Sorry for the couple of days silence. The free wi-fi dried up and I decided to skimp on paying for internet so I could spend more of my Euros on the wondrous places I still have left to see. Instead, you get treated to an ultra-long blog post written gradually as I have travelled. This way, you still get the same quality but it all comes at once. Exciting? Yes! I will date the entries for you so you can unstand when they were written.
However, there is much sadness hanging over this blog post. My laptop has begun to show its age and refuses to connect to wi-fi. It is the second casualty in the trip, following my Ipod wiping itself of all 784 songs on the third day. As such, unless my laptop decides to fix itself (trust me, I have tried everything, it does not pick up the wi-fi I am on right now and I am sitting right next to it.) I will have to rely upon the good will and spare time of other delegates to borrow a laptop off them. Blog posts may become more like this one, unfortunately.
Day 8: Salzboug and Munich
It was sad to be leaving Vienna after only such a short stay. So much to see, so little time. We were all exhausted and slept our way through most of the morning bus trip until we arrive in Salzbourg, home of The Sound of Music. One of our facilitators, Jackie, showed off her experience by being our actual tour guide because Rob had not seen the movie. Truth be told, I can't remember the movie so most of the "this area was in the film in the scene where..." was totally lost on me. But hey, still an amazing city.
Once we were let lose into the city, I joined a group who climbed the highest and steepest hill in all of Salzbourg to reach the Salt Castle. The castle was absolutely incredible, we could see all of Salzbourg and it was just massive. Although, I think the most impressive part of the castle was the walk up. If you want to lose weight and get fit, try walking it. It actually hurts. A lot. I am going to regret that in the morning. Once we returned to normal altitude, our group grabbed some food at a little market stall. Hot tip I should have shared with you earlier: Market style food stalls (like ones set up on streets) are a great place to get a cheap lunch with the same awesome food quality. There were many laughs as our delegation continued to stumble our way through native languages.
On the bus trip to Munich our tours for the next day were drawn. The two tours were the concentration camp Dachau and Mad King Ludwig's castle, Neuschwanstein. I have loved Neuschwanstien since I first saw a picture of it in year 5 (2004) and I have been hoping to get lucky and get into that tour. Lady Luck smiled upon me today and I will be getting up bright and early tomorrow to go see Neuschwanstien. There will be many pictures I promise you - not to mention souvenirs.
When we arrived at the hotel we met some very interesting people. After last night's drunken Slovenians trying to chat up one of the girls in our delegation, we had thought we had seen it all. We were wrong. These guys looked and acted tough. Most of us have a fear of being out in the corridors alone because of our neighbours. I think the whole group were very happy to get out of the hotel.
For dinner we visited the legendary Hofbrauhaus, home of the one-litre beers. I don't drink, so whilst many of the others (mostly the boys) were attempting to out perform each other by drinking those beers, I had a very average meal. I think the beer is why it is so legendary, as are the traditional German outfits worn by waitresses and some customers. I have since discovered I do not like drunk people, even those slightly tipsy, who are rowdy. It is almost a fear of them. I am so glad no one in my room tonight decided to drink. Until tomorrow....
Day 9: Munich - Neuschwanstein
Hi again! I didn't write last night. I have a killer cold that has my sinuses clogged up. Last night I felt so bad I couldn't think straight and just crawled into bed and slept. Still, don't feel too crash hot now, but I need to write sooner rather than later.
SO it turns out, I did regret walking up that hill. Not only was I really sore this morning but when we arrive at Neuschwantstein we had to walk up another really big hill to get to it. That hurt, a lot more than yesterday and I'm not sure whether I'm sore from being sick or from climbing hills. Probably a bit of both.
Neuschwanstein is a beautiful place, picturesque to say the least. There we snow on the mountains and the air was so clean. A waterfall flowed through the forest and it was just captivating, this white castle in such a landscape. It looked like it actually belonged there. There aren't may pictures of Neuschwanstein itself as photos of the interior were prohibited. I think the saddest part of the castle is that it was never finished, as Ludwig died after spending only 10 days in the bed chambers inside Neuschwanstein.
When we returned, we enjoyed some free time around Munich. Unfortunately, my friend in Munich, Christina, was busy when we had the free time so I was unable to meet up with her. Despite this disappointment I did have a lot of fun. For dinner some people went back to the Hofbrauhaus but I went with another group to an amazing bistro/cafe. When I got home I crawled into bed and slept. Good times.
Day 10: Strasbourg
aToday was a terrifying, hilarious and overall interesting day. It all started in the lift when I was hit on, along with Jackie and one of the other girls in the delegation by two drunk German men. It was very scary and I can assure you I was exceptionally pleased to get out of that hotel this morning. My fear of drunks has definitely been confirmed.
The bus trip was a productive one indeed. We all worked on our resolutions for the actual THIMUN conference and received an amazing lecture from Jules, another of our facilitators, on the European Union. Today marked the beginning of our educational part of the tour with a meeting with the staff of on of the UK delegates on the Parliament of the European Union. It was an incredibly interesting lecture and the next thing we knew we were in France.
Strasbourg is a lovely city, very quiet. However, I feel so out of place as everyone else in the delegation speaks a little french whilst I am totally in the dark. Not to mention my fashion sense has been called into question. No offence to the French Fashion culture, but who cares what I wear, provided it isn't overly revealing and serves the purpose of keeping me warm, what does it matter if I wear a designer coat or polar fleece?
We met with the staff this evening over dinner. It was interesting to hear some interesting anti-EU policies and some very humorous remarks. We debated policy and belief and it was all extremely intellectual and engaging. A lot of fun indeed.
Well it is late, I should be going now. Lovely to chat. Geneva tomorrow :D
Elyse
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