First off, let me clear the air because I know what you’re all thinking: YES, I am 2,683% aware that my Mendi hashtag for Munich is quite unfortunate. No, I will not change it.
IT IS WHAT IT IS.
Okay now that the elephant has been graciously escorted out of the room, let us begin!
Here’s my Snapchat story from Day 1 in Munich:
And now some fotografías. Our first order of business was to go to the BMW Welt Museum for the Factory tour!
Okay, I’m not going to lie, I was severely jetlagged at that point, so there may have been 5 second periods on the tour when I legitimately fell asleep standing up. Sorry, BMW… I swear, the tour was ACTUALLY quite exciting/riveting – Scout’s Honor!!
Beautiful/interesting architecture of the BMW Welt Museum:
Cool cars parked out front:
Rolls Royce… meh, I personally prefer the Aston. (cuz, y’know, I can easily afford all of these cars.)
OUTTA THE WAY… Roadhog Mendi comin’ through!!!
Afterwards, Anna and I were completely famished, so we strolled to the famous Beer Hall, Hofbrauhaus!
The nature of a Hofbrauhaus is that everyone sitting in the beer hall is equal, royalty and common folk alike.
Here’s Anna (my Amsterdam friend) and me drinking our German beers!
I’ve actually been attempting vegetarianism for the past month or so, but… c’mon, it is like written law in the German constitution or something that you have to eat sausages there.
Chubby McMendi posing in the bustling beer hall (Apologies to all the fashionistas out there, but yes, I am quite literally wearing the same red coat for the ENTIRE trip. #sorrynotsorry #carryonluggagelife)
Okay, Day 2 in Munich. And I kid you not guys, this is the day that changed my life.
You’ll see why here in the Snapchat story:
Context setting now: Everyone who knows me knows I’m a Disney FANATIC… I love everything about their movies, theme parks, etc.
The Disney Castle was built based upon a famous castle in Germany, called Neuschwanstein. Back in college, I stumbled upon a photo of the castle, and forevermore the Neuschwanstein castle would be on my travel bucket list. I’d be kidding if I said I didn’t build this entire Eurotrip around my pilgrimage to Neuschwanstein.
So TODAY WAS THE DAY. You can ask Anna – I was so incredibly giddy before the tour, and then was riding a wave of euphoria for the entire day afterwards…
But first, breakfast at a bakery. German bakeries are no joke, dudez…
Our tour was hosted by a fantastic guide named Austin (who comes from Dallas, Texas). He was so freaking hilarious with his historical recounts of the castle and its creator, King Ludwig II of Bavaria (who, although rumored gay, I’m quite irrevocably in love with.)
We first took a 2 hour train out to the castle. Beautiful scenic views of the German countryside.
We stopped at a cute little town at the foot of the hill the castle was perched on. In the below photo, you can see the tiny tiny castle off in the distance. FIND NEUSCHWANSTEIN – GO!
We went to a restaurant/bar with the following sign… OH GERMANS…
OMG IT’S SO CLOSE YET SO FAR. I had to use epic zoom on my phone to capture this photo… with all the pixels it almost looks like a painting (totally what I was going for, duh…)
Going up the hill to the castle, this was the view:
Ahhhh I’m in love!!! ❤ Look at how the fall foliage accentuates all the beauty and splendor *_*
So a brief narrative about the story of King Ludwig II (because I’m pretty much obsessed with his story): King Ludwig II succeeded the throne of Bavaria at the young age of 18. He was a romantic, preferring nighttime over daytime, and a lover of Richard Wagner’s operas, so much so that he wined-and-dined Wagner and housed him in his palaces. He never married, which was why he was thought to be gay. Ludwig II withdrew from a lot of the state affairs during his rule in order to pursue extravagant artistic and architectural projects, like Neuschwanstein castle.
Since he spent so much of Bavaria’s money on building these palaces, his ministers plotted to have the court declare him insane (which he definitely wasn’t). A day after he was detained and confined to his childhood-home-converted-insane-asylum, he “mysteriously dies” from drowning in a lake with the doctor who diagnosed him with insanity. Eeeeerie, no?
Guys, seriously, his story is legitimately fascinating (see: Wikipedia article on Ludwig II). Our tour guide Austin did an amazing job keeping a person who HATED EVERY SINGLE HISTORY CLASS EVER engaged and in some cases completely absorbed by Ludwig II’s story.
Like no joke, I got so much Ludwig II paraphernalia and you’ll see later on I seize every opportunity to take pictures of Ludwig II’s face. (not creepy at all…) His story is just so romantic but heartbreaking at the same time…
OH YEAH, Austin also told us a hilarious story about Ludwig II’s horny old grandfather Ludwig I…
Ludwig I, even though married, would often invite “beautiful women from all around the country”, rich or poor, to get their portraits painted at his palace. He told skeptics he just wanted to “collect their beauty”. Rightttt, horny grandpa….. The house you bought that poor girl after you “collected her beauty” was totally out of the goodness of your heart. Totally.
This one girl, Lola Montez (who was quite literally a Spanish exotic dancer) was said to have shown Ludwig I a trick that blew his mind – SO MUCH SO that he paraded her around as his mistress openly.
Want to know the trick?
… Well he allegedly asked her if her “bosom was real”… She was wearing a corset at the time… and she walked over, grabbed a sharp letter opener, and sliced open her corset from the front. In the words of Austin, our tour guide: “Boobs and a little danger? What more could you want!”
Absolutely hysterical. Remember this story… it will come back later on in this post.
Here’s the balcony view from Neuschwanstein Castle. FIT FOR A KING. Or a Princess Mendi.
After the trip to the castle, I was quite inspired to get myself a German hat similar to what Austin was wearing…
This is my sexy yodeler’s look – YODELAY~~~~OOO~~~ AYYY~~ HEE HOOOO…
… I didn’t buy it. Too ridiculous.
Okay, next morning, we decided to visit Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, where a lot of my Ludwig I/II stories come full circle.
Here’s the snapchat story of the entire day (we also traveled to Salzburg):
Gorgeous interiors.
Anna and I totally did not know NOR DID WE PLAN THIS… but as we were strolling through the Palace… we stepped into a room and looked around.
What did we see? PORTRAITS OF “BEAUTIFUL WOMEN FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY”.
OH MY DEAR LORD, FRIENDS, WE HAD STUMBLED UPON HORNY OLD GRANDPA’S COLLECTION OF BEAUTIES.
… AND REMEMBER LETTER-OPENER-CORSET-LADY, LOLA????
This is her.
Like no offense… but really!?!??! HER?!?!?!? -_- I don’t understand men.
Also around the palace are countless photos/paintings of my main man, King Ludwig II. #obsessed
During one of his favorite past times: nighttime horse riding.
Still obsessed with him.
Right after the palace, we caught a 2-hour train to go to SALZBURG!!!
I’ve been so excited to visit Salzburg, just because of how beautiful everyone says it is. I did hear from a friend that because of the refugee crisis, Salzburg has been completely swarmed with people… People have been trying to get to Germany through Austria, and Salzburg was a popular transfer point.
When we arrived at the Salzburg train station, we saw this huge Red Cross tent:
The city center had no trace of any such activity.
Our first stop in Salzburg was the Mirabell Gardens, which was a place where the DoReMi song in The Sound of Music was filmed! This was the fountain they danced around:
After, we visited Mozart’s childhood home (though he traveled 1/3 of his life).
Salzburg is a GORGEOUS town, with mountains surrounding it.
Anna captured me being a typical tourist.
I was trying to take a panoramic but messed up. A cool picture resulted:
The next morning, Anna and I hit up some other tourist spots, like Mozartplatz, where the statue of Mozart stood.
Here’s a photo montage of my excitement.
St. Peter’s Cemetary. All the headstones were gorgeous…
A gorgeous Cathedral:
I stood there stupidly for like 3 minutes trying to take the perfect symmetrical photo of the ceiling:
At Residenzplatz in Salzburg, there’s an art structure of a golden sphere with a man standing on top. A little eerie at first glance, but after admiring it, I saw it as empowering.
I call this below photo: BOY MEETS WORLD.
That would be a good tagline for my travels: GIRL MEETS WORLD.
Next up, it’s time for Girl to Meet Vienna.
the wanderlust is real. 