Munchen!
We just got done with our Spring Break!
We basically had from last thursday to tomorrow to do WHATEVER we want!
We chose Munich, Germany, because it was the cheapest flight.....
So, we had from thursday night-tuesday afternoon to paint the town!
Let's go day by day....
Thursday:
Got into Munich, found our AMAZING hotel, then went out to talk to Mike from his bike tours, ate some wiener schnitzel! Great first meal! We went back to the hotel and crashed....
an aside: our hotel "apartments"
AMAZING! We had 2 apartments between the 5 of us, the boys had a better apartment than us 3 girls, who decided that?!?! But oh well.....full kitchen, bedroom, living room, and an AMAZING bathroom with a BATHTUB! And a great breakast every morning. It was a great place to live for the 6 days we were in Munchen!
aside #2: From Good Friday till Easter Monday, stores are closed in Germany.....booooo!
Friday:
Breakfast, then off to wander to catch Mike's Bike Tour at 12:30.....walked into Marienplatz to be greeted by thousands of Munchen-ites doing their stations of the cross for Good Friday. A little overwhelming......found no stores open, yet we ate lunch (subway italian BMT count:1), then went on one of the most fun bike rides EVER with our fiery irishman Steve, whom we called "Stadam" half the day because of a previous misunderstanding......he took us through such places as "the Glockenspiel: Europe's 2nd most pointless and lame tourist attraction", "Gene Hackman Platz", "the english garden's nudie meadow", and many churches and bridges. It was so great! Besides the injuries I got (a sore bum as well as hitting my legs with pedals making bruises), it was a great way to see the WHOLE city! Halfway through, we stopped in one of the largest biergartens ever, and eating some brats and having a Radler (1/2 beer and 1/2 lemonade-still gross), we finished our bike tour, hung out at the bike tour shop, forgot what we did for a few hours, and then hit up a movie theater to see the 300!
To tell you the truth, it wasn't high on my list of movies I was dying to see, but it was the only movie playing at that time, and Adam was DYING to see it. I just went along for the ride, because, well....it was a MOVIEHOUSE! How can I refuse going to a moviehouse?!? I can't....So....onto the movie (which will recieve a full writeup on my MOVIE BLOG)..... couple things.....haven't laughed that much in a war movie ever, and the whole theater clapped at a certain time.....a great time was had by all :) All the popcorn and the late lunch satisfied my hunger for the night, so we headed home afterwards......(after looking for a place open for dinner for the other non-popcorn eaters unsuccesfully)
Saturday:
Early morning.....we had to be to the station by 9:30 with enough time to pick up a starbucks (starbucks caramel macchiato count:1) before our train left. Got on the AMAZING German trains that put Italian trains to SHAME, changed trains and ended up in Fussen (the city at the bottom of the hill where the castles are) at about 12 and met our guide for the day, Brad......
ok...he was attractive.....from South Africa......had an accent.....let me just make a disclaimer: Tour guides are my friends! They know the most stuff! I need to learn what they know!.......some of the group may have a different story, but he was really fun :)
Went through Hohenschangau with a tourguide that must have been unbelievably bored because he tried to amuse himeself and possibly us by putting dramatic pauses and emphasis on certain things into his speech......and therefore, from now on, he will ever be made fun of by us because it cracks us up every time we talk about the Kingdom of Bavaria, King Ludwig, or his FATHER, Maximilian......
Then we went over to Neuschwanstein castle, the castle that Ludwig set out to build (only 17 rooms were finished, he lived there for only 173 days). We climbed STRAIGHT up a mountain, then walked onto the suspension bridge with a GORGEOUS view of the castle, and then went in. We had a softspoken guide that we could barely hear, but she did all she could in a castle that wasn't completed and a tour that could only possibly last 25 minutes. The peculiar thing was, since Walt Disney used Neuschwanstein for the inspirations of Cinderella Castle (or Sleeping Beauty also, or not....or something to that effect, don't ask me! hahaha), I walked in and started laughing at the similarities......it was like I was back at work! Even though I have bad memories of that place, some are good :)
Then back to Munich, and Thai food! We made fools out of ourselves at the self-service restaurant that we just sat down at, had to have a German set us straight, and then had a great first Thai meal! Back to the hotel, and slept? took a bath? No clue....
Sunday:
Even though stores are closed on Easter, random things like the Deutches Museum are open! We slept in on Sunday morning, and set out at maybe noon or so. Nate was in heaven because it was mainly about science, but we all had fun playing with the kids games and reading random plaques about the chunnel and the first roman bridge ever, in Salerno. Had some weiner schnitzel, and left for church!
Ok, so church.....slightly strange. Not the church itself, but how we found it. While we were walking into the SOLD OUT showing of the 300, Katherine and I heard 3 guys about college age talking, and the middle of the convo was something like, "I finally found a church I LIKE going to here!" we did a double take, and then proceeded to ask them about it. They gave us directions, told us what time it was, and we actually found it! It was great to be in a seemingly normal church (normal meaning english speaking), so great that we felt like we were back in America! On an even stranger note, Tim (from last year's team) has a friend who is doing YoungLife in Munich. We looked in the bulletin, and his friend had just left with some of the youth from the church to go on a mission trip in Bulgaria! That would have been so strange if we would have actually ran into him....
After church, we had nothing to do, so we hit up the Starbucks and chilled.......(caramel macchiato count:2) then being more bored (that's what happens when everything is closed) we decided to go to Olympic Park......I mean, the Olympics were in Munich in 72, why not go check it out? Being the Olympic fiend I am, I slyly suggested that we go, and off we went! It was so fun! We walked around (because it was still light outside and nowadays its impossible for me to get hungry while its still light outside) and soaked in the atmosphere. We saw the wall of gold medalsists, I freaked out because Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals at the swimming hall, we pretended to be olympic sport icons and took pics, and we frolicked in the meadows and grassy knolls that were abounding. Adam and Nate tried to chase bunnies and ducks and we decided I hate them for that......
Later that night, we decided to go eat at the Hofbrauhaus, the oldest and most likely largest beer hall in Munich. It was an old haunt of the Nazi party (Munich was their headquarters), and you can still see some of the marks from back then, even though they have disguised it to the naked eye. I had some pork which was probably some of the best pork I have had....ever. It was so packed and rowdy, but it was a great experience....even though we came out of it smelling like cigarettes and beer, but still fun.
Monday:
So, one of my life dreams has been quasi-achieved. We went to Dachau, the concentration camp right outside of Munich. I REALLY want to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau, but since Poland isn't such a tourist attraction, I had to settle. As I was telling somebody recently, being IN a place where something happened means so much more to me. Just like my desire to go to Normandy....it always seems more real. So we got there, saw a 23 minute film about what happened at the camp, and by about minute 18, I was shaking. We had a mini-tour, and Morgan and I got those audio guides that you push numbers according to where you are. I was glad I got those....I barely looked in the museum, but I think I got the whole experience. I walked through the gas chamber (which wasn't used for mass killing like at the death camps) and I almost tossed some cookies.....its just so disgusting! But I really am glad that I went.....
We took a train back to Munich and had subway for lunch (italian bmt count:2). After some wandering to inquire about a mexican restaurant, buying a Hofbrauhaus mini-stein, and
more wandering, we proceeded to starbucks, because it was the only thing open (caramel macchiato count:3). At dinnertime, we set foot in the best mexican restaurant in Munich, as well as the HOTTEST. We started sweating as soon as we set foot in the door! Great meal, but the a/c didn't come on until about 3 min before we left. On our way home, we decided to find a Magner's cider, because there are ads ALL OVER MUNICH. Nobody knew what it was, and nobody had any, obviously. Sadness......another bath I think, and sleep!
Tuesday:
Woke up at the butt crack....because we wanted to get to downtown for all the shops to FINALLY OPEN! So we spent all morning spread out on the main shopping street....I spent way too much time in H&M, went to get a currywurst for lunch, and then decided to do speed shopping for souveniers and the like in the 20 minutes before we had to meet to leave for the airport. 20 minutes, 6 stores, 4 things.....it was great......one thing in particular was an Italian BMT to take back to italy with me (Italian BMT count:3). I also got a pin from one of the soccer teams in Munich and a flag from another, and a bavarian flag.
We met up, and set off for the airport to come back to italy.....*tear*
I love Germany! YAY! I wanna go back!
Ok....so a food rundown if you will.....
Weiner scnitzel:2
Bratwurst:1
Currywurst:2
Pretzel:1
Thai-red curry chicken:1
Steak Burrito:1
Awesome pork steak:1
Large popcorn/coke (movie snacks):1
Starbucks caramel macchiato:3
Italian BMT:3
That's all I got for now....that took me FOREVER!
:)
I'm off!
Wow, I suck at keeping up with this blog.....but at least I am trying!
So, we had vision trip in March.....53 americans....PLUS US......all over the campus......it was insane, plus 7 people became Christians! YAY!
So after the craziness that was vision trip and follow up with that, plus a day of outreaches Haswell style, we have spring break!
I am heading out in 15 min to go to Munich for our spring break! YAY! I am excited, I haven't heard much about Munich, EVER, so I have no preconcieved notions, and we have an easy schedule planned......one thing a day, the rest being spontaneous! A bike tour, Neuschwanstein Castle, and Dachau Concentration Camp......with one free day (Easter Sunday) and a lot of time to do nothing! YAY! Hope we get some rest....
I'll let you know how it goes when I get back!
:)
