Town Square to view the Astronomical Clock.
And the Charles Bridge at night.
The next day (Saturday) we went to one of the highest points in Prague, which is where the castle is that the prime minister lives in.
Then down to a garden which had this weird wall sculpture.
We utilized the Metro a lot in Prague. I was amazed at how long the escalators were. Some took 3 minutes to make the trek!
That evening we went to a beer garden. British men are known to have their bachelor parties in Prague because in the long run, it's cheaper for the flight and drinks than to plan a party on their little island. We ran into the man-to-wed in the bathroom.
After that, we went up this tower to get views of the sunset and city at night.
On Sunday, we went to another castle, this one just above the river.
They grow their grapes differently there, with big sticks instead of wires between sticks.
:)
We also utilized the tram system. At this particular machine, we had put in our money and heard the change be dispensed, but no change came tumbling out. Upon further investigation, some punks had put wadded up tape inside to catch lose change. We foiled their plans and took all 56 Koruners that came out.
Typical Prague building facade.
Then we climbed a tower that resembles the Eiffel Tower. From there, we saw the Strahov Stadium. It has a capacity of 220,000 and is the training facility for Sparta Prague. It's not used for official sporting events, but large pop concerts. It's the second largest sporting complex in the world, just after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
On the walk down the hill, we spotted the Charles Bridge through some trees. The bridge began construction in 1537 and was the most important trade route between Eastern and Western Europe upon completion. Today, it's thronged with tourists during the day and is romantically lit and quiet at night.
I like to sample local food and I made my wish known to Ondra...the less English the place knew the better, in my opinion. Ondra took us to a local pub and there I had sauerkraut, pork, potato dumplings, red cabbage. It was tasty.
And now begins a series of unfortunate events that somehow eventually righted themselves. Jessica and I left Prague early Monday morning at 7 am. The night before, I had for some reason thought that we left at 8 am, so we prepared to get to the airport for an 8 am flight. This wasn't realized until we get to the airport (after first getting off at the wrong bus stop) and read the departure board. After 20 minutes of sign-less walking, we finally found the check-in desk, only to choose the slowest line. Finally we get our bags checked and our boarding passes and hurry to security. Security was a breeze and we're finally at the gate, 15 minutes before the departure time. They weren't even boarding the plane yet. Crisis #1 averted.
Once we got settled into our seats at the gate, I thought my pockets felt a little different than normal. I soon realized that my credit card, BahnCard, Swiss visa, and my cell phone were not in their normal home. I shot up and without saying much to Jessica, I took off on a dead sprint back to security. Perhaps the two policemen I passed thought something was weird, since I wasn't heading toward a gate, however, they just watched my fly by. I arrived at security and was directed to the supervisor, who had the tray with all my stuff in it. I grabbed it, shoved the contents into my pockets and took off on another dead sprint back to the gate where I found Jessica hurriedly looking through my backpack. The line to begin boarding had formed and we weren't locked out of our flight to Amsterdam. Crisis #2 averted.
After an uneventful flight (the best), we land in Amsterdam. We deplane and didn't have to wait long for our luggage to come on the belt. Jessica was getting the passports out of my backpack when I smelled something and asked Jessica if she smelled it too. To confirm my suspicion, I opened the suitcase and the smell hit me even harder. One bottle of wine, from Liechtenstein, had broken. Of course, it's only the red wine bottles that break and this was my luck. We dropped everything and went up to the lost/damaged baggage desk. I also mentioned that the handle had been broken, which had happened well before this trip, but I thought I'd try my luck. The lady asked for identification so I asked Jessica for my passport which she had taken out of my backpack. As luck would have it, she had left them at the luggage belt where we had discovered the broken bottle. Fortunately, the common man is inherently good and someone met her halfway, holding our passports up as if they were playing cards in a hand of poker. I'm anticipating a free piece of luggage. Crises #'s 3 and 4 averted.
I had been given instructions by our host in Amsterdam on where to go with the trains. Feeling sure that we were getting onto the right train, it never stopped at the station that we needed to get off at. Instead, it took us directly into Amsterdam Centraal Station, in the middle of town. Making contact with our host, we took a tram to where she eventually met us. Crisis #5 averted.
So finally we are in Amsterdam. But before we can go anywhere, laundry with the smell and color of red wine needs to be done. Fortunately Sarah had the equivalent of OxiClean and after a little while of soaking the whites were whiter and the colors were brighter. Crisis #3.1 averted.
And finally, after a much needed nap, we head into Amsterdam. Unfortunately for you, the reader, I took no Amsterdamian pictures so you'll have to listen/read my words.
Sarah had given us directions to the "Singelkerk", a hidden Mennonite church in Amsterdam. A hidden church means only that the church was not visible from the street, not that they necessarily had to hide their worship. We came unannounced and the caretaker was happy to drop everything and show us around. I think he likes visitors. I remember visiting here on choir tour in 2006 and I was glad to revisit, this time to pay attention to what was being said.
We then walked through the main shopping district and arrived at a recommended french fry stand called "Mannekin Pis". Their logo is just that. The fries don't taste anything like that. We had ours squirted with cheddar cheese and they were fantastic. We walked through the old town and decided to find a park bench to sit on for the afternoon and then we headed back to Sarah's place for a wonderful meal of enchiladas.
The next day (we're on Tuesday now), Jessica awoke with backache which was very similar to the one that put me out of commission for a few days at the end of May. This meant we slept until noon and luckily that was also when the rain decided to quit. She took some ibuprofen and we headed out for the day. In Amsterdam again, we went to the Van Gogh Museum which is near Vondelpaark. After that, we walked through the Blumenmarkt (Flower Market) and eventually found the tram for the ride back to Sarah's. We saw a bit of Amsterdam but we were exhausted from our times in Munich and Prague and that showed with how touristy we were.
Wednesday was the day we decided not to talk about for that was the day we were parting ways - she to America and me back to Switzerland. I double checked my flight the night before, so I knew that I was correct. Jessica was too. Our flights were both in the same terminal but my flight left an hour before hers did, so she took me to my gate and that was where we said goodbye after a wonderful six days together.
I flew British Airways to London and was to switch planes there and board one bound for Zurich. To make this story better, BA wanted me to find my way through the infamous Terminal 5 at London Heathrow. Let it be known now, Terminal 5 can rest in the shallow places where the likes of NASCAR, Britney Spears, MTV, rap music, and Czech Baggage Handlers reside. Luckily I had 3 hours between my flights to do everything. For some reason, they make you go security again even when transferring from one flight to another. Why? You don't leave a secure area, ever! This means anyone boarding a flight in London, as well as the transferees, must go through the same security. It was routine to let people who had sooner connections through the line.
Avoid this terminal at all costs:
Finally, after a well deserved British Ale, I was seated at my gate. As I was sitting down and settling, I saw a beast take off. The beast was one of the new Airbus A380's departing departing the runway. Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera until it was well away, but here's what I came up with.
The A321 we boarded was only filled with 25% capacity. Soon after we took our seats, a PA announcement came over the speakers and told us that while we had one pilot, the plane needed two to make the flight. Where could we find a pilot, hmm? Well, I knew of two others on that plane - myself and the guy next to me was a pilot for NetJets (a fractional ownership company). Instead of asking if there were any pilots on board, we waited and took off an hour and a half late with another BA pilot. I was beginning to question whether or not I would make it back to Zurich in time to make the connections I needed to make the 19:35 bus...the last bus of the night. I was pondering this question as the Swiss Alps became larger on the horizon.
I deplaned for the second time that day and quickly found the baggage carousel and snagged my backpack. I hurried toward the rail lines and found that the last train I could use was leaving in 4 minutes. As soon as I got my ticket, I sprinted down the escalator and there was the train that I climbed aboard and made it to Wattwil just in time for the last bus. Crisis #6 averted.
Congratulations,
Jon
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