Munich | Travel Journal
I've been awful with the blogging lately. I think that's pretty blatant proof that my mind has been elsewhere. I was about to post about my most recent travels to the pacific northwest, and it hit me that I never even posted about our trip to Europe. In fact, I was adamant to only show images I had printed from our trip, but I've since moved past that fine artists ego bullshit and decided to share them with the good people of the internet.
Our room at the youth hostel.
Salzburg, Austria
We landed in Munich after a long flight from JFK, through Moscow, into Germany. It was a Saturday night and the Sunday that followed was one of only two, completely free, days to explore. Since Corey's business would keep us inside Munich for the majority of our time in Germany, we decided the best journey for us was head from the Munich airport, drop of 90% of our luggage at our airport, catch a train to Austria and a bus to Salzburg. It was around 1am when we finally got to our youth hostel, most famous for hosting Sound of Music showings + sing alongs everyday at 4pm. We avoided this. We rose with the sun the next morning and took on Salzburg by foot. We were introduced to the real world of Christmas and the even more real world of Krampus. We had delicious coffee and used the restrooms inside small chocolatiers as an excuse to stop and purchase goods. We hiked the oldest parts of town and even explored under a castle which has originally been dug out by monks in the year 900. It was truly humble standing in spots that were entirely older than the United States. What the heck, y'all.
The next five days consisted of Corey tirelessly working and being trained by one of the highest reputable camera and lighting company in the whole world, and me finding ways to fill my time until he was off in time for dinner. To begin with, I found the best Steakhouse I could imagine and we admittedly went back a couple times. If you find yourself in Munich, please stop by the Teresa, get any steak you fancy and all the bearnaise sauce you can order without severe embarrassment. We found on our second trip that ordering a side of it for each of us was not frowned upon. But my home during the days was not amongst the dried meat. I reached out to some influencer friends online and found my favorite corner to sit, work, and drink delicious coffee. Aroma Kaffeebar was instantly my comfort spot within an unknown city. I was able to start my days there, use it as a marker, or just spend all afternoon posted up writing in journals and listening to music and conversations far beyond my reach. When I wasn't at one of these two locations, over-indulging, I was wander the streets, walking aimlessly into ancient buildings and secretly tagging behind tour groups. To know the importance of Munich is to understand a very integral part in our earth's history. It was humbling to be amongst buildings that have stood the test of time, and stood the test of our bombs. When I wasn't devestated by the beauty left behind, Corey and I were either trying pizza (we recommend Lo Studente, by the way) or shopping for cute things to bring back family and friends.
Our last day held our most beautiful adventure. We could have left on a very nice, nonstop flight from Munich to NYC, but we would have been gone by the time the sun rose on Saturday. And Corey had of course been at work all week, missing out on a lot of the personal adventures I was granted. So instead of that convenient flight, we opted for a 2o hour travel day that took us through Moscow for an 8hr layover, so we could have some time together to explore the area. What else would we do but hike our way up to the highest point in all of Germany. We woke up early, and that was still no match for the die-hard skiers and snowboarders. We took one train, to another train, to another train... to an all glass cable car (this is where Corey discovered he has a fear of heights). Weather and I have an ongoing hatred for each other, so mother nature did what she normally does and blocked our entire view from the mountain top. Making that nerve wracking cable car ride almost not worth it for Corey. But then we found this little coffee shop, truly deserted. Everyone ignored the promise of hot coffee for the lure of a German beer at the top of Germany (we, however, had been continuously let down by the German beer) but we can sniff out a good latte, even on a snowy mountaintop. And we're so glad we did. We had this private moment, with soft winter light and the Beach Boys playing over the speakers. It was like a dream and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
