Thursday December 18th 2008

Headed off on the free walking tour of Munich with half a dozen others. Excellent tour, guide was brilliant. Had us in hysterics for the most of it. 800 years BC the Bavarian Monks worked out they could overcome the 7 week fasting rules by brewing and drinking liquid food, i.e. beer. So after 15 litres of the stuff a day and them rolling around like fools, the Pope sent for a sample of what it was they were drinking. It had to go over the alps in summer, so by the time it got to the Pope it had gone off, so he decided that it was so foul, that was punishment enough, so declared they could keep being pisspots!  The church here, they needed help to build in a short time period, so called on the devil. He said he'd only help on the proviso that they built it without windows (he figured if there were no windows, people wouldn't go in, so he could lure them to the bad side more easily). So they took his help, built it, and stuck windows in. The poor devil wondered why he couldn't lure people, and why they kept going in to the church, so he went in to check it out. As he walked in, he reached a point whereby he could see that to the left and right there were WINDOWS! He got so mad, he stomped his foot up and down and left a footprint. Funniest thing to that is that his footprint is TINY! Not that much bigger than mine!

Oh, and Wednesday evening when I went up to bed I looked out the window to see that it was snowing! I was stoked to see it, actually SNOWING! Then during the tour Thursday, it snowed on us, only light, but hey - and the guide said it hadn't snowed in Munich city the two previous winters, so we were pretty lucky to see it.

All very humourous and interesting. After the tour, a few of us headed off in the direction of the English Garden. I wanted to see the Chinese Tower. Found that, along with a smattering of other hilarious happenings - i.e. dogs playing in the stream, happily dashing here there and everywhere! Through, back in, swish around, up and down, out, in. Chinese Tower looked just like it did in the pictures I'd seen, shock horror! Slowly meandered back to the entrance, then on to the markets and brewery. At the brewery I did it, I (quoting Jana here) conquered beer. I drank a full litre of the stuff. Can you believe it!?? To make matters worse, I ordered a half, then had a second. Yes, I consciously ordered a second. Yick! Had crispy roasted pork with potato, good hearty German fare for my dinner. A real Bavarian night out.

Friday December 19th 2008

Have a cold in full force and it was raining pretty consistently, so I took the opportunity to write some postcards, have something to eat and drink, and give Mum and Dad a call. From there I thought I'd go to check out the markets atthe Oktoberfest grounds. They say that it's much more of a festival or carnival than just Christmas markets like those at Marienplaty or in the Residenz. They were a bit different and they did have some stuff that was a lot different. They also had a big tent set up called the Bazzar which had HEAPS inside it! I spent hours there. So much to see, so much to entertain. Good fun. Return to put some washing on, then ended up meeting the "early to bed" dorm mates - not early to bed last night after we all met. Happy hour at the bar, then it finished, then we discovered at midnight that it restarts! Even with the conversion from euro to dollar, the cocktails were cheap as!

Another update

Friday 12th December 2008

Well, when I left on Friday I was off to see some ice skating animation show. LOL. I totally read the brochure wrong! It was just ice skating in the town centre!! Was still a nice show though - I'm so damned hopeless on rollerblades and skates, that I'm in such awe of those who can ice skate. Wandered around the market stalls and had some yummy hot cider and macarons. Headed on back towards the hotel, warmed up, then went to the restaurant around the corner for some dinner. None of the staff spoke English, so I stood out like a sore thumb as I had to physically go to the specials board to order! (I thought i was ordering vegetable bake - received seafood mornay! Oh the fun!) As I stood out so much, a charming gentleman indicated for me to sit with him, so over I went. His English was as comprehensive as my French, so our conversation was hilarious. We managed to talk about a wide array of topics, and my, did we laugh. Turned out he was from St Malo, so he was very excited that I'd been there and loved it. He was so charming and lovely - shame he was in his 70s!

Saturday 13th December 2008

Thanks to the pitcher of wine the night before, my early morning train to Paris didn't happen. Hopped on the 11am train and was in Paris for lunchtime. Straight back to the Aloha Hostel, bag drop, rejig my scarf and beanie and off I went. Stopped for a kebab for lunch - I don't think I've earlier said, but I had the same thing in every kebab shop in France this year as last year, when asked what sauce I wanted - "Hot chilli please" "Hot chilli??" "Yes, hot chilli" "Really" "Yes please" "Chilli bad for women". Honestly, I'd love for someone to tell me WHY chilli is bad for women. I think there has to be a prize in it for someone who can give me a reason that seriously sounds legit! From there, I headed off towards Notre Dame, the Seine Islands and the Marais. It was seriously cold, rain was starting and I needed to find an umbrella, so somewhere I can hang inside plus be surrounded by rip off tourist merchants with umbrellas was a desirable location. I didn't bother going in Notre Dame last year, as being summer, the queues were too hideous and I was too sick of queues to bother. Bugger all in the queue this time, so in I went. It was nice, it was overwhelming, it was impressive, but it wasn't something I'd count as a must see in life. There, I said it!!!! Checked out the Deportation Memorial, the guard woman there was hell scary, but once she warmed to the group of us that went in at the same time, she was nice to us - she even unlocked the office to get us a brochure! hehe. Had a 4€50 hot chocolate, thankfully it was very nice and of decent size, and they didn't rush me out, so I could write some postcards and watch the rain. Wandered to the second Seine Island then into the Marais, and a little sticky beak in the small shops and boutiques. Went in hunt of the metro station so that I could return to my home grounds, but couldn't bloody find it, yes, the same one I had got off, it just disappeared! So through the Latin Quarter i wandered, in the general direction of home! Went in hunt of some tracky dacks and mittens and a second scarf while at it.Tracky dacks near on impossible to find, but did eventually, and also a beaut pair of mittens and a fabulous scarf, which when combined with the pashmina I'd had to buy, brilliant!!!! Cooked myself some dinner, pasta with vegetables galore, and chatted to some people from New Zealand. Amongst them, the rudest, speak before thinking, person to have ever walked this earth. She was so friggin rude and said some things I couldn't believe anyone would say even to their friends, let alone to strangers!!!!!

Sunday 14th December 2008

Nice day today. Packed my thermos, grabbed some bread rolls, and headed off on a circular walk. First stop, Monoprix, to buy a new umbrella, as the one I'd bought yesterday was crap as! So new big golf umbrella, and I was set. Walked and walked and walked. Some stuff seen before, some not. Eventually wound up ambling towards the Louve, with Christmas markets either side of the street, carousels full of kids, people people everywhere. Was a very beautiful and romantic evening in Paris at Christmas time for sure. Ended up wandering through some more shops, ok, ok, I'm great at wandering through shops, and bought Mum's Christmas present. I'm very excited about it, but concerned that my methodology for choosing it was flawed. Should've asked the lady in the shop for help, but just too hard! Once back to the hostel, made headway on my journal writing (I'm a smidgeon behind!) while having a good old laugh about not much of substance with some guys who were totally in awe of my novel writing! hehe. (No, I'm not writing a novel, just that I write a million pages for every day in the journal!!)

Monday 15th December 2008

So today confirmed for me that Notre Dame is not the place one must see. Sacre Cour well and truly is. Put myself on the train and hopped off in Montemarte, and wandered around before finding THE place. Montemarte lived up to every description and expectation I've ever read or had. Loved it. Outside the Sacre Cour, sat in the breaking sunshine and had a few cups of tea (my thermos had paid for itself within a day, best thing I've bought so far, well, aside from my coat!!!) and listened to the buskers. Just so pleasant. Had a bit of a think about things and it occurred to me that in the last year I've actually had to make quite a few BIG decisions, and then the realisation hit that I've made all the right decisions, and things have paid off very well. Went into the Sacre Cour and was so mad at the people that could obviously read the signs saying and graphically showing that photos and videos were not permitted, so I hopped in front of a few cameras and stayed in front of them. Made me quite mad indeed. Spent the rest of the day in Montemarte, and just had a wonderful day. Wasn't easy making it back to the hostel once dark and cold set in - there was some strike happening so things were quite delayed and stopped etc, and not speaking French it was understandably hard to get the picture. Back to the hostel eventually and had to change rooms. The heater actually worked in the new room, hadn't realised until I had to swap from the first to the second how cold the first room was!! Went on to have yet another hilarious evening as our little gang spent the night taking the mickey out of the reception staff. They were insanely rude and kept telling everyone to return in 15 minutes, for whatever it was they needed. One of those had to be there things. Someone put the movie Train Spotting on and the man sitting in front of me kept giving me mandarins to eat - there's only so much fruit one can eat though!!!!

Tuesday 16th December 2008

An unwelcome introduction to plane travel in heavy winter today. Had to be up early to get trains to airport, which due to strike took longer than it should, so I was extremely pleased I'd read of said strike yesterday and factored it in! Once at airport, read that the plane was delayed, of course! Was due to fog in both Munich and Paris. Eurgh!! On to Munich and arrived only and hour and a half later than scheduled. However, by then, tiredness had caught me! Once on train into Munich, saw SNOW! Totally struck! Given my excitement at the hail only a week earlier, my delight and excitement at snow was second to none! Hostel easy to find, and what one would call a 'dream' hostel. Friendly reception staff, beautiful clean and spacious rooms and ensuite bathrooms, a gorgeous winter garden complete with lounge chairs and hammocks and bean bags for relaxing, and free drinks at the bar. Became aware that my leg was starting to hurt from the cramp that had started that morning, so a bit of worry about that, seeing as I'd forgotten to get a script from  my doctor for diazepam for future cramps. These cramps, not the pain, the actual cramps, have in the past lasted up to 2 weeks. Given I'm flying on the 22nd, yes, I was worried. Quick text to Mum and before I knew it I had travel insurance on the phone with the name and address of a hospital to visit, and a doctor to check on my health and pain to advise if i could wait to morning or needed to go now. Pretty impressed with the quick service and help. International SOS for sure!! Mum also called my specialist for her advice, so all was very quick and efficient!

Wednesday 17th December 2008

Thanks to last night's drama, slept solidly until late. Up and on to the hospital pretty quickly, and that's where I spent the entire day. Receptionist at the hostel assured me I could just go and would be ok because everyone learns English at school. Maybe so, but the staff on the floor haven't learnt a word of English. Got the run around - here there and everywhere. Every desk I ended up at I'd pull out my book and show them the phrase "I need to see a doctor who speaks English" - so they'd ask what was wrong, I'd try to explain cramp leg and high dvt risk, and they'd send me elsewhere. First stop, ortho! lol. Second stop, I didn't realise til later in the day, was actually vascular imaging. Eventually found emergency, and the sister spoke a bit of English so she explained to reception how they needed to help me. Out came their file with their phrases in it. "Can we see your passport?" then, "Can you fill in this form?" then, "can we see your insurance card?" so I handed over my travel insurance card. They handed it back and shook their head and said, "No, no, this is travel insurance, we can't help you." By then, i was ready to cry! The sister came back out, explained that they only recognised European insurance, and therefore I'd have to pay and claim it back. NO WORRIES!!!! I expected that! It was not nice that short moment of feeling that I wouldn't receive medical help. i can't imagine living in a country where you may or may not receive it. Once i'd filled in the forms and paid my 200€ (i think that's not a bad price, to be honest, for what I received) I received top notch care and attention. I've never been to hospital in that situation before, always gone to the GP but I had not expected what was to follow. Full blood tests, ECG, a handful of other machines hooked up that I didn't know what they were, then off to vascular imaging (where i'd been earlier) for an ultrasound - I had 4 radiographers and doctors do a full scan, separately. They were thorough. Allthrough it I was trying to explain that they wouldn't be finding something because the cramp wasn't connected to the KT, but hard to explain. Eventually back to the emergency department, told I was perfectly healthy, so she'd find me something to relax the cramp! Hooray, that's what I wanted! She wouldn't give me diazepam because of the sedative effect and the travelling thing, so just magnesium. i've had it before and it didn't work, so hopefully I've just caught this earlier and it goes very soon. Result of all of this is that my thinking that I'd just spend the 6 nights in Munich itself and day trip from here, were confirmed, because I now only have 4 full days not 5 here. I'd forgotten how cheap germany is compared to France, so it's a treat to have a few days of being able to spend a little less, without trying.


So that is all for now. I'm off to bed, early night, and all should be good with the world by the time morning comes and I can head out into some snow and for some Christmas spirit!!!! (Which I am most definitely catching! It's beginning to feel an awful lot like Christmas!!!!!)