Eva's Bucket List

Gotta complete them all in this lifetime

[chongeva]

Day 2 in Munich

We still haven’t receive any news about our delayed luggages yet, but we remain hopeful that we’ll receive them today. So we went out to the train station, and received a voice message from the airport right when we’re waiting for our train to Burghausen. It was in German, so we had some difficulties in deciphering what the lady in the voice message meant. We knew a little bit of German, and that’s how we kinda figured out that our luggage has arrived in Munich airport and they will send a person over to deliver our luggage to us at about 1pm. We went back to our Airbnb home and waited. A deliveryman delivered our luggage to us at 12.30pm. Finally! We can change out of our stinky clothes!

We went out again to take the train to Burghausen again, after a quick shower and change of clothes. We arrived in München Ostbahnhof and took the Regionalbahn (RB train) to Mühldorf, then Burghausen. It’s a 2 hour train ride and along the way, we get to see the beautiful countryside in autumn colours.

Once we’ve reached Burghausen, it’s a 30 minute walk from the station to the Burghausen Castle - the longest castle in the world. It was an easy walk in the cool weather. When we’ve finally reached the castle, it was already close to 4pm. We walked around inside the castle grounds but didn’t went for the castle tour. There are still some houses within the castle grounds, but are either converted into vacation homes or accommodation for tourists. Not a lot of foreign tourists visited this castle, mostly German tourists, which means it’s not crowded. After walking through the whole castle grounds, we went down to the Aldstadt (old town). It’s a quaint little town, with houses built on the hillside, and at the base there’s a small commercial street with restaurants and shops. At the edge of the town near the river, there’s a bridge where you can cross to go to Austria.

We went back to Munich after exploring the Aldstadt, and reached back at night. Cooked ourselves a dinner and went to bed, now no longer stinky and in comfortable and fresh clothes.

[chongeva]

My Bucket List (as of Jan 2019)

List of places I want to go to (countries and specific places):

Tokyo ✔️

Munich ✔️

Neuschwanstein Castle ✔️

Italy

Venice

Sweden

Switzerland

Belgium

Taiwan

Hokkaido

Kyoto

Russia

America

Canada

France

London

Ireland

Prague

Spain

Bali

Maldives

Hawaii

Black Forest

Okinawa

Osaka

Berlin

Regensburg

Savannahs of Africa

List of things I want to do:

Live in my own house that I bought

Oktoberfest ✔️

Drink all kinds of beer

Eat all kinds of food

Experience a white Christmas

Live in a foreign country for at least 1 month

Travel alone

Go to a Green Day concert

Eat an MRE ✔️

Learn German until I can converse in German

[chongeva]

Day 8 (Final Day) in Munich

It’s our final day here, but we still have some time before our evening flight, so we went to Viktualienmarkt again for shopping. The more the clock ticks, the more I started to miss Munich.

In the afternoon, we went to Augustiner Bräustuben to have apple strüdel and have some beer. Me being Asian, our restaurants are fine with customers ordering just 1 item from the menu each, but I forgot that I’m in Germany now and it’s not that polite to just order 1 dessert and 1 beer for 2 people to share. The waiter gave a short scoff after taking our order, and I felt so guilty for forgetting this. Gave him a good tip to ease our guilts after the meal. Lesson learnt: Don’t forget to order at least a food and a drink for each person when you’re in Europe. We went back and finished off the bottle of Schnapps we bought from a nearby alcohol shop during day 4. Took our luggage and rode the train to Munich airport in high spirits, and with a heavy heart, went on board and flew back to home in Malaysia. I really left a piece of my heart there in Munich. Will come back again for reunion :D

[chongeva]

Day 7 in Munich

We went to Nürnberg this day. I know, it’s not in Munich :P Just wanted to keep the titles cohesive.

Took the Regional-Express train to Nürnberg from Munich Hauptbahnhof. Today was exceptionally sunny and warm for an autumn day. Maybe because it’s further from the Alps compared to Munich, that’s why it’s hotter? We walked around the Aldstadt, which was built on a hill, so there’s a lot of steep slopes and streets. The castle was under renovation, so we couldn’t walk through the whole castle grounds.

Crazy steep climb! I might visit this city again in the future. I felt that I didn’t enjoy it that much this day, compared to the other places we’ve visited the past 6 days. Is there such a thing as “medieval church fatigue” or “castle fatigue”?

[chongeva]

Day 6 in Munich

Today is city centre day. We just walked around, took a lot of photos, explored the shops and visited the famous churches in Munich. Had late lunch in the famous Augustiner Keller. We went to the Biergarten instead of the restaurant. Cold autumn wind, rustling chestnut trees, yellow sunlight. Love the laidback feeling. Makes me want to spend my retirement years here.

[chongeva]

Day 5 in Munich

Went to Nymphenburg Palace on Day 5. Germans love their symmetry. It’s a beautiful place, really. Took a relaxing stroll around the palace courtyard and the parks nearby. 

After the palace, we went to Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Park. I watched quite a number of films about WW2 and concentration camps, but the feeling and experience of being there personally is incomparable. We took our time to read the history and testimonies of the concentration camp. Gloomy day, and gloomy feeling.

[chongeva]

Day 4 in Munich

I know Neuschwanstein Castle is technically not in Munich. This is the second reason I wanted to come here - Schloß Neuschwanstein. It’s marvelous!

In the morning, we went to Munich Hauptbahnhof (HBF) and bought a Bayern ticket to go to Füssen. Then, we took Bus 78 to reach the ticket counter, collected the tickets to the castle tour, and rode the shuttle bus to reach the castle. We bought our tickets online before this trip, so we don’t have to queue up much, and we’re guaranteed a tour time. Walked over to Marienbrucke first, since our tour time is not so early. I am terrified of heights, and the crowd in Marienbrucke is insane. People were pushing each other to move across the bridge and to find a spot to take the money shot of the castle. My hands are sweaty due to my phobia of heights and mainly because I’m afraid my belongings will drop down to the gorge if some fella shoved me. Took our money shot, went across the bridge, and continued further to see what’s beyond the gorge. There’s a steep hike at the side of the hill after walking along a hill path. We figured, “why not?”, and climbed up the hillside. Had our lunch after that steep hike, while looking at the Alps and the Alpsee beyond the trees. Went back to the castle for the tour. It was nice, but even though the castle interior was impressive, I enjoyed the view of the castle from the outside more, actually. Another item in bucket list checked!

[chongeva]

Day 3 in Munich

To be honest, Oktoberfest is the main reason I wanted to visit Munich. I have a dozen other reasons to visit Munich, but Oktoberfest is the first in the list.

In the morning, we went out to Munich City Centre to check off some items off our list. Went to see the Sendlinger Tor, then the Asamkirche - a gothic church with insanely detailed craftsmanship in the interiors. Although I’m not a fan of gloomy churches, but it’s undeniably impressive to see the decor of Asamkirche. When we reached the Theresienweise, it’s around 11am. Still early, and super crowded yet. We walked around the whole fair grounds and chose to sit down in Armbrustschültzenzelt to have our lunch and drink Oktoberfest beer. Ordered a roasted chicken and some sausages, and 1 Maß each. The chicken, lovely, crunchy, juicy. The sausages, tasty, meaty, hearty. The beer, smells great, tastes great, and has more kick than the other bottled beers in the supermarkets. 1 Maß is enough to make my face half-red. We went out of the tent, slightly woozy and high from the beer, and the festive mood in the grounds are making us feel even more jolly. After walking out, trying out some snacks, I wanted another Maß and chose to drink in Augustiner-Brau. That big glass of beer sent my face redness off the charts. My alcohol tolerance hasn’t been good this few years, probably due to age? Went back home, really high, and really sleepy. I’d never have survived the trip back home if I went alone. KO-ed in the bed without dinner, but my friend had hers because she drank less than me. Lesson learnt: Don’t drink so fast, pacing is important Bucket list item: checked

[chongeva]

Day 1 in Munich

After 1 week of vacation in Munich, I am feeling the post-vacation blues right now. I have always wanted to visit Germany and especially Munich. The experiences and memories I had for the past week helped me to learn more about myself, my emotions and my thoughts, more than any business trainings or personal growth camps.

I never knew I can keep calm and collected until I lost my watch in the airport after the security checks. I never knew I am able to calmly sort out the mess about baggage delays until our baggages are indeed delayed. (But I still need to work on my bravery to make phone calls)

So this is the first day we arrived in Munich, after around 15 hours of flight time including transit. We don't have our luggage because they are delayed, but we continued with our plan and admire the beautiful parks and monuments of Munich. The weather was pleasantly cool at around 17°C that day. After that, we shopped for groceries in a supermarket for our future breakfast, lunch and dinner, because half the fun of travelling is to experience living like a local there.

I miss having a Maß in Biergarten. P.S. Actually posted on 8th Oct, but trip started on 3rd Oct. Post date of this post is set to reflect the dates of the trip.

[datarep]

Visualization of all Biergarten in Germany made with Blender and Python. Can you guess the big peak?

[chongeva]

Highest peak is located in Munich. Hofbräuhaus, maybe? Or Augustiner Keller?

[chongeva]

My Bucket List (as of 2018)

List of places I want to go to (countries and specific places):

Tokyo ✔️

Munich

Neuschwanstein Castle

Italy

Venice

Sweden

Switzerland

Belgium

Taiwan

Hokkaido

Kyoto

Russia

America

Canada

France

London

Ireland

Prague

Spain

Bali

Maldives

Hawaii

Black Forest

Okinawa

Osaka

Berlin

Regensburg

Savannahs of Africa

List of things I want to do:

Live in my own house that I bought

Oktoberfest

Drink all kinds of beer

Eat all kinds of food

Experience a white Christmas

Live in a foreign country for at least 1 month

Travel alone

Go to a Green Day concert

Eat an MRE ✔️

Learn German until I can converse in German

Only got 2 of the items done. More to go, and a lifetime to achieve them all!

[chongeva]

After 2 years of learning German in Duolingo, with much procrastination in between, I've finally managed to push myself to complete the whole tree! Das Ende ist ein neuer Anfang! #duolingo #duolingogerman

[chongeva]

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Jamming session! Like our page at https://www.facebook.com/TheSongbirdsLiveBand/ #thesongbirdsliveband

[chongeva]

Tried out US MRE Menu 10 - Chilli & Macaroni 2 months ago. That's another item checked off my bucket list!