Tuesday, January 20th

Today begins with my fighting off mild exhaustion as I enter this week having enjoyed a truly whirlwind weekend adventure. I packed all three days of the short break full of tourist activities, spending time in Munich, Salzburg Austria, and Füssen. I spent a good deal of time on the train to make it to these locations and therefore was able to watch the scenery and read some. I have the traveling by train thing down pat now and find myself enjoying the relaxing time spent riding throughout the country.

Munich was my destination Saturday, leaving early that morning for the 3 1/2 hour train ride, hoping to maximize my time there. I arrived mid-morning and found the hostel first thing. Checkout at the hostel was at 10:00, and I made it there shortly after that, and was able to check in. I moved my things in, putting my backpack in the locker provided to me, and then hit the town. I first went to Munich’s St. Paul cathedral, then to the paved area where Octoberfest takes place, a very large stretch of concrete, the size of a large park in fact, and saw the monument there. I then walked to the Fußgängerzone (pedestrian zone), where the Glockenspiel was along with the majority of the shopping areas. The Fußgängerzone has been my favorite location in every city I’ve been and Munich is no exception. The area was very crowded, living up to the big city it is, with all stores being very busy, making it very evident I was in a metropolis. While I don’t mind big cities, I was content to spend just one day there and move on. I must say though, I believe my favorite part of my visit was wandering to the ice rink, lit up with neon lights, techno-pop music, and people watching as young and old alike struggled to learn to skate as others skated in circles around them. Without a doubt it was the best people watching I’ve done this whole trip.

I headed to Salzburg around 8:00 AM the next morning, eating a quick breakfast at the hostel and catching the EC train, arriving in Salzburg, Austria around 10:30 AM. Again, I located the hostel first, then did a little sightseeing. I could not check in at the hostel until after one, which came as no surprise, and so as I did some sightseeing. I was very thankful I packed lightly, my backpack causing no pain as I walked around the Fußgängerzone for a few hours. I found the local, well known cemetery and catacombs, wandering into them by sheer luck. While there is one person buried inside the “catacombs,” the area is technically not a catacomb, more of a single grave with two chapel/worship areas carved into the mountain. The area actually went a good deal up the mountain and was very interesting to walk through. I then went into both of the cathedrals in the pedestrian zone and got my souvenir shopping done early, so as to not buy anything else during my visit, which was of course quite easy seeing as all of the shops are closed on Sundays (although a few opened up around 4:00 PM, I’m still not sure as to why). I had a late lunch at a quaint cafe, enjoying their winter special vegetable soup, bread, and a hot chocolate with Rum. Very enjoyable. I then checked into the hostel, quickly moved my things in, then walked to the other side of the river, taking in the other half of the city, including Mozart's famous abode, and other famous buildings around the area. The architecture was stunning and despite the size of the city, it had a small town feel to it. It was quite in the evening, and there was little to do after dark, so I hit the hay early, with a 4:30 AM wake-up call the next morning.

That next morning I headed back to Munich, stopping just at the main rail station to catch a train to Füssen. It was quite the lengthy ride, simply because the train stops at every small town between Munich and it’s final destination: Füssen. The town was quaint, and everyone out and about seemed to know one another. I took in some of the sights in town and had planned to head to the castle in a nearby town, the castle in which Cinderella’s castle was designed after. Unfortunately, the weather deterred me from doing so, as the slush and rain that begin to poor from the clouds made the afternoon quite miserable. So, feeling as if I had seen a great deal and enjoyed myself as much as possible without soaking through my jackets, I headed back home, taking the lengthy train ride back to Landstuhl.

Well, while I could go on and on with all I saw and enjoyed I think I will stop there as the students are asking when I will come and play with them, so the clarinet beckons. I hope to provide more details about my wonderful weekend later, but we’ll leave it at this for now. Thanks for reading.

~Katie