Two weekends ago, we went to Munich, Germany. The bus ride was long and we fell asleep immediately once we got to the hostel. Well no, I take that back. We fell asleep after we got a little talk from the hostel staff where they taught us how to use the keys for our rooms. Apparently none of us listen well because it took us about 200 attempts to figure out the door situation. That next morning, we woke up for a bike tour of Munich. Unfortunately our hostel was super far away from the center of the city, so we had to make mental notes of exactly where we were in relation to well anything. Easier said than done in a city where you cannot even begin to read the street and building signs. Anyways, we got to the bike tour and were led around the city on cruiser bikes by British tour guides. Bike tours are an awesome way to see a lot of a city in a short amount of time! Plus this one ended at a beer garden, so we were happy campers! We all got our German lunches and pints of beer. There isn't a better way to enjoy beer than in the sun with your friends in Munich, Germany. Only thing was after that, the bike tour was a little more interesting and challenging... Once the tour was over, about half of the GIF group went to the famous Hofbrauhaus to enjoy liters of their beer. I'm really not a huge fan of beer, but these two were hilarious. Once we were done, everyone headed out to the Strong Beer Festival. It was pretty far away, so the walk there let us see a lot of the city we would have probably missed out on seeing. The weather was perfect, so the constant getting lost was alright. When we finally arrived by some miracle, we got our 'free' liters with out ticket and had beer on the benches outside. There were so many Germans dressed up in the traditional outfits and loving life. Little did we know that inside, there was an even bigger group of people drinking beer, wearing outfits, and dancing on the tables. It was so fun to see and experience. Oh and of course to make new German friends! The night ended with us having to take our good friend back to the hostel because he couldn't stand up straight let alone walk across a foreign city. Munich won.
The next morning we woke up to something much different than a day of drinking some of the best beer in the world. I first realized that my camera was dead. The automatic focus was already broken and something inside the body must have finally given up. RIP Nikon D40 :( We woke up to visit Dauchau concentration camp which is right outside of Munich. When we arrived, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the trees were showing off their new spring green. Needless to say, it did not set the tone that one would associate with a concentration camp. Our 2.5 hour tour took us around the museum and grounds with the best tour guide I have ever had. He was intense, passionate, and knew his stuff. Without him as a tour guide, the experience would have not have been nearly the same. All of us were awe struck by his expertise and appreciated his presentation of such a sensitive subject. After the tour, we noticed that there was a community built right next to the camp. We saw children playing their Saturday morning soccer literally 100 yards from the walls and didn't even know how to react. It is obvious that people are informed in Germany, but do their best to not think about it.
After the visit to Dauchau, we got back to the city center of Munich for a subpar German lunch, Starbucks (obviously!), and a chance to do some souvenir shopping. This lead us to a perfect afternoon. We made our way back up to the Olympic Stadium and Park. The BMW Museum was in the park and we walked around the lobby looking at the cars and picking out which ones were were going to buy. After that little bit of BMW heaven, we went to the park, sat by a little pond, soaked up the sun, and people watched. It was pretty ridiculous just how prime the people watching was. We eventually made our way out of the park to find dinner and out hostel. Of course we end up at a place called American Sandwich and get 'Mexican' food. Our night ended by watching The Office wedding episode and being interrupted by a random, very drunk man in our hostel who came into our room because he heard the music playing in the episode and thought it was a party. Whoops!
The next morning, we got on the bus to stop in Fussen, the castle region of Munich to see the Neuschwanstein Castle, which is what Sleeping Beauty's Castle is based off of. It was on my Must See list of Europe and I was happy to cross it off! The area was gorgeous, the castle was incredible, and we even got to take a horse drawn carriage up to the castle. It was the perfect pit stop for a day that was spent on a smelly bus.
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