Hi guys, Stephanie here with my first travel post. So recently I went on a great trip with some of my friends from school. We just graduated high school and decided to go on a sixth year trip to three European countries: Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland. I’ve decided to blog my experiences from each country starting with GERMANY.
First and foremost, where did we go in Germany?
[ Wednesday June 27th -- Friday 30th June 2017 ]
Well my friends and I started our trip in Munich. Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria and it is an absolutely beautiful city, a patchwork of gorgeously modern buildings between the stunning Altstadt (Old Town). I was probably the most excited to visit Munich because it meant that I had a chance to use the German that I’d been learning in school for the last six years!
As soon as we gott off the plane (we flew one-way with Aer Lingus), we immediately had to get ourselves acquainted with the excellent underground train system in Munich. Honestly, I was impressed with how effective it was and how easy it was to navigate and I really enjoyed getting around on it. We bought group tickets that amounted to approximately €13 each for 3 days of unlimited travel which I think is pretty reasonable.
Once we’d gotten our train, we headed straight for Karlsplatz and when we emerged from the station (that was it’s own mini shopping centre might I add) we were greeted with the amazing sight of Munich in summer, people strolling about going about shopping, talking or eating. A gorgeous fountain lay in the middle of it all surrounded by beautiful buildings and pretty palm trees. After a long, tiring journey it was definitely a gorgeous sight!
We then embarked on the short walk to our hostel. We stayed at the 4You Hostel & Hotel, in a twelve person room for three days and three nights. Our room was €69 per person and the price included a typical German breakfast every morning. I would totally recommend this hostel as it had great facilities in the room such as storage underneath the bed (I’d recommend bringing a lock for extra security) as well as ports for charger USBs above each bed in case you happened to forget a travel adapter. The facilities were clean and the services good. There were easily access showers and bathrooms and also an elevator for convenience. I’m not sure if it’s always done but my friends and I were given these cards for free drinks upon arrival too so that was an added bonus!
After we’d left our things in the hostel -- who had kindly let us check in early -- we headed out to explore Munich. We wandered around the busy streets that were lined with shops before we decided to go to the Englischer Garten to look at the scenery and drink a litre of beer from a novelty glass and get a massive pretzel in the Biergarten!
We also saw this amazing building called Monopteros which provided an excellent view of the surrounding area. Perched upon a hill, it was beautiful in itself. There were also other sites that we didn’t get around to seeing such as the Rumford-Saal and the Chinesischer Turm.
The next day we decided visit the beautiful Altstadt (Old Town). We got off the train at Marienplatz and we were immediately submerged in the gorgeous old buildings that resembled an old medieval town. There were also lots of ordinary shops and tons of places to eat (though I have to warn that things are much pricier here because it’s a popular tourist spot). A memorable moment of this day was climbing the many MANY stairs to the top of a building I sadly can’t remember the name of. There were so many stairs but the view was worth it (second picture).
On our last day we visited the Glyptothek in Munich, which is a gorgeous art museum. It is Munich’s oldest public museum and it’s got an amazing atmosphere. I think the museum had partnered with student designers as there were some incredible historically inspired fashion designs displayed alongside the timeless sculptures and artifacts.The ticket into the museum was €4 and it cost 70c to keep bags/coats in a guarded cloakroom. There was also a gorgeous outside area with more statues where you could eat the baked goods available in the museum’s cafe.
After the museum, we headed to the Olympiapark because we wanted to see the old buildings and originally we had planned to go to the music festival Tollwood that was going to be held there but didn’t end up going. On our way there we walked through some houses and saw some gorgeous pieces of original artwork. However, we some acts setting up and went around the different stalls there. I finally tried Currywurst and it was delicious. We also found this ‘hippie’ tent where we were allowed to do some painting which was fun!
Munich also has an excellent nightlife but I personally chose not to indulge myself in it. However some of my friends did go out to entertain themselves in the evenings and recommended 089 Bar and Lounge as a great club to hit up if you’re in Munich, but there are many to chose from!
We left for the train to Prague early the next morning from the Hauptbahnhof in Munich which was conveniently close to our hostel. After getting some snacks and souvenirs in the HUGE train station, we were settled in our train and with cards to entertain ourselves, headed off to Prague!
Steph’s Super Suggestions:
Definitely get familiar with trains and maps, it’s the best away around
Stay in a hostel, it’s affordable and you can meet people
Bring comfortable shoes because you’ll probably walk a lot
Invest in some mobile data so you can use Google Maps
TripAdvisor will be a HUGE help to you.
The Englischer Garten is definitely a site to hit up
Well that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful. If you ever want to travel to Munich do it because I’d totally recommend it.
Special thanks to my friend Mollie who is moll.2.7 on insta for some of the pics!
Don’t forget to keep up with my social media as I plan to post a lot during the summer and when I start college and you won’t want to miss out on any of the content I have in store!
God “gets” you. He “gets” every other person on this earth. He even understands the people who don’t understand you. He even knows why they don’t understand you and He’s working in their lives in ways that you can’t even understand. That’s how deep God’s love goes
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And the very hairs on your head are all numbered… - Luke 12:7
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The reason this is so important is because we often get discouraged when others don’t “get” us.
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Maybe you’ve felt misunderstood by family members and loved ones.
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Perhaps you interviewed with a company, but no matter how much enthusiasm and skill you exhibited, they seemed to look right through you.
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Maybe you thought you had something special with someone, but they randomly stopped texting or wanting to hang out.
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Perhaps you were in a relationship with someone who only cared about what you could offer physically or emotionally, but wasn’t interested in respecting what God was doing in your life.
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No matter how many of these kind of experiences you’ve had, remember that if God is truly going to be first in your life, you must consider His thoughts about you first. You must look to Him for affirmation and assurance before you look anywhere else. This is what will help you remain secure when you’ve been misunderstood, looked over, or ignored. Of course, in a perfect world, people would be understanding of one another and you would never have to deal with this, but we don’t live in a perfect world. However, God’s’ perfect love is still powerful enough to cover every ounce of imperfection on this earth.
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So you can talk to Him about everything. Talk to Him about every single thing that other people don’t seem to understand about you because He does. If you’re struggling with trusting Him in this, the best way to deal with it is still, to talk to Him! So don’t get so worried about who’s not getting you or what you’re going through. Other people can be very valuable in our lives, but God still knows all and is still in full control!
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Written by @morganhnichols for #TheDevoCo
