We are running a bit behind with our blogs. Last month, the beginning of july, we could enjoy a long weekend travelling from Switzerland the 6 hours by car to Munich and further on to Tirol in Austria. Again we were following our spiritual master Paramahamsa Vishwananda who was giving one darshan (a personal blessing) in Munich and 2 in Austria. In Munich we stayed in a pretty decent and cheap (great value for money) hotel in Pasing, Hotel Alte Post. It is close to the train station and in about 10 min. by train you can reach the CBD.
Just after arriving we had to hurry up to, get dressed and ready for the darshan. It was an amazing event. As there were many tourists in the area and the side doors of the hall were all open due to hot weather, a lot of people who passed by, stopped, had a look into the hall and asked us what was happening there. They had been attracted by the music (kirtan and bhajans). Lots of them loved the atmosphere and spontanously joined us, some even went to the darshan. They all were really flashed by the presence of Paramahamsa Vishwananda.
The next morning we had a lazy breakfast. Right after it was shopping time. No - no clothes. Every time we are in Germany we take the advantage to go the supermarkets and drugstores as it is so much cheaper than in Switzerland. And, we even get the tax back at the border! So we filled our car with shampoo, floor cleaner, spaghetti, flour and all those things you need at home. Then it was time for some sightseeing. We took the local train to downtown Munich from Pasing. After 10 min. we were bang in the middle of the city.
It has been a long time that we have been to Munich. I, Nina, studied here for 6 month (before I choose to change university as it was much too expensive to live as a student) and Markus has visited Munich mainly only for business meetings. So we took the chance for a real touristy day. It was a bit of a tough day for sightseeing as the Christopher Stree Day was loudly occupying the whole center of town. Anyway, we walked from the train station to the Stacchus, the starting point of the main shopping area in Munich. We went to the famous Frauenkirche and finally arrived at the Marienplatz. Further on we went to the Altes Rathaus and the Peter Church before we reached the Rindermarkt. After a quick ice cream stop we visited the Viktualienmarkt. It is a shame this market has really lost its old charm of the locals. It is just full of tourists and all of them heavily drinking already at lunch. We continued to the Isartor and went to the Praterinsel. From here you have a nice view of the Bavarian Parliament and the Isar, the beautiful river through Munich. We continued over the Maximiliansstrasse - a street for the rich and famous. To observe all the Gucchi, Boss and whatever top-label buyers, we decided to settle down in the shade (it was hot!) of a cozy
café, drink an incredably expensive cappuccino and just watch the life going buy. That was extremely entertaining. We are not really into film stars and celebraties, especially not the bavarian one. But for sure some of them were passing by (it looked like). Lots of cars with dark windows, expensively dressed people (wow, women really do buy these Manolo Blanik shoes - and lots of women do that!), lots of wanna-be-famous ones and some rich tourists trying to take part in the game. For us, this was moving time. After one cappuccino for each of us (which we really drank slowly), we could not afford a second one and moved on Max-Joseph-Platz and to my favourite place, the Odeonsplatz. Unfortunately, this area was full of stands for the CSD. But I love this area for its atmosphere and the stunning old architecture. We enjoyed some time in the Hofgarten before we walked back to the train station. It was late afternoon on a saturday. People in the strees were mainly drunk, there were some demonstrations around town against political topics and against refugees. The atmosphere turned weird and as the situation in Germany is not really pleasant at the time (I just want to mention some terror attacks and a lot of smaller incidents which mainly are not mentioned in the media) we decided to quickly leave downtown.
Anyway, our aim that day was to drive to Austria that evening to our next destination: Hall near Insbruck. It is just a 2 hour drive on the highway through the pretty south bavarian landscape.
In Hall we build up our home on the campsite. It was quite a decent campsite, a bit full (well, it was the beginning of the summer school holidays in Europe). But we had a quiet spot, clean and hot showers. That was enough for us.
In the evening, we went a bit further up a little hill in town to a beautifully located restaurant with views over the valley and the surrounding mountains. It was a great place to be, they had alcohol free beer but one problem - all vegeterian food contains egg. As we both are not vegetarians and do not eat egg, this was a bit of a problem. We finally ended up to peel the egg crust from our veggies. That is the price you pay in the german speaking region of Europe: as soon as you leave the cities, people are simply not aware of what it means to be vegetarian/vegan. So all vegetarians be aware that in Austria, you will nearly always find egg in your food.
The next day we slept really long. We had been tired from the day before. Slowly we walked from the campground to the old town of Hall. It is a really picturesque little town. We were so lucky to find a wonderful café offering vegetarian and vegan breakfast. It just recently opened and it is called Morgenbrot . They also offer delicious sweet or salty waffles. It was a wonderful place with superfriendly owners and the moste delicious coffee we have had for a long time. We can highly recommend it. After about 3 hours of enjoying our breakfast on a small table in the cobble streets of Hall we went back to tha campground and got ready for the next darshan with Paramahamsa Vishwananda. Again it was an amazing event and we enjoyed every second. And now the surprise. a filmteam of the austrian television was filming the event and Paramahamsa Vishwananda was interviewed by them. We later saw the short extract on youtube and started laughing. The austrian TV wanted to film the locals and what did they do - they filmed us singing and dancing. We are both terrible singers, we are german and swiss - but we are on austrian TV. Too funny. Here you can watch the video .
The following day we again slept very long as the night before was short. Then it was finally time to explore the little town of Hall with its cobble streets, cozy cafés and many churches. The architecture is really amazing. The old town is very atmospheric and we loved it. We had never expected something like this here, as Hall is not famous. But this is the authentic Austria. It is just a stone's throw away from Insbruck and really worth a visit. Just enjoy our pictures.
Late at night, we drove back home. It was about 5 hours till we reached home accompanied by many heavy thunderstorms. Tired but happy we finished another little trip.
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