Next in the series of destinations my school offers was the conflicting choice of whether I go to Ireland or Bavaria. As it often is with school, it was the exams that made the decision for me. Visiting Germany for the second time, I have noticed that the country is starting to grow on me.

The trip was 3 days long and very technically oriented. The fact that it took place in the oncoming Christmas season also played a large part in experiencing Munich for the first time.

Day 1 began with a visit to the BMW factory in Derendingen, where we got to  find out all about the process of building a BMW and Rolls Royce car. Next we visited Freising, a city which held the oldest scriptures in the slovenian language. Lastly, we took to Munich, where we visited BMW Welt - a showroom of the company's latest and most luxurious vehicles.

Day 2 started with a guided tour of the Munich airport, the only one in Europe rated 5 stars. Afterwards followed a guided tour around the Egyptian Museum, where we got to see a real mummy and various statues of Egyptian gods, pharaohs and families. Lastly, we set to the city centre, where we visited the church and courthouse and enjoyed the Christmas spirits the streets, stands and decorations exuded.

Day 3 was essentially spent in the Deutsches Museum, where we took a guided tour theoughout the history and development of science, and enjoyed the presentation in the planetarium.

Despite the gloomy weather, Munich showed itself in all its festive glory. I wouldn't exactly qualify it as a city I'm looking forward to visit again, although I'd be willing to do a lot of things for another serving of those delicious roasted almonds.

Have you ever been to Munich? How did you experience the city? 

x, Valens

At 1am on April 10th I, along with a bunch of other people I go to school with, parted on a trip to Medieval Germany. It took about a 9 hour drive with bus to get from the Slovenian coast all the way to Germany. Once we arrived to our first stop - Tübingen, we hungrily, tiredly and a bit excitedly approached the colorful streets. We visited a protestant church, the market and the castle. After we have seen it all, we had some free time, which we happily spent shopping for souveniers. When the free time passed, we visited Derendingen, a town where Primož Trubar(the author of the first 2 books written in slovenian language) is buried and finished the day in Bad Urach, another small medieval town in which Primož Trubar left a bit of his own history. After that we drove to our hotel, where we had dinner and went to sleep.

We began the next day by visiting Augsburg, an important trading city in Roman times. There we visited a gothic church and a residential area built by the Fugger family in the medieaval times. To finish the 2-day trip off, we all shared an unique experience by visiting the famous Neuschwanstein castle, which Walt Disney used as inspiration for Snow White's castle. The 30-minute walk to it's entrance was quite tiresome, but once we reached the castle, it was all worth the effort. We entered the castle and started the tour we had booked before. Taking photos inside the castle was unfortunately forbidden, though thinking about it, the secrecy and obscuricy add a lot to an individual's experience; the subdued light that shone on the insides, the unbelievably detailed decorations everywhere and the fact that everything is perfectly preserved make you feel as if you're in an entirely different world, and the only thing missing is an uncomfortably large dress women in the middle ages wore. To be honest, despite the fact that I quite strongly believe girls my age shouldn't think about boyfriends and romantic lives, I could definitely see myself wearing that awfully large and uncomfortable dress, dancing to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto n.1 with someone. Because that's just how fairytale-like that castle is. Walt Disney was right about his castle choice.

Though I am personally not a big fan of Germany, I enjoyed my time there a lot. I would definitely suggest this trip to anyone who has not been there yet. Every human being should experience the pure magic that is the Neuschwanstein castle.

Tübingen

Augsburg

Neuschwanstein castle

x, Valens