First blog post with my new iPad on the way to Africa. So far the karma is with us. Our trip started with a ride to the airport by a shuttle taxi driver, who just happens to call Cape Town his home. We told him to drive slow and picked his brain. He gave us a complete history of South Africa plus a few tips to stay safe. Our flights have been right on time so far, and we enjoyed a very civilized wine and cheese stopover in Montreal before catching a red eye to Munich.
Ten hours in Munich and wouldn’t you know, it’s the last day of Carnival. The first sign that something might be off was the witch I saw through the train window. The drunk on the train should have given us some hint too.
Munich city centre is only a 40 minute train ride from the airport. An all-day group pass, good for 2-5 people will set you back 23.50 Euro, but some guy sold me his pass for 20 and made me worry all day it wasn’t a scam.
Our flights from Canada were pleasant enough but neither of us slept last night, so we’re pretty tired. No point in wasting a good stopover though. We took the train to Union Central and then realized we’d gone a couple stops too far. Normally we would just walk but its +2 C and raining/snowing so we took the train again.
Munich is a bit crazy right now. Good on these Germans to be out with crazy costumes, drinking wine from the bottle and watching lip synching dancers, all in the icy cold rain. We’re told there were a million people on the streets yesterday when it was +12 and sunny.
We only have a few hours so we do a cold wet walk-about and then duck in for bit of German food. There’s a sale on white Bavarian sausages – 1 Euro each, usually 2.40. A friendly couple beside us takes over ordering for us. When we tell them we’re Canadian they order another beer. “Trudeau” he says, “we love Trudeau.” So do we 🙂 Not that other guy so much. How did the convo turn to politics so quickly? We changed the subject.
We eat sausages and pretzels and wash them down with beer to accompaniment of the oom pa pa singers. People around us are in Day 7 of their crazy costumes and you can tell they’ve forgotten how they look. It’s a bizarre introduction to Germany.
In spite of the intense partying, this is the cleanest city I’ve ever been in. Not a cigarette butt or piece of trash in sight. It’s what I expected of the Germans. Our new friends at the dinner table showed us photos of their town, with a beautiful ski hill in the Alps – a 30 minute train ride from city centre. There are drunks galore, but a few menacing looking (they’re German after all) but friendly police to look after it all.
We got back on the train to the airport. One more 12 hour flight to Cape Town. Hope we sleep on this one.
