Well last weekend was really fun for me, I didn't want to leave so soon but school comes first. My trip started waking up at 6 a.m. so that I could comfortably catch my train to Helsinki at 7:32. I made it to the train station about 20 minutes before departure so I just hung out inside until it came. The train was fine until we kept stopping about half-way through for unknown reasons. Unknown for me because when they would update me on what was happening it would be in Finnish. The only thing I was worrying about is catching my plan on time at 1:10. The train ride ended up taking 3 hours when it was suppose to only take 2. So I arrived into Helsinki at about 10:20 and I didn't know what bus to take to the airport or where it was. I heard the bus takes about 30-45 mins to get to the airport, so I was hurrying to find out information. I tried to find an information booth, but I came about the public transportation reception desk. He told me the general area and what bus to take. I tried to follow his directions but I found myself running in a circle. I went into the Holiday Inn to find better directions and she was a lot more helpful. So it took me 30 mins to find the bus, so now it was about 11. I get there at about 11:40 and there is a huge line at the check-in, but I was smart enough to do my online check-in the night before so I had already printed off my boarding pass. So I skip the line and the security check line was very short. I happen to trigger off the metal detector, so I had to be padded down thoroughly... But I made it with plenty of time to spare before my flight boarded so I was relieved. The flight was very nice. They surprised me with a meal and great service, I was very pleased with my experience. When I arrived in Munich I contacted my two friends to let them know I flew in and to meet me at the hostel in about an hour. I found the subway that lead me to the main station, which was where my hostel was located, fairly quickly. I met this couple that helped me out with subway ticket and since they bought a short-trip ticket that includes up to 5 people they said to include me, so I rode for free. I found my hostel fairly quickly and it was very nice and accommodating. The price was very cheap for the quality we got. Once the guys got back and I put my stuff away we were off to our first destination.
We decided to go see Olympic park. Once you get off the subway and come up to street level you can see the place where the athletes stayed. This is the same place the terrorist shooting was of the Israel team. We made our way to the main area where we saw the massive swimming center, and the park outside. After searching for about 10 minutes we found where the track stadium was. By that time it was dark and the stadium was closed. But we were able to find this guy working for the catering service and he was entering the stadium to drop-off something. We asked if we could go in while he was in there and just take a couple of photos, he said he would only be 2 mins but that's fine. We ran into the stadium and checked it out. Such a sight! It was so big, seeing all the rows of empty seats and then the track, it was very cool. As we were hanging out taking pictures we hear the guy leave, so now we are locked inside. That didn't really worry us, so we just started to take more pictures. We tried to find a way onto the track (which you are not suppose to do), and were successful jumping a fence. We ran down the stadium stairs right onto the track. I ran around the track with my hands up in the air looking up at the huge empty stadium, I couldn't imagine the feeling winning the race with thousands of people watching you. I was so excited to be on the track. We took some more pictures of all of us and decided that we should probably head out since we were not suppose to be in there in the first place. We jumped the fence and proceeded to our next destination that involved beer and food. Yum!
Our next destination was the Hofbrauhaus, which was a big tourist sight and the old watering whole of Hitler's. It was very lively inside with a mixture of tourists and local Bavarians. They were wearing their traditional German outfits that you see from the movies and a live band playing the typical German music, which is just what I wanted. They just had these long benches with a long table to sit at. The whole place was full but we ended up finding one empty one. We also found some others visiting for the weekend they were studying abroad in Vienna and London and are from the East coast originally. We started our meal by ordering the darkest liter of beer they had. The waiter comes back with like 8 liter sized mugs for all of us. We cheersed or "prost" in German and enjoyed this authentic German experience. The food arrived and I ordered the pork knuckle with two dumplings, so good!!! I thought it tasted more like Turkey but nevertheless it hit the spot. The whole meal was a success and affordable which was awesome for us.
We headed back to the hostel and were looking for places to go out that night. We ended up walking around a lot not finding the destination we were looking for. We kept asking locals but we would get mixed directions and they kept recommending other places. We ended up coming back to the bar at our hostel where it was packed. Sean and I even participated in a little karaoke where we blew the crowd away. After that we headed to bed at about 3:30 am to get some rest for Halloween day.
The next day we make it out to Marienplatz (old town) to go on this free bike tour. But the guy never shows up but we did get to see the Glockenspiel in full form. Everyone in the platz gathers around to watch it go off at 12 or 5. That was a very cool experience. After the guy didn't show up we decided to go to Dachau and see the concentration camp. It's about a 15-20 min subway ride outside of the main city center. Once we got there we had the option to take a bus or walk the path the prisoners took from the train station to the concentration camp. So we chose to walk it. There were boards of information and pictures all the way down the path with tons of historical information. When we arrived at the concentration camp there had already been a ton of history thrown at us. The camp was pretty big. We started looking through the prison then main area where most on the information was. With all the disturbing history thrown at you it drains you emotionally. All of these terrible stories of torture and death, makes for a very impactfulexperience. We looked at the barracks where they lived and the Crematorium where the corpses were burned. It took about 3 hours to look at all the sites inside of the concentration camp. It's not a pleasing way to spend your day but it involves so much history that you have to see when you're visiting the Munich area.
When we got back to our hostel it was about 5:30 pm and Billy had to go back to Heidelberg. Sean and headed out to the famous English Garden. Unfortunately it was dark so I wasn't able to get some great pictures but it was a beautiful area. It was a huge park full of green grass and huge trees. The colorful leaves were scattered everywhere and there was a river/creek that ran through the park. Sean and I sat by the river with some wine and hung out for about an hour. We tried to grasp in all of the beautiful landscape the English Garden had to offer.
After the Garden we went off to get something to eat. Our destination was the Augustiner. Another really cool place with a band playing the traditional German/Bavaria music, and there was also some special party going on where once again everyone was dressed up in their traditional German outfits. Sean and I enjoyed the food, beer, and atmosphere once again it was another great experience. For dinner we got duck, pork knuckle, beef and pork bratwurst. We also had a bed of sauerkraut and red cabbage. With our 1 liter mugs of beer this was one true German/Bavarian meal. Everything was once again delicious, so we decided to get dessert. Fried apples with creme and chocolate drizzled over the top. Also very good. The Augustiner exceeded both Sean and I expectations and were very pleased with everything.
During the night we made it out to a club. Apparently there is a holiday that only Bavaria only celebrates and clubs are not suppose to be open and prevent acts of dancing. But the clubs are able to have private parties that if you send an email to them then you will be put on a guest list and that is the only way to get it. Luckily, we found a place that I guess doesn't follow those rules and we went there. At the end of night we found ourselves going to bed at 3 am again and flight left at 8:50 am... I woke up at 6:30 and made my way to the airport. Even with the lack of sleep I was able to function and make it to my flight in time with no problems again.
I took the same airlines back and they provide coffee, mochas, lattes even before you get on the plane for free! Which totally bump them a notch on in my book. The flight and service was great again, very pleased. I arrived in Helsinki without a time schedule at about 12:45 pm. I wanted to see the city thoroughly this time because I have only been able to see a glimpse before. I was able to take a bus straight to Olympic park, yes, that makes two Olympic parks in one weekend. Helsinki held the Olympics in 1952 in case you didn't know. Once again it was a very cool sight, I saw FinnAir stadium which is a huge soccer stadium. 4 practice soccer fields surround the stadium. I also got into the track stadium and onto the track once again. I just walked past the booth and no one stopped me. I proceeded out the doors and into the track stadium right onto the track. I didn't run around it this time but I was on it. After seeing Helsinki's Olympic stadium I walked all through Helsinki. Saw the nation Finnish opera house, the Senate square and cathedral (which is huge and has lots of stairs leading up to it), Kiasma-Museum of Contemporary Art, and downtown. The city is a lot bigger than Tampere, so much more going on. I walked around for about 3-4 hours before decided to take the train back to Tampere. I arrived into Tampere at about 8 pm local time. Where I proceeded to start my long sleep to make up for my lack of sleep that weekend.
This was a very cool experience I enjoyed so much I didn't want to come back to Tampere. I saw so much in the matter of 3 days and 2 nights. But now it's back to school and taking care of some business. I cannot ever forgot about this experience it was just so cool. I got the experience I wanted and then some. Plus, I got to see Sean which made it very rememberable. In 2 weeks on the 13th of November will be my next trip to Stockholm, Sweden. I will be meeting up with Sean again and hopefully we can make the most of our time there. Until then I have a paper and an exam to worry about. But at least I have something to look forward to!
Moy moy
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