Munich!!

Sorry this is really late but I've had a crazy two weeks and am just getting to writing it. We were able to convince Julien to let us take the survey on Thursday after class so that we could leave early Friday morning for Munich. Only six out of the whole group hadn't gone to Munich earlier, and sarah and bryce were going on their one-year trip so there was only 4 of us going. We caught a 6:30 am train and got there around 1:30pm. We checked into our hostel and decided to go to this outdoor open market that was suggested on my kindle. First of all let me just say it was gorgeous when we got there! Everyone who went from the Lugano group the second weekend we're in a blizzard and couldn't even be outside for more than an hour or two or else they froze to death. On Friday it was a high of 52. I literally walked the streets without even a jacket! We were in heaven. This market was so cool, it was like a lot of food and drink stands all lined up and the people we're outside eating and drinking.

 

You cannot go to Munich without eating a pretzel, for they probably have the best pretzels in the world. My dad would have loved to come because they're everywhere and they make pretzel everything: pretzel soup, pretzel sandwiches, pretzel pastry; everything that you can imagine. Although once you have a pretzel in Munich, one anywhere else just doesn't taste the same. 

 It was nice to finally come to a place that wasn't extremely expensive. Germany is relatively cheap compared to some other cities we've been to. I mean it's still Europe so nothing is "cheap" but it didn't make your jaw drop. We walked around the city for a little while and went into a couple shops along the way. We went back to our hostel to get ready for dinner, and actually ended up befriending one of the random guys in our hostel room. He ended up coming out to dinner with us to the Augustiner. 

Let me just say I LOVE German food. They love their meat and potatoes, which is such a great change from freaking pizza and pasta. I wasn't daring enough to try the traditionally famous pork knuckles so I got a half Bavarian chicken and a salad instead which was delicious. I also fell in love with the beer. They make this German wheat beer, which is called Weisbeer, that I couldn't get enough of. No wonder they drink so much beer in Germany, because I could literally drink for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (which I kind of did minus the breakfast part). After our wonderful dinner, we headed to the Hofbrauhaus, one of the most popular beer gardens in Munich. It was a great experience. These beer gardens are massive, multiple floors, lined with tables that you can sit anywhere have a drink or get something to eat. There's live music and filled with people from all over the world. The thing I loved about Munich was that the people were so friendly. Anyone would be willing to come up to you and have a conversation without caring that you're an American tourist. I couldn't get over how big the place was. They had to have had at least a 100 waiters to serve everyone. We got a table in the back because that was the only room they had left. Another thing to add about Germany: they love to drink in large quantities. You can only order 1/2 pint or a pint glass of beer (Mom you'd be screwed). The pints were so large I had to use two hands to drink out of it.

We didn't out too late, because actually most of the beer gardens close around 11:30pm, which is also nice because that's my kinda time. I like to be in bed early lol. We woke up the next morning to do our walking tour. The walking tour was good. We got to walk around the city, but Munich really didn't have that many let's say famous monuments. The most famous attraction we unfortunately didn't have the time to go to because it was a 2 1/2 hour train ride away. Neuschwanstein castle was actually the castle that Disney World was modeled after. Since we didn't get a chance to see it I can just pretend I did and post a picture from google.

We did get to see the most overrated tourist attraction in all of Europe: the Glockenspiel. It's a section of the palace that plays a part of Munich's history on the hour every hour.

 We also learned a lot about the history of Munich with Hitler and the Nazis, which you couldn't not go into on a walking tour in Germany. After the walking tour we went to a late lunch/early dinner at Paulener, which was a brewery and restaurant. Here I had my favorite meal. I got traditional Tafelspitz, which is boiled beef with horseradish and red cabbage. And another excellent beer haha. We explored some more of Munich, and then went to Hofbrahaus again that night. This time we went in the upstairs room where they had live music playing. It was such a fun atmosphere with all the people who would randomly get up and start chanting things in German. I tried singing along at some points but my German is pretty bad.