Munich

The train from Bratislava travels through what I have named Bavaustria, and just as the makers of the Sound of Music - which I have never seen - knew, it is really really gorgeous. It makes you feel like you,re in a postcard. Best train journey yet, I think. On arrival we negotiated the S-bahn, unnecessarily, to get to our hostel, then went to meet Alli, Gerard, Brendan and Carl who we had timed our visit with. It was a bit surreal walking along the street in Munich going to get a beer. We went to one of the beer gardens for dinner- a hugely overpriced way of getting genuine Bavarian food and beer - in litres, mind you - but very atmospheric. After soaking it up, Carl and a local fried of his took us out to a very cheesy local bar, where we had a couple of drinks and listened to an inordinate amount of Michael Jackson, as everyone is being forced to do at the moment.

The following day, Sunday, was my birthday! Happy birthday to me. In the morning we all met up again and wandered around Munich, we saw a square I can't remember the name of where Hitler had done a lot of rallies, and book burnings. It was a very strange feeling standing where the Nazi party had gotten started. Leaving that behind, we went to a huge design and modern art museum, which was pretty cool. Then we went to another of the major beer gardens for lunch. This one is in a park, and had a great open atmosphere. I had litre steins of weissbeer, as usual, and a huge plate of ribs. To make my Bavarian experience complete, I was presented with my birthday present - a very swish pair of genuine lederhosen. They are very nice - soft leather and skilled embroidery. Expect to see them at the next Bavarian-themed party that occurs.
After lunch we went to Schloss something or other, the summer palace of the Bavarian monarchy. It's a lovely place, with wings from either side of it spreading in a great circle and containing houses for the king's pet nobles to stay in, at beck and call. The gardens are beautiful as well, and we saw the most amazing hunting lodge - Small and simple, but the rooms where decorated in an incredibly over the top rococco style, with mirrors, gold and silver everywhere. There was also a dutch style kitchen, with the walls and floor covered in hand-painted tiles. We all agreed that being the king of the Bavaria would be ok.
After the palace we walked to an english language cinema to see what was on, and decided to see transformers, thoguh Brendan and Carl bowed out. Before the movie, though, we went to get some dinner at a really cool little underground jazz bar - or it used to be a jazz bar, I'm not sure. Anyway there was good food and unusually good service. After dinner we rushed back up to the cinema, and were as disappointed as Brendan and Carl may have told us we would be. I don't know what Michael Day was thinking, or if he was thinking at all, but seriously. The world would be a better place if this movie had never been made. Terrible.

On Monday morning Margot and I went into the old town of Munich, which isn't really original, as Munich has been a city on the grow for a long time. And it was also bombed quite alot. It's a big shopping district now, basically, although with lots of churches and so on. We climbed to the top of Frauenkirche, which gave a great view - and Margot liked it because the top was enclosed with windows rather than just a railing. Descending again, we went to see the glockenspiel clock on the Neu Rathaus, which is ironically the older Rathaus, as the older one was destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt. We joined a 'free' walking tour (you pay in tips) for a little while, and saw a few interesting things, including an awesome rococco chapel built by these two wealthy brothers who got sick of waiting for a committee to agree to anything about the church they wanted to build. Also our tour guide told us that the Old Rathaus in the town square was were Kristalnacht was declared, which again gave that eerie feeling. Hearing about these things takes on a different shade when you are standing where they happened.
Partway through the tour we bowed out and joined Alli and Gerard, with whom we made our way to the beer garden next to the Chinese tower in the English garden, where we spent most of the rest of the afternoon. This would have had the best atmosphere of all of them, had it not been for the rowdytourist groups, who we were laughing about until they did a round of "Aussie aussie aussie, oi oi oi", and we hid our faces in our steins in embarrassment. It was a nice place to spend the afternoon though, and afterwards we wandered through the cardens, which are huge, and then through the city to a cheap italian place for some dinner. I was a bit the worse for wear though, as I'd gotten quite sunburnt, and sunburn combined with beer does not lead to feelings of happiness. Nevertheless, we went back to Alli and Gerard's room for a bit, then home to bed.

On Tuesday we went to the Residenz - the main palace of the Bavarian monarchy, right in the heart of town. It is absolutely ridiculously huge, and unfortunately is almost a complete reconstruction, as the original was bombed heavily in the 40s. We wandered through the treasure collection, which contained some amazing pieces, as well as lots of boring religious icons and whatnot. Each piece had comprehensive commentary in the audioguide, so we had to skip alot as it got a bit tedious. We walked through the palace aparments as well, which of course are reconstructions, so not as cool as they might be. There are bits and pieces that are original though, and they have done an incredible job of reconstructing the rest. It must cost an absolute fortune. Afterwards we walked through the old town, shared an overpriced dish at a street cafe at which people kept sitting down and ordering pizza only to be told there wasn't any. Take the sign down, people, seriously. After lunch we went to the Neu Pinakothek to try and see some art, but against all prior experience and expectation, this is the one gallery in Europe which is closed on Tuesdays rather than Mondays. After being chatted up by an old lady on the tram, we spent the rest of the day basically relaxing, and had dinner at the train station. Strange, I know, but we'd seen a place serving Thai food and we were having major cravings. Objectively the foodthere wasn't that great, but it hit the spot.

Next stop, Vienna.