Binnacle. Part III. Bavaria.

I had arrived to Munich's bus station at 1:00. My morning train to Bovaria was supposed to depart 5 hours later. I had to sleep along the Münchner rail platforms. Dry cold, no humidity at all and about -5 degrees in the open field. The coldest experience of my life. I found an available plug, my batteries were now charged. I was devastated. A Red Bull and a hot dog helped me to stay awake and get going in the morning.

The Neuschwanstein Castle was the destination, the one from the Disney tales. The normal route was a 2-hour train to Fussen and a 5-minute bus. My route, due to time and money constraints, was the most illogic thing ever. A first train to Weilheim, Münchner suburb, change of trains and a second train to Peißenberg, a Bavarian village in the middle of nowhere. I had to take then an 80-minute bus at Peißenberg, without any idea of German, without any idea of where the bus stop was. I had written an email to the Peißenberg's Town Hall, to see if somebody could help me out. Biggest shock of my life:

I got off at Peißenberg rail station when these two lads approach me as one of them says "Excuse me sir!" in fluent English. They were the Major of Peissenberg and a translator they had brought over from Munich. Recognising me was an easy task, I was the only person getting offer there and they knew the time my train was supposed to arrive. They took me to the bus stop and showed me how the village was like. I was the first tourist in the history of Peißenberg, nice-looking village. They offered me a place to be back at Peißenberg. I personally think that if I go back to Peißenberg with a group of people, they will give me the keys of the village. They gift me a sandwich for the road, with sausage and some type of mustard. I don't know which sauce they added to the sandwich, but it was the best sauce I had ever tried in my whole life. I'm too much in love with Peißenberg, is AMAZING.

I got on the bus to Neuschwanstein, everyone starred at me when I enterred the bus and tried to speak English to the bus driver. The way there was just amazing, at the begining we went past some other bavarian towns where everything was green. Then, the bus started going uphill, plenty of pinetrees, everything covered in white and the begining of a snowstorm.

Those are the moments where I thank being a human GPS and a human compass, capable of memorising any maps within minutes and orientate myself practically everywhere.

I had arrived to Hohenschwangau, the village at the bottom of Neuschwanstein. I bought my ticket, the castle was meters away, imposing itself over the mountain. There were three ways of getting there. The posh ones would have chosen to ride a horse carriage. Normal people would have chosen to take the bus. Abnormal people would have chosen to walk for two kilometers uphill fighting against cold, rain and mud. Of course, I choosed the third option.

The castle tour took about half an hour and it wasn't such a great deal. But the scenery was just top-of-the-league, everything covered with snow, nestled in the middle of a Bavarian mountain. At the end of the tour, the snowstorm inflamed and going downhill had became an life-challenging sport. The holes in my Converse were pretty much of a pain in the arse. The snowstorm was really strong, but it wasn't colder that the night at Munich, that was the best way to comparing wet and dry cold.

By the way, Bavarian food was just amazing! Incredible hot dogs and burgers, homemades as the ones I like the most, not like the plastic ones they serve at Burger King, not like the ones they use to raise the American society. And beer was increidble.

I came back to Hohenschwangau, took a bus to Fussen and a couple of trains to Munich. I was back at the Bavarian capital after two hours. The first train was anestesical, I had slept since the moment I took my seat until the moment the alarm clock ringed. The second train was brilliant, heaters wre extremely hot so I used them to dry mi shoes and socks. My feet were now drier and I was back into Munich.

Quick shower at the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) and I was ready to explore Munich. The sun had arised in the Bavaria, that was a bit of a unexpected event.