This post should have been up yesterday. But it wasn’t.

And I have a very good reason. Wait until you hear what I did yesterday!

 

 

 

 

I did nothing.

I know, right??

 

And that’s not a lie, or some over-exaggeration.

I slept until 16:15.

 

Now you’re probably exasperated.

Time for the post!

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Tuesday morning at 5:30am saw me, Niamh and Hazel getting on a train, heading out to Munich! Germany for real this time!!

It was pretty early, and some of us were more tired than others..

After 2 trains and 5 hours, we made it to Munich. The trainstation is huge, and a little confusing, but we eventually made it out. We walked about 1 block to our youth hostel, where we checked in and dropped off our backpacks.

The cheapest place we could find was this youth hostel, and you stayed in a 40 person dorm. Iit wasn’t that bad – but more on that later.

After the short pit stop, we went back to the trainstation to buy tickets to Füssen, Germany. Iit was a little stressful because we wanted to buy a special day pass that cost the same as a 1-way ticket to Füssen, and we could use it for all 3 of us all day – talk about savings!!

With 5 minutes to spare we got our pass and got on the train! We ended up taking 2 trains and 2 hours to get to Füssen, but the fun doesn’t stop there! We then took a bus us the mountain to a visitor’s center.

By the time we reached the end of the road to the center, it was almost 13:30, meaning we had been travelling for almost 7 hours that day. But we finally made it!

To Neuschwanstein Castle.

That probably means nothing to you. Let me explain.

Neuschwanstein Castle is this beautiful castle tucked up in a mountain, overlooking a beautiful valley with a big lake and small town.

You’re probably thinking “Yes, that sounds nice, but not worth all the effort.”

WEEELLLLLL

This castle is also known as “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle”. Years and years ago Walt Disney saw this picturesc castle and loved it so much that it was the inspiration for the Disney Castle logo that you see at the beginning of Disney movies – you know, the one with the shooting star that arcs over the top?

This is THAT castle.

So how could we not go??!?

We were also not the only ones there. As with everywhere we go it seems, there were more than enough Asian tourists to keep us company.

 

After a short lunch we made our way up the mountain from the touristy part at the bottom  to the actual castle for our tour.

One of the really nice things about this castle that makes it different is that it wasn’t built for defense purposes. Most of the castles we have seen thus far have been fortresses, built to protect a king or as a way of defense. This castle was built as a home, designed to be beautiful and impressive. It’s location and materials make it safe and defensable, so it can afford to beautiful. And it is!!!

I don’t have a full shot of it because its too big, and I wasn’t able to ride a helicopter or scale a neighbouring mountain to take a picture, so here’s one from the internet.

 

It is MASSIVE! And such an impressive project to undertake, especially in that time!

Here’s some pictures from the outside. We took a tour inside, but you weren’t allowed to take pictures. And I’m sure you’ll guess that the sneaky photo club will be at work, but this castle came with armed guards in every room and outside as well. So we decided it was best not to mess with them. I did take about 3 pictures, but they aren’t really worth mentioning.

 

The weather wasn’t awesome, but it cleared after our tour so it was nice to ake some pictures and walk back down the mountain without getting soaked.

Around this area is another castle called Hohenschwangau Castle, but because we didn’t get there until later in the afternoon, we weren’t able to visit it. Neuschwanstein was our focus, so it was okay.

 

We had to take the bus and 2 trains back to Munich and got into the station late. We grabbed a quick dinner, and stayed up playing cards in the hostel for a while so we could charge our phones.

One super annoying thing about this hostel was that there weren’t any outlets at your bed to plug your phone in. There were some outside of the “bed block” by the lockers, but you would have to sit next to it on the floor and that’s annoying. There weren’t even that many outlets in the common room either – there was 1 main one that had a power plugged into it so that more people could use it. So there were maybe 8 people all sitting around this cord to charge their devices.

So we sat around and played cards while my phone charged, because my phone had the map of Munich and the places we wanted to visit. It also had the train schedule for the next day, and it is our selfie phone, so I really needed it charged.

Eventually we had to go to bed in our 40 person dorm room. It was actually 1 room, but it was divided into smaller side rooms with 10 beds per room. All the offshoots were open though, so you could walk past and see everyone. There were also lockers in the hallway where you could store your stuff. There were windows into a coutyard, and across the courtyard was another 40 person room. There was a girl’s shower room, a boy’s shower room, and shared toilets.

It was 20euros a night, which is one of the most expensive places we’ve stayed at, and we had to share with 37 other people in our room but it was okay. Surprisingly I slept pretty good, and wasn’t really bothered by other people much. I just had a hard time getting comfortable at the beginning, but then I slept fine.

We got up the next morning and charged our devices until they were full, and set out into Munich for the day.

Realistically, Munich is a day-trip. There are some museums you can visit, and there are some side trips you can do to places outside the city, but if you jsut want to go and SEE Munich, 1 day is enough.

Because we weren’t in a rush, we wandered around for most of the day. Everything worth seeing, except for maybe a couple sights, are all right in the middle of the city, and all close to eachother. And we were staying about 3 blocks from the center, so it was easy for us.

It is worth noting that Munich LOVES it’s fountains!! There are SO MANY FOUNTAINS!! If there was ever a drought in southern Germany, you know where the water is going!!

 

Munich was very laid back for us. Because we had lots of time and everything was so close, we could afford to spend time wandering around, or sitting by a fountain and eat an ice cream. We actually ended up going back to the hostel about an hour before our train and plugged in our phones and played some cards before we went to the trainstation.

We got Burger King for dinner, and got free crowns too.

 

You will understand my miserable face shortly.

 

So our train from Munich was supposed to go through a place called Plattling, where we would get off and have 7 minutes (which is pretty standard) to get our connection to Passau. From Passau we would get a train to Linz, and then to Steyr. So 3 trains in total.

Our train from Munich spent a lot of time sitting outside the station and NOT MOVING. It was one of the most frustrating things EVER! And it had happened before! Our train to Munich was also delayed about 10 minutes because it jsut sat on the tracks in the middle of no where, and our first train from Fussen was also delayed about 20 minutes.

So we ended up getting to Plattling 30 minutes later than we were supposed to, so we obviously missed out connection to Passau. BUT we thought “it’ll be okay, we’ll go to the ticket office, explain the situation, and hopefully be able to catch the next train to Passau without having to pay for a new ticket.

Well the ticket office wasn’t open.

Now I’m concerned.

We were worried that our tickets wouldn’t be valid because we bought them for a certain train time, and sometimes train tickets are tricky and can’t be transferrable or things like this. So we were worried we would have to buy a new ticket. But the ticket to Passau was 12,20 euros!! That’s almost half the cost of our tickets that we bought all the way to Steyr!! But there was no one to ask if our current tickets would work for us!

So we had to wait about 40 minutes for the next train to Passau, and decided we would just try and see if we could make it to Passau without incident. Thankfully no one checked our tickets, so we made it okay.

Next problem: Getting from Passau to home.

I already felt much better that we had made it to Passau – Passau is basically Austria, and so there was an OBB ticket machine, meaning that our student discount cards were valid and would give us 50% off our tickets, unlike the DB (German train company) machines.

So we got to Passau and checked what time the next train to Linz was.

The next train was at 4:08am. The next morning.

It was about 22:00.

 

I think I teared up a little.

 

We were stuck in Passau until the next morning – the only trains going from Passau elsewhere was farther into northern Germany, which would OBVIOUSLY BE NO HELP.

That, believe it or not, was only our 1st problem.

2nd problem – the hostels were WICKED expensive. And there weren’t very many of them. So to stay the night would be really expensive and really annoying, plus there was no guarentee there would be room for us.

So as a group, we decided we would sit at the trainstation for the next 6 hours and use the wifi and watch movies on Netflix or whatever and we would be fine. We felt safe because there were Police and security guards patrolling the station. There is usually security in the trainstations, and especially in the evening – they check the night trains especially. So we knew if we just sat quietly and didn’t bother anyone, we wouldn’t have to worry.

3rd problem – our friend from Munich.

I’m sure we have all taken a bus or train in a city before, and usually there is always a crazy person on board. They usually seem to have some kind of disability, or perhaps they are homeless, but they make you a little nervous.

There was a lady like that. She was sitting close to us on the train from Munich, but she seemed normal. She also needed the train to Linz, but missed it jsut like we did. So this made her very upset. She kept wandering around the Passau trainstation muttering (and sometimes yelling) as if she was talking to someone, even though no one was there. It also sounded like she wasn’t speaking German, but some slovak language. She would wander outside, and you could hear her screaming on the platform.

Everyone else in the station were concerned about her – we weren’t the only ones in the station, thank goodness. And pretty quick some Policemen showed up and escorted her out, which was also a relief.

4th problem came later on. We were sitting in the station building when a security guard came in and told us that the building was closing and we had to leave.

I was afraid this would happen. The building didn’t stay open all night, only until midnight, so we couldn’t stay inside. We were allowed to sit on the platforms outside though, so we were still technically in the station. So that’s what we did – we thought that would be much better than outside on the street with our friend from Munich. Plus, we could see a security guard at all times, and there are cameras and such. So we sat on benches outside the building on the platform where our train would depart from a few hours later.

So there we were, tired and cold, sitting on benches in a deserted trainstation at 12:30 in the morning.

Definitely not ideal.

Trains still came and went, so we still saw other people. And there were staff and other people cleaning train compartments and the station, so we weren’t by ourselves.

 

The security guards seemed a little suspicious that we were up to no good, and so they kind of hovered around our general area, which didn’t bother me – I was glad they were around.

We spent our time with such riviting games as “I Spy”, “20 Questions”, and a story telling game where each of you says one word and you keep going to make sentences. Real gripping stuff.

Because the station didn’t have Wifi – did I mention that part?

It got cold as the night wore on. Niamh ended up putting on all the clothes she brought with her, and Hazel put on extra sweaters too. I was fine – my Canadian blood served me well!

We could have moved into the connecting tunnels between the platforms underground, where it would probably be warmer, but we were worried it would make us look suspicious to the security, so we decided to stay out in the open where they could see us. Plus then we would have to sit on the concrete floor, and the benches seemed like a more comfortable option.

Another eventful thing that happened was there was a night train that came through, and we watched the Police go through the train with flashlights to check the train’s compartments and the passenger’s passports. We assumed the were checking for squatters, or for things out of the ordinary – it was a train at 2am, so maybe someone was up to no good?

They pulled what we thought were refugees off the train and kept them on the platform when the train left. Then they called EMS or the Red Cross and they came and checked on the women and children, and then they Policemen and Meds walked them off the platform and away, so we don’t know what happened. During this whole process we tried to avoid watching just in case we weren’t supposed to see something.

We all kind of tried to doze, with very limited success. We were on edge because the station would open at 4:00, and our train left at 4:08, which meant we had 8 minutes to run in and buy our tickets and make our train before it left. I was worried the guard would be late to open the doors and then everything would fall apart.

We all huddled until morning when the guard came on time and we got our tickets and got our train!! YAYYY!!!!!!!

 

The train was about 1,5 hours to Linz, so Niamh and Hazel fell asleep and I dozed – because one of us had to keep awake just incase!

We made it to Linz without incident, and had to wait about 40 minutes for a train that would go through Steyr. This train ended up being full of school students on their way to school for the day. Their energy and noise drove me crazy.

We FINALLY made it to Steyr, and I landed in bed around 7:30.

And that’s why I slept until 16:00.

 

I actually did set an alarm for noon, because I had scheduled to meet up with a friend at 14:00, but I woke up and promtly turned the alarm off and went back to sleep, sleeping right through my appointment with my friend!!!

I woke up at 16:14 in a panic to messages from her asking where I was.

I felt horrible. For several reasons.

I missedher and made her wait with no explanation.

And I felt discusting and in desperate need of a shower.

I messaged my friend immediately and apologized. Thankfully she understood, and she lived close to me, so it wasn’t a big deal. She came over and I told her the story and we ate strawberry cake I had bought earlier in the week, and chatted.

Her name is Dilla, and she is from Kazakhstan. She is a wonderful, lovely, and kind person who I am so glad to know and will miss very much!!

She also reads my blog and tells me about it all the time 🙂 (Hallo Shatze!)

 

After Dilla left I watched youtube videos all evening and then went to bed.

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So that’s why my post is late. Sorry.

 

And I bet my parents are very concerned about my actions. Know that I only did what I felt safe and comfortable doing, and it sounds bad, but it could have been much worse. My brothers were serving missions at this age – yes, I’m that old now. Think of the mischeif they got into. See, I’m not so bad!

It really wasn’t that bad. The 4 hours outside passed reasonably quickly, and I never felt unsafe. I am glad we made it to Passau though, because Plattling was a tiny little station, and spending all night there would not have been as comfortable. And Passau (as I’ve said many times) is pretty much Austria. And being in Austria always feels better than being abroad. There’s security in knowning that you’re at home, even though you aren’t physically. Bein an Austrian citizen also has perks, should something happen.

And I am here, alive and well.

Although it is good that this is my last trip for a while – it was exhausting.

And honestly, I was surprised it happened at all. I thought that of anyone, Germany would have the best train system, and wouldn’t have these problems. But 4/5 of our trains were delayed for various amounts of time.

That would never happen in Austria.

All my Austrian friends would be so proud to hear me say this: Austria is better than Germany!

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This experience has definitely soured me on travelling to Germany in the near future. Whenever possible, don’t rely on their trains, and try to have longer connections to accomodate the delayed trains. That’s my advice.

 

This time in 2 weeks I will be in Italy!!!!!!! The long awaited trip is almost here! Our trip will be 6 days, and take us to Venice, Burano, Verona, Florence, and maybe Pisa.

I’ll come home with no money and no sleep. I’m sure my parents will LOOOOOVE that…..

 

The next week and a half will be cram study time and packing and cleaning time!! I’ve booked myself so tight that I come back from Italy and then leave for Vienna the next day!! So I have to be packed and my flat has to be cleaned before I leave for Venice. So much to do!!

I hope everyone at home is okay with the fact that the only souvineirs I’ll probably be bring back is sweets – but really yummy sweets, I promise 😀

 

See ya, Love ya, BYE!

emma.k

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I’m just going to add these pictures in at the end because I think they are hilarious.

It seems like every trip we go on together, me and Ireland have an inside joke or gimick that is special for that trip.

This trip’s theme was “behind-the-scene” pictures. Enjoy!