By the way you'll have to forgive me if the images are way too large - I only recently figured out the best way to resize them for blogger, and I haven't had time to redo the others...
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Flights from Orlando to Munich:
This was my first time flying on Lufthansa on a direct flight from Orlando to Frankfurt then transiting to Munich to meet up with my friends Raffael and Gabriel. I was lucky in that the gate agent who checked me in said I could have 3 seats to myself to stretch out if I liked - um, YES! Actually it ended up being 2, because there was another guy who took the 3rd, but I was grateful for the 2 anyway. Also, I realized very quickly that, with the exception of the flight attendants (of course) and immigration staff, etc. - it had been over 16 hours before I reached Munich and someone had spoken a word of English to me! It was really interesting. I even had a few people start talking to me in German, and then after my blank stare at them, they switched to a more inquisitive tone - "English?" LOL "Why yes, thank you!" More on German language later, but for now - another thing I like to do is take pictures of my food, and here are the 2 pictures of Lufthansa doing Vegetarian cuisine:
I had never been to Frankfurt before, but it is probably the largest airport I have ever seen - it seems like it goes on for miles and miles. And even with all that space, they still didn't have enough gates for the aircraft to park. So we exited on the tarmac with the giant 747 engines blaring in your ear as you boarded a bus that took you to the terminal. I experienced that in Malaysia before (with Air Asia, as all their flights are that way), but never been that close to a jumbo jet before! It was cool (and as you can see from the blog title, I'm easily amused :-))...
So I get to Frankfurt and immediately they make you go through more security. Also, because it's the European Union, you have to immediately go through customs before you make a connecting flight - so my actual entry was there, not Munich (to my surprise). Anyway, it took me about 45 minutes from deplaning to actually get to the gate of my next flight - and my stomach was NOT feeling good due to time changes and nerves, etc. But one thing I DO like about Frankfurt Airport, every single gate has their own bathroom - and it's private, and it's clean. So you don't have to share with 10,000 other people - if the one you go into is occupied, just go to the next gate. Bam, you're done. Total awesomeness...
So I get to the gate and realize that I need to get online. Oh wait - 8 euros for 60 minutes of Wifi????? WTF???? Orlando airport is free! Begrudgingly I paid because I wasn't going to spend 3 1/2 hours looking at other people talking on their mobiles...
But then it hit me, shortly after checking email. I was dead tired and I was crashing FAST. So I laid out on the seats and took me an hour nap - more like coma, I woke up drooling on my jacket and other people looking at me funny... Don't hate, I needed some rest! :-) So I finally board the aircraft (automatically I might add, Lufthansa does not actually have gate people take your ticket, you scan it yourself, interesting), and then head over to Munich. It was beautiful landing there - snow on the ground EVERYWHERE, it was so picturesque...
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Meeting with Raffael & Gabriel:
I get out of the plane (which was PACKED this time), waited 20 minutes for my luggage, exited the terminal and there was Raff waiting for me, looking dapper as ever. It was the first time I'd seen him in 13 years - and seriously, it's like nothing has changed between us. It's almost like yesterday that we were friends in High School - so much to talk about and catch up on our lives, we haven't stopped even to this point!! It's been great...
Raff and Gab are also vegetarian and FANTASTIC cooks! We had some really nice meals thus far - here are a few pictures of us eating last night when I arrived:
I must say Raff, Gab and their whole family are probably some of the nicest, most generous and most thoughtful people I've ever come across. Their so welcoming in allowing me to stay in their flat, which is AWESOME - brand new, fully decked out, very modern and clean. I almost want to move in :-) Here are a few pictures of the outside of their flat:
You can see the snow on the ground - actually it's funny because I pointed out to Gabriel that it was snowing, and he's like "no it's not". But I saw TWO Snowflakes fall!! I saw them!!!! Then he laughs and says "That't NOT snowing, Jeff!" LOL but to me it is!! I think the last time I saw it actually snowing (not just on the ground already) was 13 years ago, my last visit to Munich! So I was excited and I went outside to try and see the flakes again...
Needless to say, even after my embarrassing power nap in the FRA airport, I still crashed that night - and slept very well I might add...
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Travel to Austria - stop at Hanger 7
So this morning, I woke up and did a short yoga practice on my own - couldn't do a longer one becuase we had a busy day planned. We did have a really nice breakfast that Raff prepared for us. Porridge with fruit (a.k.a. oatmeal for my American friends), bread (including pretzels - which I LOVE :-) ), juice, tea, coffee, etc. Was really nice and laid back. Then we headed off on the Autobahn to spend the day in Salzburg, Austria. It had actually started to snow while we were driving, but not very much. However, the highway scenery was breathtaking - the pine trees covered with snow, the mountains, the lakes, etc. Truly fantastic IMO. Here's a few samples:
On the way we decided to stop at this place called "Hanger 7". It's a small aircraft museum that is literally right next to the Salburg Airport - you can hear and see the planes taking off on the runway right next to the museum. It was a really cool architeture design on the outside - looks like, ummm... not sure how to describe it - sort of like a big bubble I guess, made all out of glass. It's sponsered (and built and owned I think) by Red Bull - the very energy drink that we have in the states. Apparently this company has a lot (I mean a LOT) of money to spend. Here are some pics:
In addition, we had a quick hot chocolate / coffee in their small cafe called the "Mayday Bar", as it was VERY cold today (especially tonight while I write this). No my hot chocolate did not have Red Bull in it (don't like that stuff personally), but it was unusual in the sense of how it was presented. Pics are here:
They give you a glass of hot milk (soy milk for me) and this small ball of chocolate - I had the dark bitter chocolate. You stick the chocolate into the milk and stir it around. It melts, and then bam - you have hot chocolate! And it was very tasty!
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Travel to Austria - spend the day in Salzburg
So Salzburg is about a 2 hour drive from Munich - not bad, really, and as I mentioned before the drive is enjoyable. Once you get to the city, we parked inside a mountain!! How cool is that? A mountain converted into a parking garage with really low ceilings. I chuckled at the idea of an American getting his giant Hummer, F-150 truck, etc. even into the garage in the first place, much less navigating around it. So we exit and then walk around this amazing city (and remember it's VERY cold! My hands are freezing). You have such an incredible feeling of Old World Europe - like you are transported back in time to another era. I can just see the guys with the white wigs walking around, the horse drawn carts (actually I did see a horse drawn cart, but Raff says Vienna is more known for that). We walked through the town, into a cathedral, and even into a chapel that was like over 1,000 years old!! Amazing - again built into this mountain, you can see the old remenants of space that probably held an alter, and also a tomb. Here is some of the amazing architecture near the city center (I won't put subtitles, there are just too many, maybe just the important ones):
Raff and Gab showed me to a bakery they know that claims to be the oldest bakery in Salzburg for sure, but not positive on the comparison with other cities. Hundreds of years have gone by and bread is still made in that location in the same fashion - I had a pastry thing and it was GOOD! Here are some pics of that place, which don't really do it justice for the feeling you get:
Apparently there was some kind of carnival going on too, as we kept hearing the sounds of a marching band (actually marching bandS - many of them) playing all different kinds of music (I think the standard Eye of the Tiger comes to mind! :-) ).
Later, but we went off in search of some lunch and found it in a nice little restaurant - I had something, I can't remmeber what now, but it was good - here's a picture:
Salzburg is famous for many things, not the least of which is a famous composer who was born there - none other than Mozart, of course! You can see the house where he was born and the place where he used to live across the river:
We left around 4pm as it was starting to get dark. And we drove back to Munich. And I was happy :-)
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Dinner with the family
Tonight for dinner, Raff and I met up with his parents at their house for an awesome home cooked meal! This is the same house that I stayed in 13 years ago with his family, and as I was walking out of the car, around the bend and to their doorstep a flood of memories hit me. I am one of those types of people who feels energy from people and places, and I started to recall small details about my journey there so many years ago. His mom and dad are so gracious and sweet - I really loved spending time with them, talking about all sorts of different things. Here is a pic of all of us:
To my sister - she wants you and I both to visit again soon, so here's your invitation :-D
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Evening of Jazz
To end the evening, Raff invited me along to a small little jazz club just outside of Munich city center. It's called "Jazzclub Unterfahrt" and is such a chill, relaxed casual place. Check it out:
Jazzclub Unterfahrt
We saw an amazing piano player named Gwilym Simcock - he is British and it was cool to hear him start the evening talking to the audience in German. I could pick up enough to realize that he was saying his German was not good, then all of a sudden switches to his British accent. So I'm like "YAY I can know what his songs are about!" But seriously the guy is good and very creative - especially at improvisation. He was plucking the piano strings inside the piano itself at one point - again, easily amused here, right? :-p Here's his website:
Gwilym Simcock
The decision to attend this concert was spurred by the fact that I could go for some jazz, and that found him attractive :-) So I decided to go and meet him after the concert at the meet & sign. I bought his album and he signed it - he's a really nice guy (serious) and I bought it mostly because I liked the music first, second because I wanted to support him directly, and third... well, yeah :-p Don't hate :-D !!
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Tommorrow
So we have a fun filled day planned for tomorrow as well - having brunch with the family again, seeing sights around Munich and staying closer to home this time. This is such an amazing city that I want to reconnect with it directly again for one more day - thankfully I have the chance to do that...
I leave for Mumbai on Monday morning - so perhaps I will write more either tomorrow (if I have time) or later when I'm settled in India...
So far, having an amazing time!!!!! Sending love to all my family and friends back home - Namaste :-D
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