The planning backfires

Resumption over a month after returning doesn’t seem the brightest of ideas, especially right in the middle of the exams, but then, if I don’t do it now, I would probably never do it again, and all bright ideas of putting these 3 months down on paper (!!) would go right out of the window. Already I don’t think I recall every little aspect of those weekend-outs, but let’s fill in before it goes out completely.

So, back we were, after Paris, a romantic, enjoyable, truly wonderful weekend. We landed in Munich early one Tuesday morning, and the week jogged on. I don’t even remember the finer aspect of the weekdays, now that so much time has passed on since then. I do remember that this was the first weekend wherein we planned to include Mudit in our schemes and weekend-outs, and we decided to travel east and north to Amsterdam for the weekend. Teja never seemed in a very bright mood for the weekend, but now that we were two, we didn’t really care.

Owe it to our brilliant foresight, but we really found no reason to book the tickets well in advance, the slug heads that we were, also counting on the fact that not many people would be traveling around the places. So, it came more as a surprise than recognition of the fact that we were indeed, lazy, when that particular Thursday evening, we didn’t get the tickets for Amsterdam. Now, this was the first time that the planning had backfired due a reason as stupid as this, and we did not have any back-up plans for the weekend. “too bad!” we thought, but then, Mudit had the idea. He hadn’t been to Salzburg, and well, I had been, but then, the last time that I was there, we did not see “the” things that Salzburg boasted of – the salt mines and the ice caves. Teja was in no mood to spoil his Saturday morning sleep, so he didn’t come with us.

So we left Saturday morning, quite early, not that I remember when, but I do remember distinctly that just like every weekend, we were huffing and puffing and running hard to get to our platform, so that we don’t miss the train! It was a 2 hr journey, just as it was on the previous occasion, only that we were more boisterous this time around, and people around us had to remind us how pleasant silence could be. From Salzburg, off we went to Hallen, some 30 mins away, and the actual spot for the salt mines. There we saw a celtic village, with life like wax sculptures, and sounds. At the allotted time, we lined up to go in, complete in our salt-miners’ uniforms. We also ran into 3 IITB guys from Switzerland. Beautiful sights of salt in the most natural form awaited us, as we went 200 feet or so below the ground. While crossing an international border 200 feet below the surface wasn’t exactly a different experience, but we made sure we got a snap of that too, to boast on later. Our guide not only took us through different stages of salt formation, extraction et al, but also through the entire history of salt-mining in this area, and that was when we began to appreciate why the salt mines of Salzburg attracted tourists from round the world. By the time we got out of there, it was close to noon, and we rushed through as fast as we could, thinking that making it to the ice-caves could be touch and go now.

Reaching ice caves was not the straightest of the roads that we took, but definitely one with the best sights around me I have ever seen. Alpine pleasures and breathtaking views was all that kept on reminding us of the great time that we were having. It took quite some time to rise the 1500 m or so to get to the mouth of the ice-caves. Thankfully, we had warm clothes on to counter the 0-celsius temperature inside the caves. Although photos were not allowed inside, but we managed to sneak quite a few :-). The most amazing sights were all along the 1-km route that we took, barely 3% of the entire distance that these caves spanned. Needless to say, by the time we came out, we had realized that this day was filled with one of the most amazing sightings, I have ever, ever seen.

But the icing on the cake was yet to come. The time was close to 5, and myself and Mudit were waiting at the Werfen station, when all of a sudden we realized that we were infact alone, for as far as the eyes could see. Just the two neat, clean station platforms, alps to the front, alps behind us, and our train approaching from quite some distance. Easily, one of the most romantic and peaceful ambience one can ever hope to get. So we just sat there for the few minutes we had before the train chugged in, sinking in all the details. Not that the few mins we had to ourselves was a lot, but if ever I would want a peaceful surrounding, I would wish to go back to that late summer afternoon in Austria.

By the time we were back in Munich, it was already late, and the plans for Floh Market were aborted. So we went to Olympia Park, my favorite part of the city, climbed the Olympia turm and saw what a breathtaking city Munich was, at night, came down and spend the rest of time it in the nearby Tollwood festival. By the time we were done, and exhausted, it was pretty late, and so we careened off to our homes.

Sunday was no big deal either, and with no energies to get up earlier, all plans were given up. Tanja, Domnic’s girlfriend had come over for the weekend, and was interested to know about where I had spent my Saturday. So lots of explanations, and exaggerated descriptions followed, and I m pretty sure I made her want to see that place (wasn’t she giggling to Domnic about it, he he). Anyway, so I left home around 11 or so, went to Mudit’s place, roamed around the city, no big deal. Then we went to the Chinese Turm, the place Teja had so talked about, and the largest bier garden in Munich. 500 ml and a few snaps later, savouring the weekend crowd, enjoying its day in the sun(literally), we went to the much publicized FKK (nude beach) along the Isar. Spending some time there did not exactly satisfy my description of Eden, but it was a nude beach alright. Shrugging off awkward glances (we were the only ones clothed!) we decided to move on after it had started to rain a little, just as it usually does in Europe, without any warning whatsoever. We left that place, and walked around a little more, until it got late, and then Mudit came over to our place, we had something to eat, while Mudit and Teja introduced themselves (and I guess, also hit off pretty well). That was pretty much the weekend. Nothing great about it, but well, that is pretty much what it was.

Well u would say this should have been a lesson, not doing the work when you are supposed to, and so this time we decided to book the tickets three days in advance (yes, Amsterdam was still high on our agenda, especially after hearing reports from other people). But luck of all lucks! This time, again, we did not get tickets for Sunday night return!! Another weekend in sight – and another weekend about to be ruined! Again, we were without any plans. The week passed on, and so did the fleeting plans of making a weekend out to Switzerland, rejected people that we were at the hands of the Swiss Embassy (yeooow! That ugly fat mustachioed menace!!). Except that this time we knew that the weekend was all but ruined, and dedicated to Munich. What we also learned that the weekend was the wrapping up of TUM’s cul-fest. Expecting it to be of the same caliber as Antaragni (he he he), we decided to give it a try. So the evening of Friday was spent near Konigplatz, where a local band was playing (yuck! It sucked, and with the rains on, we were in for a wonderful weekend). Not much to do, and the skies not holding a great promise, we decided to call it a day, and back in our cottages.

The next day being Saturday, myself and Mudit decided to give FlohMarkt a try. Teja was still not in a mood to spoil another weekend by getting up early, so he backed out. Now, these flohmarkts are basically European versions of our own Flea Markets, with people selling stuff from their home, and probably the best place to hunt for souvenirs. Not very worthwhile, as we found out, except that some of the stuff was damned cheap (not that we needed it anyway). In the process we also met a few interesting characters. As we were walking off from one flohmarkt to another, we ran into Teja, who kept us company from then on. Since cooking on weekends was not our mantra (what with that wonderful first ever weekend in Munich still afresh, and the smell of the burned rice still vivid), a kebab at Ostbahnhof was the order of the day. Not having much to do, except the same area around Marienplatz, where a real good holiday crowd gathers if it is sunny and a weekend, we decided to make a visit to Kunst Park Ost, after about one and a half months of the first trip, but the difference this time was, that we were not allowed entry into not one or two, but six discos!! Being the egotistical iitians that we were, we snobbed it, and decided not to make an appearance there again. Probably it is not even worth it, we consoled ourselves. Not having any other plan meant we trudged off to our homes (wow! I like the sound of the word ‘home’) and spent the rest of the evening listening to music on our radio, which, by the way, did not fail in reminding us of the discos where we were snubbed :-(

Sunday was too difficult to spend it all at home. And with Domnic not around, it meant a real boring time. Well, this was a heuristic based on past experience, and we decided we would rather go out that putrefy at home. So, off we took for Passau, a small town about 90 minutes from Munich. Well, there is nothing at all to tell about this place, except that it is a toned down version of our own Allahabad, being the confluence of three rivers (Don’t ask me the names though). The only interesting thing was when Teja forgot his coat (with his passport conveniently in it) at the pizzeria, and remembered it just when we were about to set off. So, we ran back, and thankfully got his coat, but with the next train an hr later, we killed our time at a local McDs. Returning back, we boated in the Starnberger See (nothing very exceptional about it, the only reason I think Domnic liked it was because he was with Tanja – which, by the way, automatically implies that it is a nice place to spend your time in if you have a girlfriend). The next few hours were probably the more interesting part of the weekend, when we ran into an IITD professor (yes!!), and we were in full (iitian style) flow. You can imagine how embarrassed we were, especially Mudit. And if that was not enough, we ran into a Hindi learning German girl at Tollwood!! I guess it was all a design to remind us to be careful in public, irrespective of the country we are in.

That was the sad story of two (wasted?) weekends. We were fast running out of time, and on this occasion, come what may, we were prepared.