The moment I am sure you have all been eagerly awaiting has arrived - the blogging returns. The night before my departure was of course a very hectic affair, especially with interjections from my mother asking for a passport photo in case my body needs identifying - said in a proper Glaswegian dead pan accent of course: 'Now Olivia you just never know'. My major worries were not being able to get the Guardian at a good price every day but its good to know my mother at least has all bases covered.
The next major issue was that I had booked a flight from Edinburgh airport that left at 6.55, I had clearly forgotten at the time of booking that I do actually live in Glasgow where sadly public transport is not 24 hour nor is it that near Edinburgh really. After many briberies were considered, my dad was the saving grace driving me over at 'silly o'clock'. Problem number two was encountered at the Ryaniar check in desk; walking up to a Ryanair check out with a rucksack that was definitely 19kg an hour ago and 'hand baggage' in the form of a handbag that looks ready to explode at any moment was always going to receive raised eyebrows. Luckily, with a very leniant check in girl (an impressive feat for 6am) and some sneaky go-ahead bar reshuffeling I was good to go. The downsides of such a large handbag was firstly getting it through security, it inevitably set the scanners off the security staff took one look at it, however, shoved some paper in it and hastily declared it 'bomb free' or some more politically correct term ( good to see security measures aren't slipping). So with not even one minute to spare I ran to board an airplane that would hopefully involve some planning. A glance at the guidebook informed me that actually Ryanair's 'Munich' airport was nowhere near Munich but somewhere called Memminghem, another problem to solve, however I did manage to learn a few German words on the plane, in between constant Ryanair advertising, so with bitta dank shouold under my belt off Ryanair spat me somewhere nearish Munich.
Entering Germany right now is an E-Coli risk I hear, so the night before I made sure I stocked up on salad for dinner and brought plenty of fruit with me. This was partly a money saving measure also but did contribute majorly to the weight I now realise. As I sat on the bus to Munich eating my cucumber sandwich a poor choice made hastily this morning I agree, I realised brandashing my British cucumber sandwiches could come back to haunt me if it has turned out to be a German cucumber and I ironically brought E-Coli back in - now that would be awkward! The risks of travelling eh. But at least I am away from the airport without a scene from the Liam Neeson classic occurring.
With a few hours in a surprisingly rainy Munich, I feel this may be a recurrent theme, I decided that being 'A Dark Tourist' I should live up to my name and went up to visit Dachau. After recently visiting Auschwitz, Dachau was a very interesting but different experience that had a definite German identity to it - its main visitors are German school children and completely funded by the German Government who seem keen to explain what happened and ensure Germany as a nation is not necessarily held to blame.
My first day as a dark tourist had tired me out majorly so after being rescued from Munich town centre, a quick and essential trip to the supermarket (first stop apple puree) was required before definite bed time. After a 'round the clock' sleep plus a few sneaky hours ;-). My second day in Munich was spent well in Munich - after a very continental breakfast, Cari and I cycled (again very continentally) to the train station to get on a very continental uberbahn to the city centre for pretzel time (oh could we have been anymore continental. I also made the radical decision to with Cari by my side I disregarded the guide book in a moment of crazyness leaving it at home as basically I now had the real living deal. We found our way to a Jewish museum that surprisingly was very un-holocaust like but an exhibition on Jews in the media did prove that the German's do actually joke about Hitler and can now be a bit more retrospective.
The fruit and vegetable market was still surpringly boyant and on the surface e-coli free, I even ate an unwashed apple - a reckless decision I worry will come back to haunt me in a few days time. Munich also features some very beautiful cathedrals and no less than 3 American Apparels. We even had more pretzels than is recommended and dressed up in Laderhosen. Munich is Germany complete with all stereotypes - including some hilarious accents!
So far then a pretty successful beginning!
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