What the hell? This time, the chronic snorer was right below me and he went all night. Unbelievable. In the morning, two different alarms went off around 7:30am, when my body was starting to wake up. I don’t appreciate people who set alarms then don’t get up because all they’ve done is worken up everyone else in the room for seemingly no reason. To teach them a lesson, I got out of bed and occupied the shower and took my time. All seven boys in the dorm were still in bed by the time I was done. Lazy buggers.
I was determined to score a free breakfast in defiance of the ridiculous charges for bed sheets so wandered into the breakfast room, looking like I knew what I was doing. I’d seen the receptionist give a group of people some plastic tokens when they checked in so I assumed they were for breakfast. I avoided the one staff member manning the buffet and got some cereal. No protests. When I returned for toast, I saw the plastic box for depositing breakfast tokens. Win. There was no way I’d be caught so I went gangbusters. Sandwich for lunch, some fruit and more bread with nutella. Even the small napkins didn’t stop me, I wrapped everything in a Munich city map I didn’t need anymore.
I brushed my teeth, stowed my bags in their free-of-charge luggage room (but they charge for bed sheets!), gave back my room key and I was out of there, happy I wouldn’t be seeing any more bunks or listening to more restricted breathing. I walked to central station on a bright clear morning (it was still cold) and bought a day ticket for 6EUR. While waiting for my first train, a guy came up to me and started speaking in German. When I said I didn’t speak, he switched to broken English, saying something about my pants and making a circular shape with his fingers. He was informing me that there was a hole in my pants. I was wearing thermal leggings that had pretty much been part of my daily wardrobe since landing in Europe. When I looked down, indeed he was right! At the top of the inseam, very near the groin area, there was a thumb-sized hole. I laughed when I saw it and thanked my friend for pointing it out. Just as a train came to the platform, he said, “It’s a hole, but don’t worry, it’s sexy!” with that, he left to get on his train. I inspected myself more thoroughly after he’d gone and found the damage was limited to the one area. When I looked up, my friend was watching me from the still stationary train. He laughed and waved, I did the same. Despite the exposure, he’d made my morning.
I got off my train at the Porsche museum. I didn’t have to walk far to the museum entrance and I wondered if I’d got the opening time wrong since there was no one around. Nope, it was open and I pretty much had the place to myself. The building wasn’t as elaborate as BMW’s but had a similar layout where you go all the way to the top then work your way down. There wasn’t any “Porsche is great”, “Porsche is a wonderful company”, they just let the cars speak for themselves and told you about the pioneers behind their conception and development. I was taking photos from the first cares. What gets me about Porsche is that they got it right so early on. With only a few exceptions (the 924, 928, everything with an engine in the front), every car they’ve made is a good looking beast from all angles, especially their fat ass endurance racing cars. A lot of people bitch and moan that Porsche haven’t changed their design since the 911’s inception and I kinda thought that too, but really, if something works and it is lasting through the ages, why change it? They can even make a tractor look sexy.
The chronology showed development of the car through the years where most of the changes belonged to the interior, instead of the outside curves. It would have been nice to see a line-up of 911s from each year or other year, but they didn’t have the room for that. I learnt that Porsche made an engine for Harley Davidson motorcycles and developed some pretty cool amphibious hardware for wartime action. The other nice surprise was the life-sized version of Sally Carrera from the movie “Cars”. With the custom paint job, a raised roof and face, she was a gorgeous little thing. Every kid wanted their photo taken with her.
I spent two hours ogling and learning from the audio guide before I descended the escalator to the now croded cloak room, then exited the building for the train station. While waiting, I ate my lunch, my fingers needing to go back in pockets in intervals to keep them from freezing. On my way to the Mercedes museum, I stopped off at central station and actually did some clothes shopping in between platforms. The stand caught my eye because of the lightweight Thai-style pants they had on a rack outside. When I asked how much, I balked at the price, knowing what I could get them for in Thailand, but I wanted some so I paid it. I was a tourist, part of that experience is being ripped off so I indulged them. It would be my only souvenir from my European trip. I will save them for a warm weather celebration back in the van.
When I alighted from the train at the Mercedes museum, I followed the crowds the short walk to the complex. I spoke to Mum and Dad briefly on my way because they wanted to know what had happened to my van. Marianna, my friend looking after it in Colorado, had a visit by the police, enquiring about the “derelict” vehicle parked in front of her house. Apparently one of the neighbours had complained about it. Derelict?! How dare they. Although I’ll admit she does look a bit sad covered in layers of snow. Marianna fended off the policeman and he wasn’t too worried about the law’s requirement to move parked vehicles every 48 hours. Marianna did oblige by moving it a few feet forward the next day and I was happy to hear it started first time! Poor thing, I can’t wait to get back to her and show her some real love.
The M-musem is a huge building, I was excited to get into it. It was around 2pm when I got to the ticketing desk and I stayed until 5:30pm, it was wonderful. Using my Porsche museum ticket, I got a 25% discount on the 10EUR fee and a free audio guide was included. After ascending to the top of the building in an elevator and breaking my audio guide, I went back down for another one, then started again. Daimler is where it all began. This museum told the story of two men who, independent of each other, invented “the automobile”. Daimler retrofitted a horse-drawn carriage with an engine, while Benz built and entire vehicle, based more on the fundamentals of a bicycle. From here, it was a story of evolution through the late 1800s and early 1900s. Each floor of the museum encompassed a different era with the ramp down to each display summarising the historical events of the time that influenced the two separate companies of Daimler and Benz. After the two companies merged to become Mercedes Benz, the chronology continued.
The first couple of eras of the museum were outstanding, with some real relics on display in great condition. I loved how they covered the revolution that was the automobile and how it changed the lives of people gradually at first, then as a massive wave when the technology for manufacture became more mature. People used to sit kerbside on the autobahn for family picnics, taking pleasure in watching the cars go by! As the exhibitions continued, the number of cars on display thinned out and to be honest, my excitement was waning. The mid-1900s Mercedes cars just don’t do it for me. They don’t have any outstanding features or lines that make you go wow, they’re just not head turning cars. Maybe because they were the inventors of the car, they struggled to get past the initial idea. Or maybe I was biased because I’d been looking at sexy Porsches all morning.
When I got to exhibit dedicated to the company’s motor racing history my interest was re-ignited, especially with Mark Webber’s name getting a mention. The F1 cars were few, but they were some of my favourites, like the McLaren MP4-25 that was a brilliant looking, winning car, not like the dogbox the team has now. I was surprised there wasn’t more of a show about Mercedes’ recent dominance in F1. I expecting no less than cars hanging from the ceiling, trophies on display, and snapshots from the last few seasons, but Nico Rosberg didn’t even get a mention!
About an hour after I entered the museum, there was an announcement over the PA that the exhibition was full and they were stopping further entrance to the museum until further notice. There were dozens of people around but I was surprised the place was full, I was happy I’d timed it well otherwise I’d have been pissed to wait outside! I broke one more audio guide before I was done with the exhibits, I left thoroughly happy with my experience.
I munched on an apple on my way back to the train, hungry after some solid hours museum’ing. Conveniently, a train arrived at the platform just as I did so I was on it and back to the hostel quickly. I picked up my bags and went straight back to the train to get to central station. Here I had two hours to kill before my 7:50pm train to Cologne. I changed the 300CZK I had remaining into Euro at a Cash Exchange and got thoroughly ripped off, but I wanted to get rid of all my money so didn’t much care. I had fish and chips for dinner and while relaxing at a small table reading about F1 once I was done eating, my phone buzzed and told me my trip would be starting in ten minutes. I thought I had another hour! Panicking, I grabbed my stuff and rushed to find my platform. Once there, I figured out I hadn’t stuffed up, my train wasn’t due for another hour, I don’t know what my phone was saying. Well at least I’d sussed out my platform. I went to a Starbucks to kill the rest of my time.
My train nearly due, I went back out to the platform. Here I used my SPOT to log that I’d been in Stuttgart. I’d originally done this in the morning on my walk to the station and it was the first time it hadn’t worked. No issues this time, but I hope that doesn’t happen again, it’s been 100% reliable up until now.
The train was right on time and didn’t stay at the platform long, within a few minutes we were off. I made a connection half and hour later and am now sitting on the train that will take me all the way to Cologne, getting me there around 11pm. I’m hoping that after catching a connecting train to Sabrina’s neighbourhood and a short walk, I’ll be comfy on my air mattress by midnight. Here’s hoping, but no need really, it can’t be worse than a hostel!
Mercedes Fact: The name “Mercedes” did not come from the name of an inventor, or any contributor to the vehicle’s design. It was the name of a daughter of one of the first Mercedes’ dealers. As such, he was an influential customer that demanded Daimler build a faster car and he asked that it should be named after his daughter. When it had success at a racing event in Nice, the name stuck.