And people wonder why I'm so independent
I fell asleep last night after I got home so missed Basti & my mom calling me cause my phone was charging at the front desk. I sent Basti a text message apologizing for missing them. I was supposed to meet him last night but literally crawled into bed at 8 pm cause I was so tired from all the walking around I did.
I just got off the phone with my mother, and like I said before, all hell's breaking loose back home. "They" are saying that I left Patrick alone on the street and that I have their plane ticket. WTF?! We have electronic tickets all they have to do is give the confirmation # (which Rory has) or use their boarding passes and the Aer Lingus/American Airlines people can look it up. As for leaving Patrick on the street, that boy follows Rory around like a little dog. At no point was he ever with me he was always with Rory or two steps behind him. "They" said that I left a note saying I was fed up of waiting and left them stranded not knowing where I was. While I know leaving them was wrong, I told them where I was going and all they had to do was meet me there. I am criticized for not giving them an itinerary when there wasn't one.
I'm not a fucking tour guide. I was asked to find out prices and set up some cities to go to. I got 3 plane tickets (Dublin via DC, Brussels, Dublin via London), reservations in hostels in 3 cites, and the rail pass. That's all. I didn't plan stuff to do or places to see cause I was under the impression that they would actually do some research into what interests them. In Munich, I wasn't even going to be with them, I was going to go out to visit Arizona Chris & Fidel. In Paris, I was going to have Julien meet me there plus hang out with Agnes and her girlfriend. In London, I was going to meet up with Bits for a day but was going to do some of the touristy things as I actually haven't done much there aside from walk around and shop. Hell, if I knew I was going to be stuck here by myself I would have had a back up plan. I would have gone to cities I haven't seen like Berlin, Brussels, the Loire Valley or Northern France.
My mom was asking why I was so low on money and wanted to know if it was because of the money that Rory owed me. Duh!?! I planned on $2000 total cost for this trip on my end and having to foot the bill on the $900 rail passes not to mention the $100 tickets from London to Dublin really doesn't help much. My mom is going to deposit $500 cash in the morning so that can tie me over until I get home. They aren't very Credit Card friendly in Germany or France so having cash is essential.
What's worse is the weekend we come back is some stupid family function that my mother is putting together in honor of my grandmother (who passed away last March). Patrick's sister is going to college and she's the first of the great-grandchildren to do so. Everyone is coming, meaning all 7 of my mother's surviving siblings will be there. I am NOT about to deal with that shit cause then I'm going to have to deal with everyone else sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. I already told my mom that I wasn't going since there is already a rift in the family due to this trip I am NOT about to make it worse for my mother (since she's the eldest & was the most favored child). Me, personally, could care less what the rest of the family thinks of me. I was already considered the black sheep so going the extra step of being ostracized doesn't really bother me.
I should have known better than to travel with family especially after the family drama that ensued in Jamaica (at my grandmother's funeral) and in Brooklyn (at an uncle's funeral) last year. I was just setting myself up for this. Oh well, what's done is done and at least I've learned my lesson.
I went to the BMW museum today but its under renovation so they have an exhibition across the street in Olympic Park. While it was cool seeing an overview of the history of the company, I would have much rather been in the 'four cylinder' than in the makeshift globe. The BMW HQ is shaped like a 4 cylinder engine and is quite a site to see especially from the Olympic Tower. To get a tour of the production line, you have to make a reservation 2 months in advance and they had no openings in the English language ones, so that's out. If I am here on Friday, I can call on Thursday morning to see if there is still a spot on the tour that is reserved for car collectors. I have no idea what it entails but it sounds interesting even though I know NOTHING about cars.
I am actually glad I was able to take such good pictures of Munich last time I was here cause its been nothing but rain since I got here (the sun does peek through every now and then to tease you). I was talking to the O2 guy, who kindly explained my cell plan to me in English, about it & if it was normal for this region. He was telling me it was better here cause he was up in the northern part of Germany 3 days ago and it was raining cats and dogs up there. Here its more like a shower (and I'd actually wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't so cold). The weather is such a change from the last time I was here granted at this time of the year I was much further south (Cannes & central Italy) so maybe that's the difference. I was in Frankfurt in May, Munich in September, London in May & end of August.
I stopped by the Bavarian Filmstadt but the Lonely Planet book neglected to mention it was 20 min south of the city so I missed the last tour at 4 but I'm so going back in the morning. Did you know they filmed the Neverending Story here!?! How could I not want to see that set, they filmed some other movies here too like Das Boot and some others that I forgot the names to. Speaking of the Lonely Planet book, I know that they write these things a couple months before they are published but come on. So far they have been wrong on a LOT of things in the Munich section, granted the new Bavaria book comes out on the 27th, but still come on. This edition was published in May of 2004, can so much have really changed in that short a period?
It's Tuesday, Basti has off today and I'll probably be staying with him until its been decided what I'm going to do. Julien's mother has been so nice to me (as I end up talking to her a lot ) cause tracking that boy down is next to impossible. Since she hosts exchange students she's also used to people butchering the french language. My french has gotten so bad that when she gave me his cell number & confirmed it... I still got it wrong. I felt so stupid that I didn't call back to get the correct #, I'll do it today. I should also try to get in touch with Fidel and AZ-Chris today too and see what's up.
I just got off the phone with my mother, and like I said before, all hell's breaking loose back home. "They" are saying that I left Patrick alone on the street and that I have their plane ticket. WTF?! We have electronic tickets all they have to do is give the confirmation # (which Rory has) or use their boarding passes and the Aer Lingus/American Airlines people can look it up. As for leaving Patrick on the street, that boy follows Rory around like a little dog. At no point was he ever with me he was always with Rory or two steps behind him. "They" said that I left a note saying I was fed up of waiting and left them stranded not knowing where I was. While I know leaving them was wrong, I told them where I was going and all they had to do was meet me there. I am criticized for not giving them an itinerary when there wasn't one.
I'm not a fucking tour guide. I was asked to find out prices and set up some cities to go to. I got 3 plane tickets (Dublin via DC, Brussels, Dublin via London), reservations in hostels in 3 cites, and the rail pass. That's all. I didn't plan stuff to do or places to see cause I was under the impression that they would actually do some research into what interests them. In Munich, I wasn't even going to be with them, I was going to go out to visit Arizona Chris & Fidel. In Paris, I was going to have Julien meet me there plus hang out with Agnes and her girlfriend. In London, I was going to meet up with Bits for a day but was going to do some of the touristy things as I actually haven't done much there aside from walk around and shop. Hell, if I knew I was going to be stuck here by myself I would have had a back up plan. I would have gone to cities I haven't seen like Berlin, Brussels, the Loire Valley or Northern France.
My mom was asking why I was so low on money and wanted to know if it was because of the money that Rory owed me. Duh!?! I planned on $2000 total cost for this trip on my end and having to foot the bill on the $900 rail passes not to mention the $100 tickets from London to Dublin really doesn't help much. My mom is going to deposit $500 cash in the morning so that can tie me over until I get home. They aren't very Credit Card friendly in Germany or France so having cash is essential.
What's worse is the weekend we come back is some stupid family function that my mother is putting together in honor of my grandmother (who passed away last March). Patrick's sister is going to college and she's the first of the great-grandchildren to do so. Everyone is coming, meaning all 7 of my mother's surviving siblings will be there. I am NOT about to deal with that shit cause then I'm going to have to deal with everyone else sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. I already told my mom that I wasn't going since there is already a rift in the family due to this trip I am NOT about to make it worse for my mother (since she's the eldest & was the most favored child). Me, personally, could care less what the rest of the family thinks of me. I was already considered the black sheep so going the extra step of being ostracized doesn't really bother me.
I should have known better than to travel with family especially after the family drama that ensued in Jamaica (at my grandmother's funeral) and in Brooklyn (at an uncle's funeral) last year. I was just setting myself up for this. Oh well, what's done is done and at least I've learned my lesson.
I went to the BMW museum today but its under renovation so they have an exhibition across the street in Olympic Park. While it was cool seeing an overview of the history of the company, I would have much rather been in the 'four cylinder' than in the makeshift globe. The BMW HQ is shaped like a 4 cylinder engine and is quite a site to see especially from the Olympic Tower. To get a tour of the production line, you have to make a reservation 2 months in advance and they had no openings in the English language ones, so that's out. If I am here on Friday, I can call on Thursday morning to see if there is still a spot on the tour that is reserved for car collectors. I have no idea what it entails but it sounds interesting even though I know NOTHING about cars.
I am actually glad I was able to take such good pictures of Munich last time I was here cause its been nothing but rain since I got here (the sun does peek through every now and then to tease you). I was talking to the O2 guy, who kindly explained my cell plan to me in English, about it & if it was normal for this region. He was telling me it was better here cause he was up in the northern part of Germany 3 days ago and it was raining cats and dogs up there. Here its more like a shower (and I'd actually wouldn't mind it so much if it weren't so cold). The weather is such a change from the last time I was here granted at this time of the year I was much further south (Cannes & central Italy) so maybe that's the difference. I was in Frankfurt in May, Munich in September, London in May & end of August.
I stopped by the Bavarian Filmstadt but the Lonely Planet book neglected to mention it was 20 min south of the city so I missed the last tour at 4 but I'm so going back in the morning. Did you know they filmed the Neverending Story here!?! How could I not want to see that set, they filmed some other movies here too like Das Boot and some others that I forgot the names to. Speaking of the Lonely Planet book, I know that they write these things a couple months before they are published but come on. So far they have been wrong on a LOT of things in the Munich section, granted the new Bavaria book comes out on the 27th, but still come on. This edition was published in May of 2004, can so much have really changed in that short a period?
It's Tuesday, Basti has off today and I'll probably be staying with him until its been decided what I'm going to do. Julien's mother has been so nice to me (as I end up talking to her a lot ) cause tracking that boy down is next to impossible. Since she hosts exchange students she's also used to people butchering the french language. My french has gotten so bad that when she gave me his cell number & confirmed it... I still got it wrong. I felt so stupid that I didn't call back to get the correct #, I'll do it today. I should also try to get in touch with Fidel and AZ-Chris today too and see what's up.