Köln à la Ama
Monday, October 24, 2005
posted by eric at
10:47 PM
6 Comments
As I Lay Dying, Süßen Füssen, and Austrian Bus Nazis
As the end of our Vorbereitungs (Preparation) course neared, a few of us started throwing around the idea of taking advantage of five day gap to see a bit more of Germany. We really hadn’t solidified much in the way of a formal plan, until Wednesday afternoon when I got a call from Wes saying that the train to Munich was leaving in two hours and that I should get my stuff together and meet him, Kristen, Thom, and Rob at the Train Station. Having completed all the errands I needed to run, I thought why not. 
That night we checked into our Hostile and went to see a few hardcore (or posthardcore or metalcore or whatever) bands play. We got there a bit after doors, so we missed most of the first act, but caught all of Evergreen Terrace. Who put on a kick ass, albeit somewhat short, show. Then came the German metalcore band Heaven Shall Burn, whose hits include “Woice of the Woiceless”. Finally from the good ‘ole US of A came As I Lay Dying, who also put on an impressive but short show. Hardcore has unfortunately not caught on as much in Germany as it has in the States, so there were quite a few metal heads trying their hardest to throw their long greasy hair around and headbang to hardcore, as well as the 16 year olds that kept running on stage two at a time trying to shirtlessly crowd surf.
The next morning we ate as much of the complimentary breakfast as we could and set off for Fuessen nestled comfortably at the sweet of the Alps. We couldn’t get in touch with Mary by the time we left on Wednesday, so Wes had been trying and trying to get in touch with her. Eventually he was able to and she planned to hop a train in Bamberg and meet us in Fuessen. We checked into our Hostile and headed off to the Castle Neuschwanstein. Luckily Wes had been there before and remembered where to scale one of the adjacent mountains and get quite a picturesque view of the castle. We then took a German language tour of the castle, which was oddly made up of a bunch of other American college students. At this point it was getting rather late in the day and we were getting a bit concerned about Mary.
Wes was finally able to get a phone call through to her and we found out that she had gone to Suessen instead of Fuessen, which is practically half way across Bavaria. She was finally able to get to Fuessen and even though Mary had a terrible day, we still found it in our hearts to make fun of her with such clever phrases as “Man, my sweet really hurt from all that hiking.”
The next morning we bought our Bayern Tickets (explanatory note, the Bayern ticket allows the bearer and up to five others to ride all the trains except for the Inter City Expresses, as well as all public transportation in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany) and set off for Austria (which is a country next to Germany). When we got to Salzberg we got on a bus and asked the bus driver if the Bayern ticket was good here, to which the bus driver replied “yeah yeah whatever, just get on the bus.”
After getting jerked around by the Hostile, we set off to explore the city for a bit.
We went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress and took in the gorgeous city scape. We were able to sample a bit of the local culture by going to a local bar and later a disco. The bar unfortunately did not sell any of Salzburg’s world renown (and only the previous night invented by Thom and Wes) Salt-beer. Since we had been traveling and not really sleeping that well for the past several nights Kristen and Rob opted out of the disco, and Thom and I left early as it wasn’t really ‘our scene.’
The next morning we thought we would check out something “The Sound of Music” related, so we hopped on a bus and set out for the gardens. When we got on the bus we were confronted by the bus police who immediately asked for our tickets. Wes presented our Bayern tickets to which the bus Nazi replied, you’re in Austria; these tickets aren’t good here. Outraged, Wes inquired “where does it say on the Bayern ticket that it’s not good on Salzburg?” (Again Bayern is a state in southern Germany, and Salzburg is a city in Austria; a separate and sovereign country that is, for the moment at least, not part of Germany). As the conversation got louder and louder, Mary pointed out the fact that we had indeed asked a bus driver if we could use the Bayern tickets here and the bus driver indicated that we would be in fair use of the tickets. So, the bus overlord took Wes to the driver and made him ask if the Bayern ticket was enough to ride a bus in Salzburg. The bus driver said no, and Nazi McBus-pants said “See, you can’t use it. But you can’t really believe what the bus drivers say.” Facing a 60 Euro per person fine, needless to say we were a bit concerned. Fortunately Wes’ stubbornness paid off, and we got off buying a 6 person 24 hour bus pass for 25 Euros instead of 6 sixty euro Schwarzfahrer fines. Although it was a beautiful city Salzburg left a bitter taste in my mouth on the ride back to Bamberg.
That night we checked into our Hostile and went to see a few hardcore (or posthardcore or metalcore or whatever) bands play. We got there a bit after doors, so we missed most of the first act, but caught all of Evergreen Terrace. Who put on a kick ass, albeit somewhat short, show. Then came the German metalcore band Heaven Shall Burn, whose hits include “Woice of the Woiceless”. Finally from the good ‘ole US of A came As I Lay Dying, who also put on an impressive but short show. Hardcore has unfortunately not caught on as much in Germany as it has in the States, so there were quite a few metal heads trying their hardest to throw their long greasy hair around and headbang to hardcore, as well as the 16 year olds that kept running on stage two at a time trying to shirtlessly crowd surf.The next morning we ate as much of the complimentary breakfast as we could and set off for Fuessen nestled comfortably at the sweet of the Alps. We couldn’t get in touch with Mary by the time we left on Wednesday, so Wes had been trying and trying to get in touch with her. Eventually he was able to and she planned to hop a train in Bamberg and meet us in Fuessen. We checked into our Hostile and headed off to the Castle Neuschwanstein. Luckily Wes had been there before and remembered where to scale one of the adjacent mountains and get quite a picturesque view of the castle. We then took a German language tour of the castle, which was oddly made up of a bunch of other American college students. At this point it was getting rather late in the day and we were getting a bit concerned about Mary.
Wes was finally able to get a phone call through to her and we found out that she had gone to Suessen instead of Fuessen, which is practically half way across Bavaria. She was finally able to get to Fuessen and even though Mary had a terrible day, we still found it in our hearts to make fun of her with such clever phrases as “Man, my sweet really hurt from all that hiking.”The next morning we bought our Bayern Tickets (explanatory note, the Bayern ticket allows the bearer and up to five others to ride all the trains except for the Inter City Expresses, as well as all public transportation in Bavaria, a state in southern Germany) and set off for Austria (which is a country next to Germany). When we got to Salzberg we got on a bus and asked the bus driver if the Bayern ticket was good here, to which the bus driver replied “yeah yeah whatever, just get on the bus.”
After getting jerked around by the Hostile, we set off to explore the city for a bit.
We went up to the Hohensalzburg Fortress and took in the gorgeous city scape. We were able to sample a bit of the local culture by going to a local bar and later a disco. The bar unfortunately did not sell any of Salzburg’s world renown (and only the previous night invented by Thom and Wes) Salt-beer. Since we had been traveling and not really sleeping that well for the past several nights Kristen and Rob opted out of the disco, and Thom and I left early as it wasn’t really ‘our scene.’The next morning we thought we would check out something “The Sound of Music” related, so we hopped on a bus and set out for the gardens. When we got on the bus we were confronted by the bus police who immediately asked for our tickets. Wes presented our Bayern tickets to which the bus Nazi replied, you’re in Austria; these tickets aren’t good here. Outraged, Wes inquired “where does it say on the Bayern ticket that it’s not good on Salzburg?” (Again Bayern is a state in southern Germany, and Salzburg is a city in Austria; a separate and sovereign country that is, for the moment at least, not part of Germany). As the conversation got louder and louder, Mary pointed out the fact that we had indeed asked a bus driver if we could use the Bayern tickets here and the bus driver indicated that we would be in fair use of the tickets. So, the bus overlord took Wes to the driver and made him ask if the Bayern ticket was enough to ride a bus in Salzburg. The bus driver said no, and Nazi McBus-pants said “See, you can’t use it. But you can’t really believe what the bus drivers say.” Facing a 60 Euro per person fine, needless to say we were a bit concerned. Fortunately Wes’ stubbornness paid off, and we got off buying a 6 person 24 hour bus pass for 25 Euros instead of 6 sixty euro Schwarzfahrer fines. Although it was a beautiful city Salzburg left a bitter taste in my mouth on the ride back to Bamberg.
Labels: austria, Germany, Kristen, Log, mary, Munich, Neuschwanstein, ron, saltzburg, Thom, wes
posted by eric at
6:50 AM
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Würzburg and the Fränkische Schweiz
The Auslandsamt organized a trip to Würzburg for a tour of the city, the Residenz, and a sampling of the finest of Frankische wines. The Residenz was impressive, but unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside. During the tour of the city we were shown a memorial to all those who perished during bombing raid that destroyed Würzburg. The city was completely leveled by the RAF in massive bombing raid lasting something like 22 minutes, meaning that the residents had no where to run. Unfortunately, as the reader can probably tell from the photos, it was overcast cold and rainy all day. Fortunately, the last part of our visit to Würzburg was the wine tasting which could be comfortably enjoyed indoors. We only sampled four different wines, but that was enough to inebriate most of the internationals. Needless to say the bus ride home was more than a little entertaining.
The next weekend we took a simple ride to the Fränkische Schweiz and explored the ‘Devil’s Hole’ and took a hike through the mountains. Several of the internationals had gone out the previous night and those who actually woke up in time to make the bus were exhausted for the entire day.
The next weekend we took a simple ride to the Fränkische Schweiz and explored the ‘Devil’s Hole’ and took a hike through the mountains. Several of the internationals had gone out the previous night and those who actually woke up in time to make the bus were exhausted for the entire day.
posted by eric at
6:39 AM
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