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I've been home a couple of days now but I can still remember my last full day in Munich and the following day of travel back to England.
I wanted to go check out the Deutsches Museum which is located on an island in the middle of a river that runs through Munich. This museum is famous for being one of the largest in the world and it showcases as many different types of inventions made by men throughout the whole history of humans. From oil extraction to photography, to ships to space rockets, to paper to airplanes. You name it, they had it. It took me a while to explore all six floors but was quite interesting with the highlights being the mining section where I was alone in the tunnels below the museum they had created to show the history of mining.
After this I went to check out the Englischer Gardens in Munich. This park, that is twice the size of Central Park in New York, is famous for it's beer gardens. On the way, the rough river that I saw earlier at the museum, had created some streams and here some surfers had decided to ride the wave. Good fun watching them and I got some cool photos.
I headed into the gardens which has huge fields with paths for pedestrians and cyclists curving in and around the grassy areas. A map was essential for finding the beer gardens and fortunately they were available in abundance. There are four beer gardens in the park, each with a different vibe and atmosphere to suit the customers wants. I only had time to check out two of them and they were, in fact, the only ones I could find anyway. The first was Chinesischer Turm. Here, if I remember right, I savoured a Munchen HB brand of beer. Very good. Beer mat was mine. The beer stein would have been too if I could fit it into my backpack!
I then wondered over to the north of the gardens where I knew there was a large lake with a beer garden perched on the side. Apparently this garden is more expensive and is known for attracting a German celebrity or two. I didn't see any, but I don't know any German celebs anyway! Here I enjoyed the popular Paulaner type of beer, also very good. Another type I came across commonly in Munich was a type called Augustiner. All three types are so much better than anything you can get in England, and I mean SO much better. I can't pick a favourite out of them three, I'd need to taste each one another time - what an excuse to go back!
This garden was beautiful as the sun was out, I sat right by the lake - watching the world go by, reading my kindle, listening to music, watching the wildlife on the lake. Felt so relaxed and and was savouring every moment of my last full day of real freedom.
After the best piss of my life I headed back to grab an early dinner before the Bayern Munich Champions League game vs Real Madrid kicked off. I checked out a restraunt that some hostel room mates had recommended. Had a nice meal that sobered me up and for the first time I didn't have a beer with my meal - believe it or not, the lingering taste in my mouth was disgusting!
I then headed to a pub near the central square of Munich to resume my beer drinking (Paulaner) and watch the game. The home side won 2-1, grabbing a late winner, that lifted the roof off the pub. A great experience! I met a guy here from Cologne who bought me a typical German shot - himbeergeist (raspberry spirit).
I then went back to the Wombat's Hostel and met my new room mates for the night. An Australian couple (about 30 yrs old). Possibly that night I had the best hostel room mates of my whole trip. The two Singaporeans, the Japanese and the Australians. Then possibly, the most craziest, unprobable event happened that eclipsed anything else out of the two and half weeks. The female half of the Australians had previously spent 3 years living in England and London - we talked about the nightlife. I asked if she had ever been to Whirl-y-Gig, expecting a "a whirly what?!?". Instead I got, "Yeah! Do they still do the parachute?". Literally that quote, made my trip. She had been once in 1994 and still remembered it well. Unbelievable that I found someone else who had been, considering it's quite an unknown, small and unique club. More unbelievable was that it was on the last night. A fitting way to end my stay in hostels.
The next day I had the morning to explore so I did what I love doing best and just walked around. Stumbled across a nice cathedral, in which a lot of people seemed to be praying and grieving - so I respected them and left quick. I came across the Royal Palace and a nice monument before grabbing a sausage with something I don't know what it was and a final German beer.
I headed off to the airport to catch my 5:20 flight to Gatwick. Everything was simple and the plane left on time. When I arrived in Gatwick, again on time at 6:10, I was relieved as I was still good to get to Stamford Bridge for the Chelsea vs Barcelona game on time. I then hit passport control, and a mob of thousands of other people trying to get into the UK.
Fun? No.
More stressed than I had ever been on my trip I eventually made it through. Got my ticket and dropped my bag off with dad and got to West Brompton station at around 7:39. Ran the good mile or two from the station to the stadium and missed only the first minute! Chelsea won 1-0.
Brilliant couple of days, some of the best!
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