My last day in Munich & saying goodbye to Alex ;(

My last day in Munich, my last day in Freising, my last day in Bavaria, my last day with Alex ☹

If you didn’t get that by now, today was, in fact, my last day with Alex. I’m writing today’s summary currently on a train to Cologne, where my solo travels will officially officially begin. I thought I would feel more apprehensive about this than I do, I think because I’ll be staying in a hostel it won’t be a hotel or Airbnb where I’m actually alone. I feel like exploring Munich by myself with the base of being with Alex has been a good trial period on figuring out how to use the trains (ugh) whilst still being able to ask him for help. And I know I can still do that, but this does feel a bit more like big girl travel now. Originally I was supposed to be staying in Alex’s family’s apartment they own in Cologne, but unfortunately someone in the apartment has covid and although I’m sure my immune system of steel would hold up, I don’t want to try my luck. So yesterday afternoon whilst we were hanging out in a park I booked myself a bed at a hostel in Bonn, which is 20 minutes by train from Cologne. Hostels in Cologne are ridiculously expensive so this was a great solution that Alex suggested. Anyway, so that’s what’s happening now, let’s get into yesterday’s shenanigans!

I woke up yesterday morning at a reasonable hour for once, and didn’t allow myself procrastinating washing my hair. I refuse to do a travel day without clean hair, so this was absolutely a must do for the day. Then I spent an hour or so writing up my summary for the day before, which I hadn’t gotten around to doing. I got through it pretty quickly, even though there was a lot to cover, but I was so locked in it was great. I also had the motivation that Alex and I had planned to watch the last episode of season 2 of Bridgerton in the morning, so I was obviously very excited to do that. I honestly couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before (I think I mentioned this in yesterday’s edition) but at least he's getting an education now. He’s promised me he’ll binge the rest of the seasons and give me updates so I’ll let you know what he’s thinking as he goes. As we know I love Bridgerton (especially season 2) so I didn’t mind re-watching it at all 😉

After our little Netflix watching sesh, we walked into town to pick up some of Alex’s medications from the pharmacy and to get me some insect bite cream. The mosquitoes in Bavaria are seriously no joke, and since we’ve been keeping the windows open for ventilation purposes, I look like I’ve got chicken pox I swear. Luckily the pharmacist was the cutest woman alive and German insect cream is lethal, I think it’s a strong local anaesthetic. I put some on the bites on my knee and they definitely stopped itching, but it was because I lost feeling in the area, it was crazy. But hey, if it works then it works. I also got some cash out from a local bank to pay Alex’s landlord for letting him have a guest. He’s staying at a longterm Airbnb, so the rules about having an extra person there are a bit different to just a normal apartment. It wasn’t that much, but we’d been forgetting to get cash, so it was on the to do list of the day.

Back at the apartment we got some things together and decided to head into Munich for the rest of the afternoon. Alex wanted to take me to a garden in the city where they have urban surfing (not joking) and a beer garden (of course). The train leaving Freising was delayed but that actually worked out well, we ended up getting the earlier train that was supposed to have left 15 minutes ago but was so delayed we made it on. We sat on the top level of the train and got some lovely views coming into Munich from the countryside.

I think we made it into Munich around 3:30pm ish, and from the train station we walked down the road a bit to reach the bus station. Here we caught the 100 from there to the Englischen Garten (English Garden) and basically just followed the people to find where the surfers were. It was such a random setup I loved it. They use a river, then I guess the Munich council, or something put in an artificial wave in one section where the surfers practiced. It’s well known in Munich and at that time there were lots of people there to watch them. There was one surfer in particular who was really good, she could do full on spins and stuff it was so cool. Everyone else could stay up for a couple of seconds but she was really good. Also don’t mind my lack of great surfing vocab, we all know my knowledge of surfing is just absolute pro-level.

Once the surfing got a bit repetitive (didn’t take that long) we went for a walk in the park itself and got a cute German couple to take a photo for us on a bridge and they actually turned out pretty well. We continued through the park until we found a cute spot right next to the river to plonk ourselves down for a bit. We made sure to bring 2 towels and some snacks, and we had the cutest little set up to have a chill afternoon. We booked my hostel for the next night, ate our snacks, gossiped about people at home (mandatory) and made some Tiktoks (also mandatory). Eventually it was starting to get a bit chilly and we were getting a bit hungry, so we packed up our stuff and walked back through the park to find a tram. This was the first tram I’ve taken on the trip so far, and can confirm it’s still my favourite way to travel in a city, they’re so fun.

Our tram took us across the city, back past the train station to Augustiner-Keller Beer Garden. Alex said from the second I got to Freising that I could not leave without going to a beer garden. It’s not really something I want to do by myself, and since Alex had been sick pretty much up until today, I hadn’t had an opportunity to visit one. My first impression was that it was so much bigger than I thought it would be. From the outside it looked just like a little garden, and being right near the train station I wouldn’t have thought there’d be so much room right in the city. But it kept going back and back, I would say it would have a capacity of 400 or 500 easily.

We went to the self service area so Alex could explain to me how it worked. It was kind of like Ikea but for beer and food is the easiest way to describe the whole situation. The beer was pre-poured on a massive bench that you carry, along with your chosen food, to the checkout area to pay. Both the beer and food was way too much for me to eat over multiple days, let alone in one sitting. I’m not the biggest fan of beer either, and was a bit intimidated by the fact that they only had steins (1 LITRE) of the one Alex thought I would like the most. And to be honest, it wasn’t that bad, a solid 5-6/10. For someone who doesn’t like beer, I’d say that’s pretty high. There was so way I was actually going to finish it though, and Alex ended up having at least a third of it (we still didn’t get close to drinking all of it). And to think that in Oktoberfest most people would drink 5-6 of those. Absolutely wild. If anything I don’t think I would get that drunk, I would just immediately need to pee it all out.

We hung out at the beer garden for a while, it was such a good vibe there. People came right from work to catch up with friends, and sitting and eating under the shade of the trees was the perfect way to round out my time in Munich (and my time with Alex of course).

We caught the train back to Freising at around 8:30pm I’d say, and got back just after 9pm. And the sun had only just mostly set by this point. We spent a bit of time packing up everything and doing some last minute packing, then hung out for a bit while Alex had a nap. Honestly so proud of him for managing to get out for that long, especially after being so sick. It was such a great afternoon, but I know it must’ve been exhausting for him to be out and about for that long. Lots of love Alex you’re the best!

We finished off the night with some ice cream (necessary) then started Fellow Travellers. That show had been on my list to watch for ages, especially with both of us being massive Johnathan Bailey fans. Alex had already watched Fellow Travellers before, it was the first show he saw with Johnathan Bailey in it whereas mine was Bridgerton, so we were both taken aback watching the other’s show. Let’s just say they’re extremely different roles. I’m a big fan already, I’ll have to finish it when I’m in the same place for more than 3 nights. (Mum, I know you’re reading this, and I know we often watch shows together but I think you should leave Fellow Travellers off the list.)

The train today is pretty long, over 5 hours I think, and I’ve just hit the 1 hour mark into the journey. I’m going to have something to eat then try to have a little nap, I got up way too early this morning for what I’m used to. Excited to be in Bonn tonight and explore both there and Cologne.

Wish me luck!

Currently MIA,

Lauren x