ich liebe deutschland

This weekend was by far one of the best weekends that I have had in Europe so far!! And thats saying a lot, because I've had some awesome times in Itay. Okay so we left Thursday night for Germany, arriving at our hostel (convenitely located right next to the train station). It was kind of confusing to find the bus we were supposed to take from the airport to the city center.. but luckily, a nice old Austrian lady who spoke English helped us out and pretty much took us under her wing. Well, it was more like she took Sara under her wing, sitting next to her on the train to downtown, she whispered really odd comments to Sara for the duration of the 45 minute train ride. Later, Sara said the lady had told her whole life story and other weird things, she doesnt like Obama?

It was so bizarre, but Nicole and I had a good time cracking up at the sight. We made it to our hostel- one of the top rated ones in Munich called Wombat's. It was a very cool place, had its own bar, computer lounge, and courtyard with hammocks and such. Our room was a 6 person dorm room, with one bathroom for us to share. The first night was bad- there was a guy in there who had spilled his sprite/gaterade everywhere and was farting and randomly cursing all night long. The room stunk and the floor was nasty!! But before we went to bad that night, we got some great Indian food and of course I had my very first beer in Germany!!

Friday we got up nice and early to head to Fussen, Germany. Fussen was about 2 hours south of Munich, but it was way worth the trip. Neuschwanstein was incredibly beautiful. Unfortunately, we weren't able to cross the bridge in the mountain that has a great view of the castle, as its closed in the wintertime because of snow. But we were able to walk right up to the castle! Amazing! It was quite a hike up the mountain though.. and on the way down, it started getting very cold. On our way out of Fussen, we grabbed a late lunch. I tried some authentic German food- veal sausages with a warm pretzel, beer, and some creamy vegetable soup. The sausages were surprisingly delicious, as was everything else, but I'm not much of a sausage fan.. Then it started to snow so we booked it back to the train for Munich. Arriving in Munich around 730, we headed over the Lowenbraukeller for the Sparkbeirfest!!!!!! The party was well under way when we arrived, as it had started at 6, but we found a few seats among some drunk Germans.

There was traditional Bavarian music, dancing, and of course lots and lots of beer. The beer was fantastic, but it was super strong and served in gigantic glass mugs that required 2 hands to drink from! We all got nice and drunk off 2 beers and had a great time talking to the table of german guys our age at the table next to ours.

The next day we went to Dachau concentration camp.. we had a fabulous Irish guide who was VERY knowledgable on everything Dachau and Munich-related! It was a great tour- we learned a lot and Gordon made us laugh a lot more than youd think was possible at a concentration camp.. After Dachau (only a 10 min train ride from Munich city center) we wandered through the center of Munich, Marienplatz and did some shopping/sightseeing. There were some adorable cuckoo clock stores, but I had my heart set on buying a German beerstein. Nex we went up to Olympic Park.. the area where the Olympics were held in Munich. Had some awesome German snacks and walked around- there was a WinterGames festival going on (which had lots of scaled-down olympic sports going on and of coures beer and food!). After that, we killed a few hours at a famous beerhall in the city center (as the other famous ones were a little further away), drinkin some beer and thoroughly enjoying ourselves watching the Germans get rowdy with singing, dancing, etc, etc. For dinner, we dined at a cafe called Sax where we had some awesome Mexican food. It was sooo nice to have some different foods!!!! And of course, we had beer also. By that time, we were pretty tuckered out so we hung out at the Wombar (in our hostel) with some other crazy hostel-visitors.

Sunday: checked out, walked around Munich and went to a cool art museum (only 1 Euro on Sundays) called Pinakotheken, modern art. To finish off the day, we had lunch at a local beerhall/restaurant.. there was a football (soccer) game going on today so everyone was out in their full bavarian soccer team gear (blue, white, and black).. the game was against Hamburg so you can imagine the rowdiness that insued.. more singing, everyone drinking tonnnnss of beer starting around noon and prbly showing up to the game completely wasted. Our lunch was interesting.. I had potato salad (YUMMM) and a plate of german cheeses and meats, but it turned out to be about 99% meats, so it was a little.. overwhelming?? I didnt like all of the sausages and one even made me want to hurl, but the pot salad was amazing, as was my weissbeir!!!!!!

All in all, I love Germany. I loved the beer, the people, and most of the food. Drawbacks: constant struggle with the language and not having a thorough knowledge of the city and Germany. My 2 years of German in middle school were pretty useless.. although I did know how to pronounce things and say my numbers.. Hah! Thankfully, Germans are very kind and helpful and most restaurants offer an English menu :)