The Top Floor Flat

So I’ve managed to let nearly a week go by since my return to the UK without giving a proper update about Germany and Austria.

First of all, it was an absolutely amazing trip, I had such a good time.  I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was because I was visiting two of my friends from uni who are both living there teaching English.  On Thursday morning, I flew into Munich to meet up with Gretchen and took the Munich-lite tour of the city which mostly consisted of looking at buildings and drinking coffee.  I had a ridiculously hectic week leading up to my trip, including several nights in a row when I was out past 1am and up early the next day so as much as I wanted to run through the entire city, hitting every museum and tourist attraction, I was mostly content with just the (gorgeous) city centre, market and park.  For dinner that night we had a traditional meal at a German restaurant with a fancy sausage plate – I’m not sure what all of the sausages were but I definitely had at least one version of blood sausage.  They were all delicious, though and it turned out we’d ordered way too much food when our main courses (beef goulash for me) arrived after the sausages, pretzels and beer.

Gretchen had planned for us to go to a German nightclub in her town of Rosenheim, about an hour outside Munich, but we got to her flat and I pretty much passed out, exhausted after travel and my preceding week.  Twelve hours later, I woke up completely refreshed and ready for our long train journey to Imst, Austria, a small town of about 9000 people about 40 minutes away from Innsbruck where we were meeting our other friend from school, Shelley.  We reached Imst mid-afternoon after a relaxing morning and train ride through the Alps.  It was amazing to see the landscape change – Rosenheim is just at the start of the mountain range but Imst is on the side of a mountain in the middle of serious Alps.  There were snow-covered peaks all around and it was ridiculously gorgeous.

Shelley took us on a tour of Imst which was adorable and I was continually reminded how lucky I was that my two friends were fluent in German as I would have been totally lost.  That evening, Shelley had invited a number of his new friends over for a Baracktoberfest party in honour of the recent election and the fact that we had missed Oktoberfest.  It was great just to hang out with my friends from school and equally amazing that the three of us were thousands of miles from Colby and whenever I looked out a window I was greeted by a snowy mountain range.

I got to meet the mountain up-close and personally the next morning when a teacher at Shelley’s school took us on a hike up a nearby mountain.  It was a glorious day with hardly a cloud in the sky and we spent about five hours hiking up and back down the mountain.  Unfortunately our timing was a little off – the alm at the top of the mountain that is open during the summer and winter and sells homemade cheese and dairy products from the cows they keep on the mountain was closed.  The view was spectacular, however, and we enjoyed it for as long as we could without getting too cold, then headed back to Imst.

After our mountain climbing excursion, we took the train to Innsbruck.  Unfortunately it was already dark by the time we got there but even in the evening the town was clearly adorable.  I’m definitely going to have to go back sometime soon to get the full feel of the town – we walked by a castle, churches, along little cobbled streets and a ridiculous number of delicious-looking restaurants.  We ended up having a traditional Austrian meal at a restaurant that, we were told, had the best winer schnitzel in town and hung out at the bar just chatting about Colby, our current adventures and how much fun we’re having.

The next day Gretchen and I had an early start on the train back to Rosenheim which gave us enough time to properly show me around her town which I hadn’t really seen when I came through the first time.  I was continually stunned throughout my entire trip at the character and community of the towns we passed through on the train and where we stayed.  The churches in particular, with their turnip shaped towers and colourful decorations made each town feel unique but at the same time part of the overall German or Austrian country.  After a nice lunch with Gretchen and her boyfriend, it was back on the train to Munich to head to the airport and to catch my plane home.

It makes such a difference to be able to travel to a city where I am staying with friends, in particularly ones who know the language.  I had a fun German language lesson with Gretchen and I definitely want to try to pick up a few more phrases… as I have no doubt I’ll be going back soon.