PROST! - Munich, Germany

Huge, completely overstuffed backpacks strapped on and we’re off again for another weekend away.  Fortunately this time before the train arrived everyone was early and prepared, Eurails and all.  Overall we switched trains three times throughout the 8 hour trip to Munich. We arrived in Munich around 10 pm and were lucky enough to have our hostel, Wombats, just down the street…. We only found this out shortly after stopping a pair of polizia that happened to be walking by and asking for directions as best we could considering not one of us knows a lick of German.   First things first I needed to go to an ATM to get euros because I didn’t have time to go to the conversion place in Lugano before we left.  A BIG THANKS TO MY PARENTS FOR MAKING ME A PARANOID AMERICAN…. I’m waiting outside with a couple of girls for the rest of the group that needs to go to the ATM, holding all of our stuff, when a rather large, pink haired woman comes up to us and asks if any of us have a lighter she could borrow…. mom and dad told me 10000x before I left “If they ask you for help they’re waiting for you to let your guard down then they’re going to steal from you, just say sorry and walk away!” …. I didn’t have a lighter anyways so I honestly couldn’t help the woman but it was quite interesting that the moment I arrive in a foreign country I’m asked “do you have a lighter?” and immediate paranoia hits thanks to good old mom and dad.  Turns out it was an Israeli woman named Adriana who was actually extremely nice and LOVED Americans.  She described us as "pure quality, mature, and genuine people" She befriended many people in our group throughout the weekend (don’t worry mom and dad you still scared me enough I know they all won’t be nice).

Adriana and some of our group

We had a 6 person all female room that was SO perfect we couldn’t have asked for me.

Clean sheets, towels, plenty of plugs, and a complimentary hair dryer, it was ideal…. Except for the SINGLE mirror which all six of us shared, we got by quite well!

After getting aquainted in our room we walked downstairs to the bar at our hostel and made friends with the locals and other people traveling from all over the world.  Hostels are a really fun place because there are always people from everywhere and everyone is so intrigued by each others stories that you learn so much about different cultures.  We even met a guy who now lived in Munich but grew up in Blacksburg and had spent his freshman year at Virginia Tech! How crazy!?!

Our group and the guy from Blacksburg!

The next morning we woke up a little too late and missed our scheduled free tour because we couldn’t get to the meeting place in time…. But I could not be happier because we ended up taking the tour through our hostel with an Australian man named Ozzy who now lives in Munich and it was PHENOMENAL.

The tour guide-- Oz and I!

He was awesome! He did a great job of making the history of the city interesting and relevant, making everything connect in one way or another.  We started by entering the walking district of Munich which is a surprisingly very bopping area with our first stop being the Frauenkirche church, the Pope Benedict XVI's home church where he was a bishop way back when

Then we moved on to the Marienplatz (city centre) just in time to see the bells chiming and the figurines dancing around. 

Everyone took a lot of pictures and videos and just watched the Glockenspiel for a little before we continued on to an area filled with small vendors and markets.  It was about time for lunch so Ozzy took us to a bratwurst stand where we could choose between red and white sausages and a variety of drinks.  He recommended we try the Mezzo Mix (half coke, half orange juice) because it is such a popular drink.  I decided upon a red sausage and the Mezzo Mix—both of which were less than 5 euros :) and was more than satisfied.

We continued to work our way through the markets to a pickle stand with quite the variety of huuuuge fresh pickles.  I decided to sit this one out as I am not much of a pickle fan but I did take a bite or two out of a couple people’s just to have a taste of authentic german pickles.  The whole market experience was definitely a highlight of the tour.  We continued on our tour and saw the maypole before making it to a corner where we could easily see each of the famous beer logos in Germany proudly displayed.  Ozzy made sure to tell us the order in which they were ranked so we wouldn’t make mistakes when ordering later on.   After that we headed to a TIIIINY little bar to try a shot of authentic German raspberry schnapps.  He made fun of us Americans for always automatically ordering jager and not giving the others a try.   Personally…. I thought it tasted quite awful but I think there were some who enjoyed it. 

I think that Ozzy taking us to the markets and the very obviously local non-touristy bar was one of the coolest aspects of the tour.  He kept telling us places we could get authentic German meals and experiences without being bombarded by fake touristy attractions.  Afterwards we finally made it to the Hofbrauhas to experience the famous beer hall where the Nazi party beer hall putsch of 1923 occurred.  

 

Where Hitler gave his speeches

Ozzy gave us the ins and outs of the place we never would have known on our own. For example the flags strategically painted on the ceiling to cover up all of the swastikas. 

[[ insert swastika pic ]]

While there Ozzy also told us everything from beer steins, how to order like a local, and how to “cheers” like a german—Prost!

Swastika symbol in the flags

The tour took us on a few more iconic sites and ended with a  group picture on the steps of Odeonsplatz.

Afterwards a few of us stopped at souvenir stands along the way back home and made our way back into the hofbrauhaus to try an authentic German pretzel.  We ATTEMPTED to get a picture with the pretzel girl but she was extremely unfriendly and unfortunately when we finally got the picture the screen was black… disappointing but Sarah (who was taking the picture) told us the pretzel girl had the most obvious frown on her face so it probably wouldn’t have turned out to be a good picture anyways.  We finally headed back to the hostel and met up with everyone who had put in a reservation for the 20 of us at the “Augustiner Brau Munchen” another famous but less touristy beer hall in Munich.  I enjoyed the Brewer Master Special which included a slice of roasted pork saddle, swabian ravioli, a grilled meat ball, creamy mushroom, pretzel—dumpling and gravy.  Even with the mushrooms I was surprisingly satisfied!  Being in Munich of course we all had to order the famous liter of beer, it was quite a sight seeing the waiter bringing out 20 liters full of beer for each of us.  There were certainly many “Prosts!” to follow.

Dinner was a lot of fun, the atmosphere and food was fantastic.  The next morning we woke up and headed to Dachau, the site of the first Nazi concentration camp.   We all bought the audio guided tour to help in our tour throughout the camp.  It certainly was eye-opening.  I cannot believe all of the horrors experienced at that place. I felt sick to my stomach reading, listening, and watching videos with original footage from the camp. 

Living quarters

Gas Chamber

Crematoria

After returning from Dachau we had yet another train catastrophe when only 4 of us made it off the train in time with less than an hour before we had to catch our train home.  Luckily everyone else was able to get off a couple minutes later and caught up to us in no time but it was quite the scare.  Once we were all together again we grabbed our bags, headed to the train station and made our way home.  We arrived in Lugano around 11:30 pm exhausted and ready for bed.   While walking up the hill back to the Montarina I could tell I already feel at home here.  Two weeks in and I’ve already made so many new close friends and cannot even imagine what’s left to come.

Munich was a fantastic weekend, I can’t wait to return again one day.  I’m so excited for a weekend of masks and costumes at Carnevale in Venice this weekend.  Until then… as the swiss-italians will say SEEYABYE!

I forgot to mention... on the train home during one of the connections, one of the European things we've all been dreading finally happened.  The train bathrooms were disgusting so we decided to wait until we pulled into the next station.  It was one of our longer connections so we rushed around the  station to find a bathroom in the hopes it would be a bit cleaner than the one on the train.  We finally found the bathroom and.... yep you guessed it, you have to pay.

Since we were back in Switzerland the currency had switched from euros to francs and because Munich was euros, none of us even had francs on us to pay for the bathroom.  Thus, we had to wait until we were back on the stinky train again.  Lesson learned: sometimes its best to just suck it up while its free because paying to use the bathroom is just annoying.