Well, I made it here in one piece. Honestly though, I'm not sure I'll ever use a sleeper car on a train again... they had 6 of us crammed into a very little room on uncomfortable "beds;" I think I might have slept better in one of the regular seats. It was a friendly group though, and almost all of them spoke English, so I guess it could have been worse.
Munich was an interesting experience. It's something I'd like to do again, but not without some beer buddies that can rent out a room all to ourselves; it doesn't take long to get tired of drunk people during Oktoberfest. The first evening there I wandered down to the wiesn, the sight of the original celebration 200 years ago, then back to the first hostel (definitely the nicer of the two I stayed in) to do my laundry and rest up, since I was hoping to meet Dave for beers the next day. The room itself was only 4 beds, and I ended up sharing it with a couple from Iceland and some random girl that wandered in around 01:00. Got checked out early the next morning, then dropped my bags off at the next hostel (pretty ghetto by comparison), and made my way over to Marienplatz for the three hour walking tour--luckily the weather wasn't rough enough to toss the ship about. We had a good guide again, and saw a lot of the major sites: the Old and New Town Halls (and the old town hall is actually newer than the new town hall, since it was bombed in WWII and rebuilt after); the royal palace; the Church of St. Peter (which, I kid you not, has a no hats/cell phones/eating/"pocket pool" sign on the door... the explanation our guide was given when she asked about it was "the devil is in your pants"); the site of the Beer Hall Putsch, where Hitler launched his (failed) coup attempt before getting tossed in jail and writing Mein Kampf; and the Glockenspiel, which is fairly similar to the one in Leavenworth.
When that was finished I grabbed lunch and actually checked into my hostel, got settled in, and tried to track down Dave without any success. At that point I was feeling pretty crappy--Munich was, I hope, the height of my cold--but being in the home of Oktoberfest, I did what any person would: I went for a beer. It was only about a 15 minute walk to the Hofbrauhaus, so I made my way to the biergarten there for what would end up being my only beer of the holiday. It was pretty dang good, but those liters will get to you pretty quick: I had a pretty decent buzz going, and even after going to the bathroom before leaving, my bladder was still almost ready to explode when I got back to the hostel. Went to bed around 21:00 and got about four good hours of sleep in, before spending the rest of the night being woken up by a horrible cough and lots of drunk people. Even the ones who actually spoke English were almost impossible to understand. I came very close to giving up and going home again, but after sending an email home the folks recommended I try getting in to see a doctor, and avoid attempting to fly home in my condition. Spent the rest of the night feeling like crap, got up for breakfast, then walked over to a doctor. Unfortunately I had to swing by the station and pay for a storage locker first, since the hostel's luggage room was full. Go figure. It was a bit pricey (140 euro between the appointment and the medication), but the doctor spoke enough English that we were able to get things figured out, and if it means I'm healthy enough to enjoy the rest of my trip (or even most of it), it was worth it. The rest of the day was spent snoozing/journaling/reading at the station before my night train took off.
The hostel here was a bit out of the way and tricky to get to (Rome is also not so good with the street signs), but the guy who runs it is a champ. Right away he took my bags and asked if he could get me some coffee or tea or anything; I said tea would be great, and he pointed me at some computers to use while I waited, and five minutes later somebody brought in a tray with my own little pot of tea, a glass of orange juice, and two croissants. Winners! A lot of the reviews for this place said he was great at helping you plan your visit in Rome based on how many days you have too, so even though I'm losing this one to rest, I think I'll be able to get a lot out of this stop.
Also, pictures! Not a lot because the upload is really slow, and some will be repeats of what I stuck into previous posts, but bear with me. Hopefully I'll get some from Rome up on my last day here, but that my wait until Venice. Stay tuned!
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