On Saturday we went on two tours: a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of Munich and a 4 1/2 tour of Dachau (a former concentration camp in the nearby city of Dachau). I was happy to show my parents the city and was sure tours would be the best option, but by the end, we were exhausted. We went straight from our second tour to the Deuke's, my German host family who graciously invited us to dinner. I was happy to introduce my real family to my makeshift German one. We had a delicious dinner, prepared by Susanne, that included asperagas salad, schnitzel with a delicious sauce, and ice cream and coffee for dessert. My father hit it off with Uwe--all he had to do was mention beer. Susanne gave my mother a tour of the house, and my mother admired the traditional style of the home. I got stuck playing badminton outside with the kids (kidding, I loved playing with them), and Meghan there too-haha.
On Sunday we got up at 9, and my mother acted like she was wondering for letting me "sleep in"-haha. We met with Christine and Ingo and their kids in the afternoon at the Hofbräuhaus. As is to be expected, the service was awful. German service is bad to begin with, but their lack of friendliness is even more apparent at such a touristy local. Despite our awful waiter, who managed to drop glasses 2x and make us wait what felt like hours for our waters, we still managed to have a pleasant afternoon in the hot sun. After lunch they helped us get our luggage to the train station, where we began our journey to Salzburg.
That evening we ate at Cappomio, the restaurant behind my Studentenwohnheim. I go there often-the waiter knows my order before I even open my mouth-and I was excited to share it with my family. On Monday it rained, so, in between classes, I took my family to the mall. I don't think they were very impressed-the stores are different and my shopaholic mother and sister weren't really interested in paying a lot of money (the exchange rate is awful: 1.44!)for clothes they have never heard of.
On Saturday we went on two tours: a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of Munich and a 4 1/2 tour of Dachau (a former concentration camp in the nearby city of Dachau). I was happy to show my parents the city and was sure tours would be the best option, but by the end, we were exhausted. We went straight from our second tour to the Deuke's, my German host family who graciously invited us to dinner. I was happy to introduce my real family to my makeshift German one. We had a delicious dinner, prepared by Susanne, that included asperagas salad, schnitzel with a delicious sauce, and ice cream and coffee for dessert. My father hit it off with Uwe--all he had to do was mention beer. Susanne gave my mother a tour of the house, and my mother admired the traditional style of the home. I got stuck playing badminton outside with the kids (kidding, I loved playing with them), and Meghan there too-haha.
On Sunday we got up at 9, and my mother acted like she was wondering for letting me "sleep in"-haha. We met with Christine and Ingo and their kids in the afternoon at the Hofbräuhaus. As is to be expected, the service was awful. German service is bad to begin with, but their lack of friendliness is even more apparent at such a touristy local. Despite our awful waiter, who managed to drop glasses 2x and make us wait what felt like hours for our waters, we still managed to have a pleasant afternoon in the hot sun. After lunch they helped us get our luggage to the train station, where we began our journey to Salzburg.
That evening we ate at Cappomio, the restaurant behind my Studentenwohnheim. I go there often-the waiter knows my order before I even open my mouth-and I was excited to share it with my family. On Monday it rained, so, in between classes, I took my family to the mall. I don't think they were very impressed-the stores are different and my shopaholic mother and sister weren't really interested in paying a lot of money (the exchange rate is awful: 1.44!)for clothes they have never heard of.
On Tuesday my friend Tina kindly volunteered to drive us to Vienna, where we toured Schönbrunn palace, former home of Queen Sissi. In the afternoon we walked around the city and subsequently enjoyed apple strudel and cafe lattes at a local cafe.
On Wednesday I had class all day, so my parents and sister went shopping and we met up at 4pm. We met up with the family whose children I babysit for. Together we went to Steinterasse, a restaurant on the roof of a hotel on my street. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed the view of the city.
On Thursday I had class in the morning, and in the afternoon my family and I went on the Sound of Music Tour. It's a fun tour that takes you to the locations where the movie was filmed, but also gives you information about Salzburg in general. It's also a great way for tourists to see the beautiful Austrian countryside. That evening we ate at the Stiegel brewery in Salzburg. All of us enjoyed the food-even my picky little sister, Meghan ;) Dad drank a few more German beers, and that was that.
On Friday we headed back to Munich so that my family could take the plane back on Saturday. It didn't go as smoothly as we expected. Our train wasn't able to take us directly to Munich as planned. We had to change trains a couple of times, and our second train was delayed, so we sat around at the train station eating McDonald's (I've never felt so American in my life). We met a Hungarian guy who was about 18, and he and Meghan started joking around. We made it to Munich much later than expected, but still went downtown to Munich and ate dinner. We spent the night at the Novotel near the airport, and the next morning I brought my family to the airport. We had to get up at 5:30, and I actually did!!!!
After saying goodbye to them I didn't feel like going back to Salzburg, so I went to visit Susanne and Uwe, my honorary parents for the year. I spent the day with their kids-we went on a bike ride together and then played games. I enjoyed it a lot-I love those kids to death. Later in the afternoon we all sat outside and ate cake and drank latte macchiatos. Yummy :) For dinner we grilled out. I drank 1 glass of wine and was totally drunk-my German got better and I started speaking faster-that always happens. At dinner I had 3 more glasses of wine and was in a great mood. The next morning I headed back to Salzburg, where I spent the day at Cappomio cafe. Brittany and Chuck, two kids from my Salzburg program, came to visit me at the cafe. Was a nice day.
That's all for now,
Molly
No comments:
Post a Comment