Part 5- Munich

A view from the Natural History Museum

The Magnificent Schloß Nymphenburg

City Hall in Memmigen

This is where things get dicey. I was feeling pretty crappy when I got on the plane, and things just got worse from there. I arrived in Memmigen and took a quick bus ride to the town of Ottobueren, Germany. By the time I arrived in the town my body was pushing through hot and cold, I was in cold sweats, achey, headache, and my throat was killing me. I stumbled into the hotel at around 1pm and asked to go to my room. I got in the room, stripped off my clothes and passed out in bed. My sister called at around 5, and I don't even remember what I said to her, just that my phone said we talked. I remember having a really weird vision that I was at home, and I was petting my dog, and she was giving me kisses, it was a really crazy feverish vision. Well I ended up waking up at 10am the next day. My bed was soaked from sweat, I still felt like death, but I didn't have a fever. The new problem was that I had weird sores on my lips, and it hurt to simply swallow. So I went down to breakfast nibbled on some bread and ate some yogurt and left the hostel. I took a bus to Memmigen, and then on to Munich. I got there around 3 and checked into my hostel. I was feeling like crap, but I knew that there were a lot of things to see in Munich, so I headed out into the city. I was able to take some photos, and visited a museum of Greek and Roman sculpture, which was fascinating. I headed back to the hostel. By now, I was feeling terrible, my throat was screaming in pain, my lips looked like death, and now sores were opening in my mouth, and eating or drinking ANYTHING (even water) was painful. I was pretty miserable. I passed out early and got up early. After a quick shower and a pathetic breakfast I headed into the city to see as much as I could. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were pretty similar. I would get up around 7, head into the city and be back by 6ish. Every day my mouth was feeling worse, although the acheyness, and fever had left. I was still cold EVERYWHERE I went, and also still having night sweats. I spent those days hitting as many museums, palaces and historical landmarks as I could. On Friday I went to the Natural History Museum, Schloss Nymphenburg, and an art museum. The Natural history museum was excellent, and although I couldn't understand a lot, it was still really cool. The palace was incredible. The home of the Kings of Bavaria and the seat of the Monarchy there until 1918. The gardens were equally beautiful and extremely well maintained. The art museum was extremely beautiful, it was a modern art museum which I normally wouldn't have gone into, except that my host dad highly recommended it, and I was not disappointed. On Saturday I went to the local history museum, a film museum, two more art museums and a museum on a photographer from China. Another fascinating day, the local history museum had an excellent ancient musical instrument exhibit which was really cool, and another exhibit on comedy in the 20th century which was absolutely hilarious. I also did some sightseeing in the city and a little shopping. I figured it was time to tell the parental units about my being sick. And upon doing so, Mom, doing her job, scolded me for not going to the doctor and ordered that I do so. Well I figured I would wait for hours and then have a huge bill. Boy did German efficency surprise me. I walked into the hospital, said I needed a doctor. I saw one, in 10 minutes. He quickly, and professionally diagnosed me with Strep throat, and I was out the door of not only the hospital but also the Apotheke (Pharmacy) in less than an hour, and with a cost of only about 50 Euros ($75)... crazy. On Sunday I went to a piano/string concert in the morning, and then headed to the Deustches Museum. I had planned to spend only an hour or two there, but holy cow. This museum was HUGE. Probably the size of a football stadium, and jammed full with topics from Physics, to Aeronautics, to Farm Equipment to Quantum Physics. It was the coolest museum I have ever been in. I ended up spending 6 hours in the place, and I feel like I didn't even see half of it. By Sunday night I was still feeling like crap and had a plane to catch the next day. Munich was an absolutely awesome city. I really wish I wasn't sick, and that I had another week to spend there so I could see everything. Assuming I wasn't sick I also really would have liked to see some of the night life and spend some time in the famous breweries in the city, but life doesn't always work out the way you expect it to. On Monday morning I headed to the airport for the 6th and final part of my journey. Sicily.