Friday-After quickly packing our things the night before, it was now time to say goodbye to Berlin. The last stop today before the weekend free time was a visit to Gottingen/Duderstadt. It was well worth the trip, since we were going to go visit the Otto Bock Fabrication factory. When we arrived to the Otto Boch factory, our first order of business was to take a tour of the different facilities in the factory. This included the feet and hand production sites, as well as the material science testing department. The next part of the tour dealt with the distribution and organization of finished products to market. This part of the tour had to have been the best part, since the automated system running the storage and organization was one of the most high tech things I have ever seen. After the factory tour, we had a short presentation on some of the products and how they came into effect to mimic natural human behavior. The myoelectric limbs and the “acti-gait” products for mobility were some of the more ingenious ideas. It was now time to make our way to our free weekend, so the group made its way back to the Gottingen station and patiently awaited the train to their weekend destination. For my group of six, Munich was our destination, so we grabbed a quick dinner and made our way to the platform early. When our train arrived, it was already quite full, but since we had reserved seats, we made our way to our seats and prepared ourselves for the three hour train ride. Up until this point, most of our train rides had been 3-5 hours, so this 2.5 hour train ride felt like nothing. We arrived in Munich with no problems, and what awaited us was a bustling night city just like Berlin. Luckily for our group, our rooming accommodations were very close to the train station. After helping the other five to their hostel, I made my way to my hotel. I had originally made plans to go to Copenhagen this weekend; however an urge to visit southern Germany hit me, so I made last minute hotel reservations. This day was a tiring day, so I fell right to sleep ready for another adventure.
Saturday-After one of the best nights of sleep I had on the trip, I awoke ready for our day trip to Fussen to visit Neuschwanstein castle. I quickly made my way over to the hostel, and grabbed a quick bite to eat there. We had to move quickly since we had to catch a two hour train to Fussen. For some reason I fell asleep on part of this train ride, even though I felt well rested from the night before. Once we arrived in Fussen, we bought a round trip bus pass and made our way to the Neuschwanstein bus stop. From the bus stop to the castle, the walk was a mile uphill. Any other day of this trip, this would seem a bit much, however, we were blessed with good weather, and the perfect backdrop of the sun shining on the white snow covered mountains. As we walked up the trail, we marveled at the great scenery around us. On one side, Schloss Hohenschwangau blessed us with its view, and on the other side, the forest mountain scenery of the trail to Neuschwanstein. Once we got to the top of the trail, we bought our tour tickets for Neuschwanstein, and admired some of the scenery near the castle before going on our tour. When it came time for our tour, it seemed like it ended as soon as it started. This tour was by far one of the shortest tours, and with the amount of money paid for a ticket, we felt almost somehow ripped off after going through all the other long tours we had been through earlier on the trip. However, we did get to see the inside of the castle due to this. The castle seemed way more modern than I expected to be, which took away from some of the amazingness. However, once we walked away from the castle and stared at it with the backdrop of the forest mountain scenery and the sun still made it an awesome sight to behold.
Hungry and 8 Euro poorer, we headed down back to the bus stop. On our way down, we found a pleasant surprise. 5 minutes down from the castle we came across a family run powdered fried donut stand. They were offering 3 donuts for two Euro. Hungry and tempted by the smell, we gave in and bought some. Wow. Just Wow. These things had to have been the most enjoyable thing I had eaten on the trip, and in a long time. Sure they were probably bad for our health, but the flavor contained in these little morsels was just unbelievable. Just as soon as they came, they were gone, and we continued our walk back down to the bus stop. Unfortunately for us, our little donut side trip made us miss the bus, so we had to wait an hour to catch the next bus to take us back to the train station. The bus finally arrived and we bid adieu to the awesome scenery that had graced us that afternoon. We arrived back to the station with just enough time to take our train back to Munich. We had made plans the night prior to go eat at the Augustiner Keller and try to visit the Hofbrauhaus. We arrived back to Munich, and took a quick pit stop back to the hostel before we headed out to the main town square for our night adventure.
New city, new train system. Fortunately for us, Munich’s train system had to have been one of the most efficient systems we encountered in Germany, so we made our way to the town square with ease. Since we had heard the outdoor market was nearby we decided to try to check it out. Unfortunately, timing was not our friend this day, as the market was closed. Hofbrauhaus was nearby so no time was lost. Once we arrived at Hofbrauhaus, we were greeted with the spectacle that was Hofbrauhaus. Oompa Music, long tables filled with people eating beer, and a room that seemed to stretch back as far as the eye could see. Seeing the crowd, we decided we would have better luck and try coming back the following afternoon. The town square in Munich at night was very lively, which surprised me. I guess I had not realized how big of a city Munich was, and I’m sure if we had spent more time here as we did in Berlin, I would have noticed it sooner. We headed back to the main train station, and made our way to the Augustiner Keller. Dr. Wasser had recommended that we try the Augustiner Keller, as it would have some of the best food in Munich. He did not disappoint. The food here was wonderful, and ranks as some of the best food I had in Germany. My meal of the veal schnitzel and fried potatoes still makes my mouth water just thinking about it. It was a great high note to end the day on.
Sunday: Our plans this day included a trip to the Hofbrauhaus and a little of city exploration. We checked out of our hotel and hostel, and made our way over to the Hofbrauhaus. It was much less crowded than the day before, however, it was still filled with people. The atmosphere was no different, as the oompa band was still playing and the drinks were plenty. This had to have been one of the more fun experiences in Germany, as the Hofbrauhaus was a great place to hang out and enjoy the company of friends. After enjoying ourselves at Hofbrauhaus, we made our way to explore the city , and made our way to the surrounding areas around the city square. The kind weather still graced us this day, so we enjoyed all we could of the weather. The day seemed to go by quickly, because before we knew it, it was time to head to the train station and catch a train to Hannover to meet up with Dr. Wasser. The train ride to Hannover was very much like the train ride to Munich. Quick, quiet, and filled with memories of the day. When we arrived in Hannover, we had to call Dr. Wasser for directions to the hotel. Unfortunately for us, our phones were out of minutes, and the only working phone had terrible quality. But somehow amidst all that, we followed the directions and made our way to our hotel in Hannover. While this weekend may not have seemed as exciting as the New Year’s Weekend, it was one to remember for years to come. Munich was by far one of the most enjoyable and fun weekend we had while abroad.
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