nymphenburg palace and Cece's Advice #6

The summer residence for the kings and queens of Bavaria, Nymphenburg Palace is located towards the outskirts of Munich. Reachable by trolley, the palace is still completely in tact though only a few rooms are furnished and open to the public. However, there is an extensive carriage museum and a few outbuildings that are open for visitors.

I begin my self-guided tour in the center of the main palace, and though I don't remember having an audio guide, I can't help but feel that one was included with my ticket. The upstairs of the center room was open and spacious with gorgeous paintings adorning the white and gold walls. Gold and crystal chandeliers hung from the lovely frescoed-ceiling and the sunlight cast a glow throughout. 

To the left there were a bedroom and accompanying study, I think. In the journal I kept I wrote that I liked the beds, so in addition to the Queen's bedroom I definitely remember, this other bedroom had a cool bed. It was all original furniture, mainly baroque, from the olden days which made each room even more unique. The other small wing of the palace that is open to the public includes the Gallery of Beauties. 36 portraits of women from all ranks of Munich society hang here thanks for King Ludwig I. I found each one to be special and I enjoyed spending the time observing each one individually. The queen's bedroom (though I can't remember which Queen is belonged to) is off the Gallery of Beauties and I thought the style of cloth on the walls was pretty neat. The green color scheme was a bit overwhelming but everything did tie together quite nicely.

The Marstallmuseum (Carriage Museum) was in two long narrow rooms on the first floor of the South Wing of the palace. There were tons of carriages for all seasons and occasions...winter, summer, funerals, long-term travel...and I was shocked by the detail carved into each and every one of them. There were even teeny little steps leading into some of the large ones which I found too be really awesome. The collection of sleighs and sleds were also really, really cool. 

Upstairs in the Marstallmuseum was the porcelain collection. Porcelain is porcelain so the painted designs were amazing but it was all just the same for the most part.

The Amalienburg is a 5-7 minute walk from the center of the palace and is a former hunting lodge on the grounds, most famous for its "Hall of Mirrors." Not what I was expecting, the hall is just a large room but it does have mirrors on all the walls. But they're not floor to ceiling so not overpowering. The side bedroom was really cute and the kitchen had some interesting tile work as well.

Walking back to the main palace I got a good look at the central grounds with its large ponds and what I call "European Geese." The "European Geese" look eerily simialr to Canadian geese but they're a lil smaller, light brown and have orange feet coloring.

After Nymphenburg I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the other various Christmas Markets in Munich. On my way to Tollwood, the sight of Oktoberfest, I passed a small but nothing special about it market and then walked through the market at Tollwood. Tollwood was highly unimpressive and way too commerical. All the items for purchase were not seasonal in the least and could have been bought any time of the year. The sun set once more and it was early to bed for me, as usual.

Cece's Advice #6: If you have the option for an all-female room without spending any more money, take it. Boys snore. Loudly.


This advice is straightforward. No explanation needed. All my immediate family members, male and female snore, so I'm used to it. But that doesn't mean I want to deal with it on my vacation. Therefore I was not excited when at least 2 of my 3 male roommates in Munich snored so loudly, it took a lot of music to drown it out. How I wished I'd gotten an all-female room (as long as it wasn't going to cost me an arm and a leg) where the chances of this happening were slim. When I tell people that I stayed in hostel rooms with only men, many think I'm crazy and insane and that its dangerous etc. Well, to that I will say the only danger was that of sleep deprivation.

Cece's Advice #5: There's no right or wrong way to travel. Do what you want.

Cece's Advice #5: There's no right or wrong way to travel. Do what you want.

This entire piece of advice may be completely irrelevant to many of you, and you may say "duh..." but since it's something I had to tell myself and remind myself of many times throughout my vacation I want to share it. Before I go into detail, it's important you know a few tidbits about me: 1) I like to plan and I plan in detail. 2) I don't like going out and drinking, especially if I'm not with friends 3) I like to sleep 4) I spend my money wisely and 5) I compare my behavior with others ALL the time.

In Rome and Munich, I stayed in hostels where I had 4-5 roommates and dinner was included at the Freedom Traveler Hostel in Rome so despite my default behavior of not socializing with others, these opportunities gave me the chance to talk a little with others like myself about their excursions. In doing so, I couldn't help myself from comparing my trip so far and my future travel plans and behavior with theirs (see tidbit #5 about myself). As usual, I found my behavior to be the complete opposite of those I talked with. When this happens, and it's quite often, I tend to believe what I'm doing is "wrong" and that the more common behavior is the "correct" and "normal" way to go about things. I know this isn't a good way to think and I'm working on trying not to, but that's not really the point...well, it kind of is.

The way I had planned things was to get as much done in the few days I had in each location. As if these visits were going to be my first and last time in these cities. Therefore my days began at 8 when everything opened and I was done by 6 when the doors shut. And no way in hell was I going to go out after 9-10 hours on my feet to spend unnecessary money on alcohol (see tidbit #2 and #4). After dinner, I would shower, prepare my next day's adventure (see tidbit #1) and was in bed by 10, asleep around 11 (see tidbit #3).

All of my plans were COMPLETELY different than anyone else I talked to. They discussed various clubs and bars, had no idea what they were doing the next day ("should we see the Vatican? What's in Rome?"), were all out when I went to bed and asleep when I woke up. Because my travel plans were such the opposite as my hostel mates, I automatically assumed I was doing the "backpacking Europe" thing wrong. And it took a few nights of this to know there's no right, or wrong, way to travel Europe. To convince myself, I had to say over and over "it's okay to sleep, okay to wake up early, okay to have travel goals, okay to be different."

So onto the advice...when you're traveling, do what you want. Nothing is wrong, everything is right. If you want to go to Europe and spend half your time partying, that's great. A different way to experience the culture. If you want to spend all your time in historic places, that's good too. You're trip is what you make of it and there's no use spending time worrying whether you've been doing things wrong or right. It's okay to sleep, okay to wake up early, okay to have travel goals, okay to be different.

Cece's Advice #4: In Italy, watch out for moving vehicles

Cece's Advice #4: In Italy, watch out for moving vehicles

When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable – Clifton Fadimanx

I live in Massachusetts; we are notorious for having crazy drivers and we tend to make up our own rules of the road. So it takes a lot for me to be jarred by insane people behind the wheel of a vehicle. But after only one day in Rome I knew that in the future I had to be very careful of Italian drivers. Now I'm not saying they're bad drivers; they're just crazy. There are a lot of cars on the road and with all the unpredictable mopeds, there are just a lot more moving vehicles to watch out for. You must be wary of all times that a random vehicle may fly by out of nowhere.

Even if a car appears to be slowing down to let you cross a street, wait a moment to make sure. I can't count the number of times I thought the car was slowing and it was, but it didn't show signs of it until right before stopping. They won't hit you, but it gives the heart a little defibrillation. A direct quote from my European notebook, "I fear for my life when crossing the street." So if ever in Italy...be safe and look both ways before crossing the street. Then before taking your first step, do it again.



And a third time never hurt as well...

Cece's Advice #3: A Lot of the Time You'll Feel Like an Idiot; Don't Let it Bother You

Cece's Advice #3: A Lot of the Time You'll Feel Like an Idiot; Don't Let it Bother You

This piece of advice is fairly self-explanatory, but I will provide an example so it makes this post much more interesting.

The first time this fact hit me was when I was trying to find the luggage storage in Paris' Gare de Lyon, a 3 level train station. So I enter from the street and walk about halfway through without seeing any luggage signs or any clue that would point me in the right direction. So I turn around to find a map and between the pictures and English translations, I'm able to read it fairly well. Or so I thought. It looks like luggage storage is on Level -1. That works for me so I head to the escalator. I get off and looking for any indications of where storage might be. There is a sign listing all the available services on that floor and lo and behold, luggage storage isn't one of them.

I assume from this that I was on Level -1 before, and now I'm on Level -2. So I head back upstairs to look at the map again. I get there and read it and see Level -1. Right as I'm about to swear that I was just there and turn around to see if I missed something, I remember that I am on -1. I started on -1 and now I'm back. I officially feel like the biggest idiot. I was 3 steps away from actually heading back downstairs even though I had just come from there. Luggage storage ends up being only 15 or so feet further through the station from where I had initally turned around so if I had also walked a little further that first time, I wouldn't have wasted time. For me on this trip, time was of the essence and any wasted minute was bad. Especially if it was during the daytime. Places are only open for so long...

Anyway, my personal debacle in finding luggage storage put a damper in the morning and I was just itching to rid myself of my bag that I became irritated and frustrated. Not enough to scream and shout at the sky, but just enough that I needed a nice walk towards the Maison de Victor Hugo to calm me down. Therefore, I recommend to any traveler out there, should you feel like an idiot because you are a foreigner...and it will happen...don't let it bother you or get you down. I, personally, am very hard on myself when I do stupid things, but try your very best not to let it get to you. It's all part of the experience so milk it for what it's worth. At least in countries where you don't speak the language you have that excuse. Here in America you have no excuses.

Cece's Advice #2: Don't Purchase Anything Without Checking the Price

Cece's Advice #2: Don't Purchase Anything Without Checking the Price

I fell victim to purchasing items, mainly food ones, without double-checking or asking about the price quite a few times. By assuming food items like a bag of chips, or even a box of small granola bars would be reasonably priced, even with the currency conversion, I quickly learned to ALWAYS check the prices for further purchases. My issues really only occurred in Paris but I'm not blaming the French for my problems. France, along with Austria, is an expensive country to begin with and as it was the first I visited I had all my problems there. But I did learn from them, hence why I am writing up this advice.

The first case of not asking the price was at the Opera Garnier. Since I was not able to see inside the theater, I decided to purchase postcards...something I imagined would cost 0.50-1 Euro each. I bought two and they ended up being like 3.50-4 Euro. I didn't think about it initially but when I did the Euro-Dollar conversion I'm pretty sure I swore a little. The 2nd instance was at the Eiffel Tower right before my night bike tour. I hadn't had time to get a mini meal or anything so I grabbed a King Size KitKat and a bag of potato chips. Yes, this was the Eiffel Tower so I expected the prices to be a little inflated, but it was 4.50Euro for both items. Once again the Euro-Dollar conversion hit me hard.

Finally, when I went to the mini-market store in Montparnasse I got cheese, small granola bars and pudding. The granola bars didn't have a price on them, but the box next to them which was bigger did so I assumed these would be around the same price. Doing the math after purchasing, the granola bars were priced at 5Euro, 1.5 times the amount of the other box. My reaction: GAH! Maybe I got the cheese price wrong or the pudding price wrong, but either way I didn't check on the price and language barriers made it hard to me to question it.

Which gets me to my advice for anyone traveling in a foreign country while trying to maintain a budget: don't purchase anything without checking the price first. This will make you feel better and maybe you'll save a few bucks. When abroad, and as money-conscious as I am, shocks to the system because you've spent way more than you expected aren't fun. They're just not. So take a few minutes of your time to make sure you're getting what you want for the price you think.

Cece's Advice #1: Double Check If Ticket Machines Take Bills

Throughout my trip I ended up having multiple moments of stress which I feel could have been avoided if I had known a few simple things beforehand. Therefore, I've created a list of advice for other travelers to read and maybe use if they travel abroad.

Cece's Advice #1: Double Check If Ticket Machines Take Bills

When I first arrived in Paris I had to make the decision of A) getting cash from the ATM, then purchasing my train ticket or B) charging the ticket to my debit card, therefore incurring only one ATM withdrawl fee either way. I chose option A so that in case I couldn't find a BNP Paribas (where Bank of America doesn't charge fees) near my hostel I would still have some cash on hand. So I withdraw cash from the ATM and make my way over to the ticket machine. As I select the train ticket and it asks for money I see that the machine only accepts coins. I swear under my breath, "God damn it" before thinking 'I don't have coins. What the hell??' There are a number of different machines in the ticket area and I see some are actually change machines. 'Wooo. Maybe this isn't as bad as I thought.' But it is. ALL of the machines are Out of Order. Another round of light swearing... So I go back to the machine and charge the ticket to my card. Grrrrr.

It turns out that Bank of America only charged me the 3% and not the $5+3% for the train ticket purchase, but at the time I didn't know that so it put a slight damper on my first morning in Paris. It also caused me to waste a bunch of time at the ticket machines just as my second incident with ticket machines did. After figuring out that the Velib bike system in Paris was not going to work, I decide to get a book of 10 Metro tickets. I go to pay yet there is no bill slot. Of course there isn't a bill slot...why would you want to pay for 11.60Euros in with a 10Euro bill+change? Grrrrr... Luckily, the Paris Metro sells tickets at the windows and I was able to purchase the book of 10 there, but the machine not taking bills wasted about 5 -7 min of my life. I know you're thinking "It's only 5 min" but it feels a lot longer in the moment, and all the frustration the ordeal created made it a lot worse. Had I known about the machines not accepting cash, things would have gone that much smoother.

So in conclusion...double check if ticket machines, especially in France, accept bills. It might save you 5 minutes, it might save you 15 or 20 (depending on if you have to stand in line for a window). Either way it will certainly help you have a smoother, stress free trip!