We were sobered up by the next morning, that's for sure - so sad to say our goodbyes! We'd only known the guys for a few days but already felt like good mates, and who knows when we'll next see Ehren, Nadine, Brendan, and Sharon! :( It was a wonderful few days and we weren't ready for it to be over. But over it was - and we were on to more lovely times and fun adventures in Munich!
We drove to our hotel in Munich and completely crashed out for a nap (which was merely an extension of the nap that lasted the entire car ride) and only woke up about half an hour before our dinner reservation at Haxnbauer. We had pigs knuckles, potato pancakes, mushrooms in cream sauce, aaaand the best crackling EVER! Yum! Then it was back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
The next morning Q had to head back to the US (such a bummer!) so it was just us gals left to explore the city! We had a massive sleep in, but made up for lost time with a great arvo walking all over the city. We started at the Glockenspiel - the first ever clock with the figurine thingos that spin around - and had crepes while we waited for the hour to tick over.
We made sure to get a pic doing the blockenspiel in front of the Glockenspiel as requested by Russ (who coined the term "blockenspiel" to be awarded to particularly epic blocks of any kind).
The hour turned over aaaand... Fizzah! Nothing happened! We learned later that it only goes at 11, 12, and 5, so we ended up seeing it in action on our last day, very cool!
We spent time in the main square, Marienplatz, had lunch in the slightly creepy but also amazing restaurant below the Glockenspiel, found a few places to go back to that weren't open on Sunday, walked around a magnificent church, and went up in the bell tower for a spectacular view of the city!
We had dinner in the oldest beer house in the city - Han tried the beer despite still feeling slightly queasy after Austria, so worth it! Delish! - and then headed back for an early night's sleep.
We'd all come down with the flu, as had many of the other wedding guests, so we were trying to go easy on ourselves!
The next day we went on a tour of two absolutely stunning castles about an hour outside of Munich, Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, with a stop in between at a lovely little town called Oberammergau.
(The original swan lake!)
(Mum and Luce in Oberammergau)
Both castles were incredible but WOW! Neuschwanstein was truly spectacular! The king who built them, Ludwig II, was a totally extravagant recluse who desperately wished he was living in medieval times and had a strange obsession with Louis XIV. The castle had a very Harry Potter feel and was gorgeous inside, both were, but we weren't allowed to take photos! Pics of the outside - and us looking exhausted - will have to suffice!
We slept the whole way home (we really were wrecked from the jam packed days in Austria) and fell into bed after a quick dinner at the hotel.
The next day was a rainy day, so we had a later start then rugged up and headed back to Marienplatz for some shopping! Luce found overalls and a pair of jeans she's been wanting for ages and Han got her dream khaki jacket (worn the next day, see pics below) that she's been pining after for 2 years, success!
The real triumph, though, was trying on dirndls and lederhosen!!!
No pics of the lederhosen (which we squeezed into about two sizes too small) seemed quite fit to be shared on the blog.. We, uhh, described ourselves as looking like "hookers that no one would pay much for" hahaha SO not a good look! But funny nonetheless - and we are definitely coming back for Oktoberfest one year and buying those dirndls!!
We saw the clock go, carboloaded on yummy pastas and Wiener schnitzel, revisited the outdoor markets, the Viktualienmarkt, that had been closed on Sunday, and grabbed some strawberries and sweets to take back to the hotel with us! What a lovely day!
On our last day we did another tour, this one of Harburg Castle and the Romantic Road! We (lucky for us!) had the same tour guide as last time!! She was so lovely, describing everything as "a dream" or "a paradise" - she totally made the tour! The castle had a very different feel from the others as it's purpose was to be a fortress as well as a palace. We (dorky though it is) were extremely excited because it was exactly what we'd imagined the setting in one of our favourite books to look like! It was like we'd stepped right into that world and we absolutely loved it!
The Romantic Road was beautiful too, a historic road that lead us to the beautiful medieval-style city of Rothenburg.
We had a few hours to explore (and eat) our way around the town, and we did just that!
It was unlike anywhere we'd ever been and we had heaps of fun walking the streets, taking in the view, and eating the pastries!
We hopped back on the bus for the trip back to Munich, drove past the Allianz Arena which was pretty cool, grabbed a quick dinner of fish and chips, then went back to the hotel for our last night in Germany.
We were up early the next morning and at the airport by 9:00 (thanks to a very keen cab driver who took us through all these back streets to make it there in record time) and we made it through security without a hitch - although Luce seemed to be public enemy #1 and got pulled aside frisked at all the checkpoints because of the buttons on her overalls haha. We did one last glorious shot of jäger before hopping on the plane.
(Lucy's new overalls!)
Goodbye Europe!! Thanks for having us! We had a fantastic time and we hope we'll be back soon!!!
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