Stupidity

I have learned a lot in my lifetime. I still have a lot to learn as well, but one lesson that I had learned before that only got reinforced this weekend is that nobody is immune to stupidity. And there are different kinds of stupidity as well. Those who say stupid things and those who do stupid things.

Eh, you can see where I'm going with this, right?

See, I blew a trip to Neuschwanstein this weekend, due to the fact that I almost missed the bus. A trip to Neuschwanstein is even a new years resolution. I could have had it knocked out halfway through January. But NOOO!

I had to do something stupid.

We were given three simple rules. Don't drink (which was difficult for some people, as we were in Munich, the Oktoberfest capital of the world), stay in groups of two or more, and be back to the bus by 17:45.

I broke the latter two. The bus was leaving at 1800. I miss it, I had to take a train back to Munich. I made it by a minute.

I'd go into detail, but I am running out of internet time (damn these computers). Long story short, I had two trips scheduled this weekend and I blew the second because I screwed up on the first.

I'll expand on this later.

LATER - Alright, so while we are walking through Munich, eating at expensive German Resteraunts and sightseeing down the Marienplatz, I stuck pretty well with my group of two other people. Lot to see, damn I wish I had a way to upload pictures (will I be busy when I get steady internet!)

We had to be back at the bus at 1745. No ifs ands or buts about it. After Dachau (yes, I saw the concentration camp as well, very fascinating) where one soldier got caugt up in reading the information and put the rest of us behind by a good 20 minutes, the time issue was key. That, and the busdriver swore he was leaving at 1800 and not a minute later.

Anyway, we were walking back to the bus and I still had a good hour and fifteen minutes to dink around. My group merged with another, and out of the confusion, well, I seperated from everybody. Subconsciously, I think I did it on purpose.

Anyway, I wanted to find a bookstore, really bad, and started asking people about Bookstores and where there was one nearby. I was directed back to the MarienPlatz and told of a bookstore there. I went back, and found a bookstore. Seven stories of books. In german. I decided, to work on my german speaking skills, picked up book one in the Harry Potter series, auf Deutsch! I also picked up the first Movie in german too, with English Subtitles!

Can you tell I'm working on my German?

Well, in my confusion to get back to the bus, I decided to cut across the street and go a slightly different way then I came. Mistake Numero Uno. See, I was thinking american streets, which are nine times out of ten set up in a grid pattern of sorts. This is an old european city, it is built around a circle and all roads go inwards. My thought was I would just go due south and hit the main road where the bus was and catch it going back east. No, i never hit the main road, at least I never noticed it, and went not South but South West. And kept going.

After a while, and asking several people in german "wo is das Deutches Museum" and getting a long response from one about where to go in german, and I had no idea what she was saying because my german is not very good, I decided to wing it. I made it a point to ask "Sprechen Sie Englisch" after that. Becuase I was led on a wild goosechase.

Finally, after being told that I was about a 25 minute walk from the Deutches Museum, which was right across the street from the bus stop, I decided to take a taxi (becuase I wouldn't have made it on foot). My luck? The taxi driver doesn't speak much english but got the whole "Deutches Museum, mach schnell bitte!" down pretty much. He went about as fast as the traffic allowed, but I don't think I could have gotten it through his head to stop right at the bus instead of the Deutches Museum. He had to do a U turn and I threw 7 Euros at him and told him to keep the change as I booked it for the bus.

A counseling statement and no more MWR trips while we are in Hohenfels is my punishment. Tis ok, as I am forever grateful I made the bus. *sighs with relief*

I wonder if that can be my stupid act for this trip?

Nah, I doubt it.