We used Euroadventures again to travel to Munich, so we arrived at 3:45am Friday morning. Our hostel was really big and had nice rooms, along with a good (also free) breakfast every morning. The first day we took a beer walking tour of Munich. Basically, a man named Lenny moved to Germany 10 years ago because he loves beer so much. He is originally from Main and he can drink a pint of beer in under 5 seconds and apparently has videos on YouTube to prove it. He pulled a wagon of kegs around while we all drank and listened to history about Munich. Lenny was hilarious and did not give a normal tour. We played drinking games while we walked and after awhile I forgot that it was 20 degrees and snowing outside. The tour ended at a beer hall and we had lunch and more beer there. After that we went to another beer hall/restaurant, and then ended the night by eating pizza and resting for Saturday.
Saturday morning we took a train to Dachau Concentration Camp. I can't really explain what it was like to be there. You learn about the war and Hitler in school and you read Anne Franks Diary and all of these other books but nothing comes close to realizing what actually happened until you are standing on the paths that all of it took place on. It was a very sobering and surreal experience.
We were relieved that we were going to beerfest that night so we could all be happy again after seeing the concentration camp. Before beerfest we went to Augustiner (a beer hall of course) to have lunch. I'm not sure if lunch is the right word, because we had a feast and it was sooooo good! I took a lot of food porn (that's what it's called when you take pictures of your food). After eating we got ready and headed to Starkbierzeit (aka strong beerfest). I had an amazing time! It was honestly like being at a church picnic or the Spassfest, but way bigger (plus the beer was a lot better tasting.) They had a big band that played old German songs at the beginning of the night and then they switched to some type of rock band with smoke and everything! People were standing on chairs and after every few songs they would stop and the entire hall would sing the "I'm Prosting" song ( I'm not sure what the actual name of the song is, but thats basically all you say).
After our night on Saturday, we took it easy on Sunday and shopped around Munich, although a lot of places were closed. We went in to St. Peters but could not climb to the top because mass was in session (very awkward situation to walk into). However, I had a great experience in Munich. The people were very friendly and you can tell that they just love their lives. I want to go back for Octoberfest! It is on my bucket list now! Ciao!
Pictures:
1-4: Pictures around different squares in Munich on our way to meet Lenny for our walking tour.
5-6: This was my favorite building in Munich and could possibly be my favorite site from all of the places I've been so far (besides the Duomo). Pictures don't do it justice and the gothic architecture is so detailed on it. The gargoyles faces are scary. It is one of the surviving buildings from the war and it only has some damage on the back. It's hard to see but at the very top in the center there are figurines. The top figurines represent the largest wedding to date in Munich (the bride had 400 bridesmaids!) The bottom figurines represent dancers. They are doing a dance that was performed during the Black Plague. Apparently when the plague was going around some men came into the city center and performed this dance and the plague never came back. Now every few years the dance is performed live in the city center.
7-12: More views we saw on the tour. Lenny called the statue the John Balucci statue because he looks exactly like him (it really does!)
13-16: Our group on during the tour...I don't think I could not feel my face this entire time. I guess I had to experience winter at some point this year.
17-18: This is Lenny and his wagon full of kegs. We got a lot of stares and random people would walk up and ask for cups.
19-26: This is inside the beer hall we stopped at after our tour ended. The beer hall was called Hofbrauhaus. Danielle and I split pork and a dumpling and potato salad and Kaiserschmarrn with apple sauce (it's like a sweet fluffy pancake with powdered sugar). I discovered here that the Radler is my favorite German beer. It's beer mixed with lemonade.
27: In between beer halls we stopped at a church. It's believed that the devil left his footprint in the stone and a long story is behind it but the footprint was under construction while we were there.
28-30: Augustiener beer hall. Its really crowded all of the time but you share tables with strangers so there's always room! I love that pretzels are like bread or peanuts are in America (even though you usually have to pay 1 euro for them). They have baskets of pretzels out for customers just sitting around everywhere and they are hard to say no to!
29-30: The entrance to Dachau. We watched a film in the museum before walking around the camp and in the movie it talked about how the gate was symbolic because once it closed you were no longer a free man. I did not take many pictures because I didn't really need to see some of the sites again, but I am glad that I went because it was a very memorable experience.
31-34: Pictures of the camp and a few monuments that are dedicated to various groups of people. The box monument actually contains ashes of a prisoner.
35-40: A guard tower and inside the bunkers that they modeled. The toilets and showers are from the camp. They also have a lot of monuments throughout the camp that have different meanings. The tall monument in the picture was made by a Christian architect and there is an alter inside.
41-45: Augustiener beer hall and the feast that we had. It is salad, cabbage with bacon pieces, a macaroni like dish with fried onions on top, and sausage.
46-51: Starkbierzeit and inside the beer hall. I had the Radler beer and a Strong beer!
52: We were in this "beauty pageant" type contest and these were the voting sheets. All we had to do was go up on stage and say our name and where we were from and whatever else we wanted to. I said I was from Germantown and I don't think they believed me. We looked so out of place :/
53: Apple Struddel!
54-55: The beer hall band and the strong man contest. The guys take that very seriously!
55-64: These pictures need some explaining: basically what happened was a guy came up to our table and started talking to me. He started talking about a bride and marriage and I couldn't really understand his English, but it sounded like he was asking me to marry his friend or be his bride. I kindly declined, but he kept trying to explain himself and I finally understood that he was with a bachelor party. He asked me if I would pay two euro to wax the bachelors leg! I said yes because when will you ever get the chance to wax a German mans leg in Munich again, right? Plus the bachelors' friend gave me the two euro to do it. It's one if the funniest/strangest things I've done so far.
65-66: This is when the beer hall turned into a rock concert.
67-70: Our last day roaming the streets of Munich. We had really good Danish pastries and the mountains were my view on the bus ride home. The view was a nice change from flat corn fields!
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