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Hi, today is
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I went to Munich & Bludenz between 9th/14th September, 2004. I went there for ultimate and stayed with friends. |
Learning about Munich and Austria from natives.
Taking Sculls up on his invite to go play in Kundl gave me the chance to spend some time in Munich. Originally it was supposed to be Friday and Monday but, as is the want of an ultimate traveller, things changed half way through.
First off I want to thank Henning and Margie for giving me a place to stay. It was a lot of fun hanging out with you guys and I really enjoyed the Blackadder videos!
The day that I spent in Munich was quite chilled. The city seems very organised and I commented to Henning how I thought it was great how different businesses had worked with the old facades of the buildings. Buildings that looked as if they had been around for centuries.
That's when he explained to me that Munich was heavily bombed during the second world war and that most of the buildings I would have seen had been rebuilt since the war. The people in charge of the city had decided to keep the same style of architecture rather than jazz things up with anything modern.
Another thing that grabbed me about the city was the number of cyclists. Bizarre observation I know, but there where drastically more bikes than there are in Dublin. Everywhere I looked there was a bike parking rack, even outside restaurants. The cyclists seemed to know exactly what they where doing in swerving around pedestrians and the number of cycle tracks made it easy to get from place to place.
I reckon I saw more moving bicycles than cars during my day of exploring!
The second day I was supposed to spend in Munich was actually spent staying with John and Christina in Bludenz, western Austria. It is a small mountain town in the middle of a valley in the Alps. I was able to stand on the balcony of their apartment and see where I wanted to walk to down town before I went there. The benefit of living up the side of a mountain I guess.
I liked the town and I liked the feel that once you left the commercial part and went back up to the houses, everything became calm again. Very relaxing. It is the kind of place I could picture retiring to in years to come.
While I was there I got the chance to go to dinner with some people who have lived their whole life in the area and it was interesting hearing them talk about how the town has changed over the years. The population has increased from about 10 to 15 thousand people and the general mood has become more rushed and crowded.
While I thought it was very relaxed in comparison to Dublin, they thought it was too hectic compared to how it used to be. Interesting how opinions can differ based on the persons frame of reference.
In all, it was a nice holiday. Nothing hectic or taxing and a good chance to hang out with John. It was also really good in that I got to know Henning and Margie a little and also see Christina who I haven’t seen since last Halloween. I might have to do these relaxing breaks around Europe a bit more often!
This report was created at 2:13pm, September 17th, 2004.
