Our adventures in Wien and Munchen....

Its been a while hasnt it, since I left you with us jumping off trains in Prague. And now, here we are, having gone through Vienna and finishing Munich. Its crazy how fast these cities go.

 

.Vienna.

Well I always say that I love Austria, and I still do, but we sure did get rained out. The first day we experienced some pretty schizophrenic rain. We went to these beautiful gardens and the weather just couldnt decide how it wanted to go. There was sun, rain, then torrential downpour. Hail and everything. But nevertheless, we enjoyed the Royal Gardens. Brenda and I are both shocked at our love of gardens. Who would have thought we would come to Europe and look at Gardens...but these my friends are beautiful gardens. LIke small theme parks. And dont we all love a good theme park. In fact, on this trip we have been accused of being 'typical North AMericans who treat Europe like a theme park'. I tried to deny it, but its true, I love getting the passport stamped, when the man comes through the train. THen Brenda and I peer at the passport pleased at our new stamp. We are theme parkers through and through. And I am okay with it. Small tangent, but the point was, the gardens were beautiful.

In Vienna, we also took in a music event, which I am going to leave for telling in person, because you cant know all the stories through the blog. We also went on a random 'underground tour' which Brenda thought would be a good idea. We saw a lot of bones and preserved bodies. Very creepy. 

All in all, Vienna was enjoyable but we returned our hostel both days very very wet. Climbing uphill to the hostel in the rain is never a good time. But we are Europe, so I will stop complaining. We were in Austria after all. And we did have a great hostel mate, Stephanie, who became our friend and came around with us. She was in Austria to teach German, so she could actually speak to the locals which was wonderful. Particularly on the day we went for Wiener Schnitzel (no, this is not a hot dog, go look it up). Best meal so far. Loved it. 

 

.Munich.

I think a love affair may be starting with Munich. I love this city. I dont know if it is our amazing hostel (three cheers for Wombats with an indoor garden, a private bathroom, wonderful amenties and nice rooms), the amazing location our hostel (in the city centre), or the city itself, but I am loving it here despite the rain. We went on a great tour with the hostel yesterday, in which a man took us around in the city in lederhosen (how do you even spell that word?). He was a wonderful, silly, Canadian, black man. (yes its true). So people stared at him a lot which was pretty funny. He was so informative and showed us so many great spots. At the end of the tour, I loved the city. Now that is a good tour guide.

The environment of Munich is great. Being the capital of Bavaria, it has a very traditional feel. The stores actually sell Lederhosen and people buy them. Today I saw a man finding his size. They are also staunch Catholics which is interesting considering it is the beer captial of the world. Brenda and I have enjoyed being out in this city where people are willing to meet us and have us join in.

More on Munich later...this silly 'easy internet cost' is killing me. Tommorow, internet is hopefully free as we join Karlin and Charles for a very nice break in Basel, Switzerland.

 

Continue to keep us in your thoughts, prayers, and emails....hehe. But no seriously, send some our way, its nice to hear some words from home, no matter what they are.