Hbf

Two weeks from now, I'll be on my way back home, and I have no idea how I feel about that. So far, this trip has been amazing and unbelievably great, and I know the next two weeks will be, so I'm sad for it to be nearing completion. On the other hand, when I get back, it means I can see all my peeps back in AZ and it means that Columbia is only a moment away. Recently, I've been getting so excited for Columbia- it's going to rock! So those are my conflicting feelings about the future and its timetable.

On to my day! I left Salzberg this morning and caught the late-departing train to Munich. The ride should have only been about an hour and a half, but it ended up being two hours, but I didn't mind, because the countryside out here is mind-boggling. I would be completely content simply sitting in a train all day drinking up the views!

Upon arrival, I got to my dorm, the simply named Euro Youth Hotel, which stands very close to the station and looks nice enough. Then I was off to explore this large German city. It was about a 20 minute walk to get to the Marieplatz, which is a big plaza with a famous clock tower and tons of people. I walked briefly through there, worrying about pickpockets, and made my way to the Residenz, which is the palace that the royal family of Bavaria inhabited from about 1550 to 1918- pretty impressive! Like all palaces I've seen on this trip, it was a mass of overly ornate rooms and huge amounts of art and old furniture.

This one differed slightly in it's huge timeline, thus giving it many different architectural styles and so forth. I can tell you one thing, though, and that's that I would have loved to attend one of the huge banquets held there in the past. Also, this palace had a whole collection of porcelain China, in all different styles and colors, which was interesting. I think it's funny how huge of a fad Chinese and Japanese things were back in the 1700's. I guess temporary but crazed fashion has been around for quite a long time...

In the same palace, they also had a treasury museum, which held crowns, gilded swords, necklaces, and pretty much anything that could have diamonds or rubies placed on it. Again, a long range of styles were exhibited, and I thought that the crown jewel set of equipment was truly outstanding.

After a total of about 3.5 hours in the palace, I left and walked around some gardens that stand outside and soaked in the beautiful weather. By then, it was time to head back, so I walked again through the overly-populated streets back to the hostel, but I first stopped at a store to get some socks, as I have lost a couple pairs due to laundry debacles...

And that's all the news that is fit to print! Stay Classy!