Saturday, December 4th
I had a somewhat uneventful Saturday. Unless you count being entertained by your hungover, probably still drunk, and somewhat irritable Irish friend eventful. Then I had a very eventful Saturday! Haha. I kept the poor girl company while she moaned and groaned about the previous nights imbibing. We both had the hots for cheeseburgers so we found a new restaurant and ventured in that direction and were delighted to find that it was worth every penny. And the restaurant itself was really cool, great design!
After lunch, Fio returned home to sleep off the rest of her hangover and I attempted to enjoy the Christkindlmarkt but I found that it was not fun and would definitely not be enjoyed. There were a million people walking in every which direction, pushing and being touristy and rude. I wasn’t down for that – I hate crowds – and so I just got on the train and went home. The markets will be better enjoyed on Wednesday mornings. I was supposed to meet up with Jessica this day to make snowmen in the English Gardens (cool, I know!) but the girl is ridiculous when it comes to making plans and getting in contact with her. Haha. To make matters worse, she lost her phone and so I couldn’t get a hold of her. Instead of showing up at my house at 12 like we’d planned the night before, she came at 3 pm, while I was across town eating lunch with Fio. Silly Jessica. We tried to meet up with her again but lost her in the hustle and bustle of Marienplatz and that was the end of our attempts. Crazy girl!
Once I arrived home I had a few hours to spare before I had to babysit die kinder but, like always, I didn’t do much with my spare time. I chatted with a new friend, did some blogging (do I really even have any other hobbies?), and watched more Desperate Housewives. (You’d think that I would eventually run out of episodes to watch, wouldn’t you? Good thing there is still an entire season left for me to catch up on.) Around 8 I went downstairs to look after the girls as their parents went out to dinner. We made mini pizzas and stayed up late (for them, anyway) watching old cartoons. They passed out and were asleep by 9:15.
While all of my friends went out on the town again, I stayed in (for work purposes, of course) but it’s always nice to have a good excuse to stay in every once in a while. Money flies - I am horrible at saving (especially when a 44 EUR train ticket and 15 EUR phone credit take up a good chunk of it). When I was back in California, I was working three jobs and had enough money to get by, pay my rent, cover the bills, gas up my Stratus, and still entertain myself. It’s really hard to come down from those habits and I’m learning that the hard way with every pay period.
Sunday, December 5th
Originally I’d planned to go on the Erasmus trip to Nürnberg with Eric and Helen but Helen bailed on me and I figured that Eric could use a little trip without me. Ha. Last time we were attached at the hip - I’ll give the boy some space. Since a few of my friends were planning a trip to the Chiemsee Weihnachtsmarkt on the same day, I decided to go there with them instead and would save Nürnberg for the following weekend. Chiemsee is south of Munich, accessed by the train, and located on a little island. Incredibly quaint and absolutely adorable.
We took the Deutsche Bahn (trains) like we always do when we travel Bavaria and used a Bayern ticket which is 28 EUR for up to 5 people to share. I get to the central station (Hauptbahnhof) and run into Jess and Kymbat just before we met up with the others and was told that I would be able to jump onto someone’s Bayern ticket. But after we meet up with everyone and get on the train, we discover that we have 17 people and 3 tickets – enough for 15 people. So myself and another girl would have to get our own Bayern ticket but pay 14 EUR each for it. Instead of the 5 something EUR paid by everyone else. So that sucked! They didn’t actually check it on the train ride there but we bought the ticket anyway once we arrived in Chiemsee and then had to pay another 9 EUR for the round trip travel ticket for the bus and the ferry out to the island. So there went an unexpected 23 EUR. But then Jess bought me a 3,50 EUR bratwurst mit semmel lunch so I guess I couldn’t complain too much. In the end, we split it up anyway and everyone gave us an extra Euro or two until it was all even.
Our trip to Chiemsee was ultimately a success. I didn’t even know what I was in for, seeing as it was such a last minute trip for me, but it turned out to be a good choice. We went to see one of King Ludwig’s castles (he has so many!), the Herrenchiemsee, and to get there we had to take a hike on this little wooded path and it was so pretty and serene. Jessica and I made it even more fun by using the soles of our shoes as ice skates until I fell on my ass on the cold, hard snow packed ground. But it was funny and I didn’t land on my camera so all is well! When we got to the castle we immediately started a giant snowball fight which was fun because I’ve been wanting to do it since it started snowing. I definitely lost but we got the boys a few good ones, don’t worry!
The island that this castle is located on is different from the island where the Weihnachtmarkt is located. That’s because the two islands are meant for men - “herren” or gentleman’s island – and women - “frauen” or the lady’s island. There is also a nunnery on the lady’s island and the markets are known as the Frauenchiemsee Christkindlmarkts. Interesting little fact for you about the Chiemsee islands. :)
While at the Weihnachtmarkts (aka Christkindlmarkt) we drank the customary mulled wine (aka glühwein), ate pommes frites (which were surprisingly, hard to find), spent at least 10 minutes every half an hour trying to get our group together, took a million and a half pictures, and enjoyed new friends, warm clothes, and good German culture.
(Thanks, Ana for the picture!)
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1 comments:
I love the picture of you by the pier! :) And the one of the pier at sunset. Beautiful!
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