So it begins

On to Germany

Published Date : October 9, 2000

Time flies.  I’m currently sitting on the floor at Victoria Station in London waiting for my bus to Frankfurt.  I was up at 07:30 this morning to catch the 08:00 bus to Windermere.  From there I caught a train to London, arriving about 14:30.

With 8 hours to kill before my bus, I did some shopping (I bought the new MI2 soundtrack on CD), caught a movie, snacked, and now I sit in the bus station playing endless games of solitaire.

The weather is miserable, but I’m enjoying being back in London.  I don’t think I would want to live here, but it’s definitely a fabulous place to visit.

I’m a bit nervous about my impending trip what with having no place to stay and all.  Everywhere in Munich is fully booked because of Oktoberfest.  I still don’t know exactly what I’m going to do either.  I still haven’t heard back from Natalia, so I can either stay in Frankfurt or head on to Munich.  At the moment I’m leaning towards Munich.  I’ll get into Frankfurt tomorrow afternoon, so I can do a bit of sightseeing and try for an overnight bus to Munich.  That will get me there on Wednesday, and if I can’t find a room then I’ll only have two nights to worry about.  Friday I’ll head back to Frankfurt and spend all day Saturday there before catching the bus back to London.  Fingers crossed that I’ll find a room, because I’m really not too interested in sleeping in a train station.

We’ll see how things go once I get to Frankfurt tomorrow.  I’m not particularly looking forward to 14 hours on a bus, but the price was right.

As for future travels, I’ve decided that if I am accepted into one of the BCIT programs that I’m currently wait-listed for then I’ll go home.  If not, I’ll re-apply for next year and keep travelling while I wait.  I’ll stay in the UK until summer then head to Australia for a year.  At this point I’m kinda hoping I don’t get accepted just so that I can keep travelling!

Of Camping and Kirches

Published Date : October 11, 2000

Glockenspiel

We took the ferry across the channel last night, driving through Belgium and into Germany, arriving at Frankfurt as scheduled yesterday afternoon.  The trip was long and uncomfortable.  From Frankfurt I caught the first train to Munich.

As expected, there were no rooms anywhere.  I was directed to Thalkirchen Campground and after eventually deciphering the metro system, made my way there for the night.  They had no rental tents left, so I planned to use my poncho as a shelter.  That was fine until about 1am when it got really cold.  I ended up spending the night in the heated bathroom.  Aside from the painfully hard floor, it actually wasn’t too bad a night.

Today, my first stop was the zoo.  It’s almost right next door to the campground, so I figured why not?  From there I jumped on the metro back into town and made my way to Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel do its thing.  It’s hard to believe that I was just here with Contiki a little more than a year ago.  This time, at least I remembered my camera!!

Karlstor, Munich

Referring to my trusty Lonely Planet Guide to Europe, I did a self-guided walking tour that took me past Frauenkirche, Michaelskirche, the Richard Strauss Fountain (which was under scaffolding) before end up at Karlstor.

After lunch (I caved and went to McDonalds) I decided to check out Deutches Museum.  It would have been a better visit if I hadn’t been hauling my pack with me, but it was worth the visit.  Next stop was the train station…er Hauptbanhof…where I discovered they don’t do overnight trains or buses to Frankfurt, so that means it’s two more nights on the bathroom floor until my train at 09:33 on Friday morning.

Which brings us to now.  It’s 17:45, cloudy and threatening to rain, and cold too.  I’m back at Marienplatz killing time before heading back to the campground.  I don’t really want to get back Thalkirchen too early because the only thing I can do there is sleep.

Oktoberfest??

Published Date : October 13, 2000

Where Oktoberfest would have been…

Research, research, research!  The golden rule of travelling.  I had been told that the best way to enjoy Oktoberfest is to arrive early, find a seat, and don’t leave it!  I was at the grounds by noon, but there was nothing going on.  Thinking I was just too early, I wandered around town for a couple of hours and came back about 3pm.  Still nothing.

Wandering past the empty beer tents, I came across a crumpled poster lying on the ground.  Oktoberfest is apparently held in September, not October.  It ended last week.  Doh!  Feeling like the idiot I was, I headed back into town for some dinner before returning to the campsite for the night.

Today, I’m back in Frankfurt.  I pulled into town about 13:00 and immediately booked a hotel room at the Best Western near the train station.  It cost 100DM a night including breakfast.  Luxury!

I dumped my gear and had a shower for the first time in a week.  Heaven!  Then I hit the streets.  I wasn’t overly impressed with this city on first arrival from London; however, all I had seen at that point was the area around the Hauptbanhof.  After exploring more of it, I’m happy to revise that opinion.  It’s a relatively small city, but it’s very nice.  There are a lot of pedestrian-only streets and it’s very clean.

Romerberg Platz, Frankfurt

My first stop was Romerberg Platz.  It’s the city’s old central square and has restored 14-15^th century buildings.  There’s also a cathedral there which was the site for coronations of Holy Roman Emperors from 1562-1792.

I checked out a few souvenir shops on my way to Alte Oper Platz and managed to pick up Christmas presents for my parents and grandmother.  The Old Opera House Square was beautiful.  It’s located at the end of a pedestrian-only street and has a large fountain in front with ivy covered benches.

I considered visiting one of the many museums or art galleries in town, but it was already 16:00 and I wasn’t sure what time they closed.  I decided to save them for tomorrow since I have all day until my bus back to London.

I’m not looking forward to sitting on a bus for 14 hours again.  The only positive is that we’re scheduled to arrive in London at 06:00 so I may be able to watch the sunrise on the ferry.  That will be a nice finish to the trip.