Another early start, we were up at 4:30 for a 5:30 taxi to take us to the airport. Laura, Gary, Greg, and myself all piled into the car for the ride to the airport, not really saying much. We would have rather slept at this point. We flew to Amsterdam and immediately took a tram to our Houseboat to drop off the luggage. We were all a bit hungry and tired and cranky from it being so rainy and wet. Oh well. We decided we would just find a spot for lunch. Laura had a hankering for pizza so we found a nice Italian place right near Bloemenmarkt to enjoy some pizza and beer. We were looking forward to getting a shower and nap back at the houseboat but it wasn't quite ready for us. So we walked down Bloemenmarkt where I purchased some wooden tulips and then waited for our houseboat to be ready. The houseboat was really nice, much bigger than we were originally supposed to get. We all took naps and showers so we could be refreshed and awake for the rest of the day.
Part of our houseboat:
Laura and Gary really enjoyed the rain:
Once ready we were off for some relaxing time by starting at Wijnand Fockink, the jenever tasting room that Greg and I found last time in Amsterdam that we enjoyed. After we each had a couple jenever/brandy drinks with beer chasers it was off to the Bulldog for yet another drink and to just chill. We had dinner reservations at 8 pm at the Sea Palace but we still had some time to kill so we popped into a Belgium Bar (translation is The 11th Commandment) for yet another drink. The owner/bartender was very friendly, and this ended up being Gary's favorite bar, surprisingly. It was time for our reservation. We stuffed our faces and our bellies full of so much wonderful Chinese food (but not as bad as last time). We had a blast but needed to walk off some of our dinner. We ended up stopping in at Cafe de Stoof bar after walking around the Red Light district for another drink. We decided now that we were ready to head back to the houseboat. We sat out on the deck on the canal for a bit before going inside to play a round of cards.
Enjoying our jenever at Wijnand Fockink:
Monday, July 21, 2008
Greg, Laura, and I got up to go out to breakfast while Gary slept in a bit. Laura & I enjoyed an authentic duch toastie at Cafe Doelen. We went back and picked Gary up and headed to Rijksmuseum. This was a great museum, not so big that you get overwhelmed. We spend a couple hours there before heading back to town center. I have to point out that at this time it has been pouring down rain and very very windy. Gary and Laura collect Hard Rock Cafe shot glasses so we found the Hard Rock, bought some umbrellas at a store next door, and then dropped into an Irish Bar so Greg could get an advertised Murphy's Irish Red. As luck would have it they were out, oh well we got something else. We then had lunch at a pancake shop, The Pancake Corner. Greg and I enjoyd it but I don't think Laura and Gary liked it as much.
We then took the tram to Dam Square for a bit of souveneir shopping before heading back to the houseboat to pick up our luggage. We then took a taxi towards Centraal Station to lay back and enjoy some cafes and bars before catching our train to Munich. We went to Route 99 and Cafe 420 and a couple pubs. We ended up finding a nice, quiet pub to go to for dinner, it ended up being the Crowne Plaza, so it was rather nice. We got our bitterballen, since Amsterdam is one of the few places to get it, and then headed to the train station. We had a drink while we waited and then boarded the overnight train to Munich.
Our train experience was pretty good. We ended up in a 6 person cabin with an older Chinese couple (very odd). They were kind of taking over and pushing up the middle beds on either side so they could sit on the bottom bunks. The four of us opted to head to the food car to sit around, play some cards, talk, and have a few beers. We spent nearly 4 hours in the food car, listening to Laura tell us stories of all the cities that we were going through that she remembered growing up, it was a lot of fun. We did play several rounds of cards as well. We finally decided to head to bed, it was getting late and the food car was closing down. We climbed up to our beds, tried to get comfortable, and made sure to have some head phones in to drown out the snoring of 3 of the bunk mates.
Greg in our cabin (he is standing on the bottom bunk with his hands on the top bunk):
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
We arrived in Munich around 7:15 am, dropped our luggage off at the hotel, then headed towards Marienplatz to locate some breakfast. As you can imagine it was very quiet around Munich at this time of the morning. We went to Richart for breakfast and then started walking around the sleeping city. We walked by Hofbrauhaus, hard Rock Cafe, and the Residenze before going back to Marientplatz to do a bit of shopping, since it was still cold and rainy. We took our purchases back to the hotel and waited for our rooms to get ready. When we got into our rooms we took another nap and shower and then the two of us headed on out. We went back towards Marienplatz to go to some other shops, I even tried on a few beermaid outfits, though I am not built to their proportions. Greg and I met up with Laura and Gary a bit later at the Hofbrauhaus where we enjoyed some nice, large beers, along with chips, spaetzle, and pretzels. After almost 2 hours we headed out, stopped by Hard Rock Cafe, then went back to the Marienplatz to watch the Glockenspiel do its thing. We then stopped in Augusiner Bierhalle for yet another maas and more pretzels. We then headed back to the hotel so we could check our emails and such and waited out a huge downpour. We headed out for dinner and went to Augustiner Keller, where Greg had a great pork.
Enjoying our first maas at Hofbrauhaus:
Me holding 4 maas at Augustiner, don't know how those bar maids do it:
Dinner at Augustiner Keller:
After dinner Laura as really hankering for a beer so we walked around looking for a decent pub, but no luck. After walking around the blocks around our hotel, the only find was a bunch of strip clubs, including The Dolly Bar located directly below us, where the girls were standing in the window, just like Amsterdam, we just laughed. We did end up finding a place to get a beer......McDonalds. Quite funny actually. They pour the bottled beer directly into a McDonalds paper cup. I felt so classy. It was back to the hotel for the night.
Our McDonalds beers:
Wednesday, 23, 2008
Day 2 in Munich was early for Greg and I. We met up with Laura for breakfast and then went back out on a Cuckoo clock hunt. Laura waited around the hotel for Gary to get up and ready while Greg and I did some shopping. The four of us got back together for a journey out to the Dauchau Concentration Camp. We took the train out but then walked to the actual camp instead of taking the bus. It was a nice walk, the weather was finally decent. There were landmarks and memorials all along the way that we stopped to read. The actual path that we were walking is where the tracks that carried the captured people to the camp. It was quite sad in all reality. We stopped about half way at a small cart to get a pretzel and chips for a snack. We finished our walk to the concentration camp and spent a couple hours there looking around the entire place, including the museum, the memorials, the execution points, furnaces, and on. We took the train back to town and then headed to the Englischer Garten. We walked for a little bit, even seeing where people used to surf, and finally made our way to the Chinese Garten for a great pork schnitzel, pretzel, and beer. It was all very German and what I had always imagined doing.
Twins!!!
One of the many bunk rooms where the people stayed at Dauchau, 3 high and at least 10 long.
The grounds at Dauchau Concentration Camp, where the barracks formerly stood:
We did have a great time sitting around listening to the oompah band and watching all the people, we even ran into the old Chinese couple from our train. We had a good time but it was time to head back to the train station, to catch the bus to the airport. When we got into the airport and went through security, we found out our plane was delayed by nearly 2 1/2 hours. We sat around playing cards and chit-chatting until it was time to go. We were ready to get home but it was so late that we had to pay for a driver to bring us home, as opposed to taking the bus. Oh well, we made it back around 2:30 or so, what a long day.
The Chineser Garten pavilion
The four of us enjoying Munich:
One of the many huge pretzels that I enjoyed in Munich:
Killing time at the Munich airport:
No comments:
Post a Comment