London by Night is a Wonderful Sight: Brats, Beer, Bavarian Alps

This weekend I took my last group trip to Munich from Friday to Monday. We left Friday afternoon which was nice that we didn't have to wake up at 2:00 am.

FRIDAY
I was surprised when we landed because it looked like we were in the middle of a farm! We took a train to the city and the train smelled so bad. It was seriously like walking through a farm. Besides being smelly, the train was long. Two hours with frequent stops. Plus there was a group of obnoxious teenagers in our carriage. It wasn't until the last 5 minutes of the trip that we finally decided to move. I was very happy to make it to our hostel. Travel days are very long, filled with motion sickness. Our hostel is very nice except only WiFi in the lobby. I'm a WiFi snob and need it everywhere, but I made do.

Immediately we went to dinner. We ate at a German restaurant in the Marienplatz. The Marienplatz is the central square in the city center of Munich. Everything on the menu was pork and there was no chicken! I was able to find beef and ordered that with potato dumplings. I actually didn't really like the dumplings, which I thought I would.

{Marienplatz}

{Braised Beef with Potato Dumplings}

After dinner we went to a beer hall called Augustiner Keller. We later found out that this was a very popular beer hall for the locals. It had live music and people dressed in traditional German outfits. They don't normally dress like that but there was an event that goes on every once in awhile. Supposedly there's a beer fest right now but we started to think they always claim to have a beer fest to attract tourism. It was super fun there. They played American songs like Sweet Home Alabama, I Will Survive, and Whip It. You order beer in liters, which is huge! I probably gave over half to Eric since I'm not a huge beer drinker. There was a lot of interesting people there and I guess all you have to do is scream with your glass in the air then cheers and you're buddies!

{Some locals in traditional German outfits}

{Eric, Me, and Greta with our liters}

SATURDAY
Today we started at the Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was the first camp started in 1933. It was originally for political opponents but in 1936 non-political and jewish prisoners greatly increased. It was open for 12 years and was finally liberated in 1945. We went on a guided tour but our tour guide was difficult to understand and not very interesting. It was a little disappointing because it may have been a better experience with a different guide. We ended up ditching the tour and looked around ourselves, which I think ended up being better. We started in the museum, which was originally the maintenance building where prisoners were first brought to give up their belongings and register. Then we saw the barracks, which were taken down 20 years after the way but 2 were reconstructed for the memorial site. We walked along the camp road where rows and rows of barracks used to be lined up. At the end of the road was a Jewish memorial that was built in 1967 and the Crematorium area. We walked through a gas chamber. I was confused at first because Dachau was not a death camp. The gas chambers were not used as mass murder but survivors have testified that it was used to murder individual prisoners or small groups. After the Crematorium area we watched the Holocaust documentary about Dachau. That wrapped up our Holocaust Memorial visit and we headed back to the city.

{Entrance to the camp}

{Barracks}

{Fence}

We checked out the huge market and I bought a Pretzel. Pretzels are a big deal in Germany. Mine was cheese with tomatoes - I called it a pretzel pizza without sauce. Unfortunately it started to rain. We waited it out under an umbrella and when it looked clear we decided to head to a park. It was a very long walk and it started to rain harder and looking at the sky I could tell we were heading further into the dark clouds. Eric and I headed back to the hostel in an attempt to stay out of the rain but we weren't quick enough. We got caught and were very wet when we finally made it back to the hostel.

{There are street performers everywhere}

Because of timing for the day we were unable to make it on the city bike tour, which would have been fun but I wanted to stay at the concentration camp longer because it was a very interesting and unique experience.

SUNDAY
Today Eric and I decided to break away from the group and go to Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the world-famous fairytale castle built by King Ludwig II on an imposing rock in the seclusion of the Bavarian Alps. It was built in the 19th century. This was after castles were used for strategic and defensive purposes. He wanted it to be perfect so it took longer than expected and was never finished during his lifetime. The castle is the castle that inspired Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle in Disney Land (not to be confused with Cinderella's Castle in Disney World).

Last night was day light savings in Europe. We thought so hard about what time to set our alarms in case our phones wouldn't automatically change. We figured that if we set them at 7:30 we will either wake up at 7:30 (given the case that our phones did change) or 8:30 if that didn't change. Waking an hour early is better than an hour late. Thanks to my super smart phone it changed and I was up on time! Unfortunately, Eric set him alarm for 7:30 because his phone isn't smart and probably wouldn't change. But we didn't factor in that his phone hadn't changed from London time so he woke up 2 hours late! At 10 when he finally answered his door from my knocking and I had an angry look on my face he was confused and showed me that it was only 8:00. I said are you crazy! It's 10:00! We couldn't believe how complicated this got after how hard we thought about it! He moved fast and we were out the door by 10:30 making the 10:50 train like we planned. We were very unlucky and picked the longest line to buy tickets. We even split up into two line and we both picked the longest lines! We missed the train by seriously 2 minutes. The next one didn't come for another hour. That was really upsetting. We ate a slow breakfast and were the first ones on the 11:50 train. It was a two hour train ride. By 2:00 we made it to the Bavariam Alps where the castle is. It was a short hike to the castle. It was a very nice day; a sunny and clear sky. I thought it might rain so I wore my rain coat but whenever I'm prepared it never rains! We got lots of pictures and even asked some people to take pictures of us together! That's the only downside of traveling just us two; all my pictures are of just me!

{Neuschwanstein Castle}

On our way down the mountain we bought bavarian snow covered balls. They were like doughnut holes but lighter. The worst part of the day happened next. We walked past a huge frog!! I am very scared of frogs and every hop it took I took 5 giant steps just so it wouldn't reach me.

{Snow covered Bavarian balls-Deeelicious}

{Scary Frog}

That evening we went to The Hofbrauhaus. It's the really touristy beer hall. We only bought a giant pretzel and left.

{Greta and Me at Hofbrauhaus with a Pretzel rather than beer}

Monday

On Monday we check out of our hostel and Eric and I went to find and English Book store. He had finished the second Hunger Games book on the trip and that's the kind of book that you need the next one right after finishing. We got there 10 minutes before opening. It was us and another girl waiting to get in. At first we couldn't find it. We joked about it being in the children's section so before giving up and leaving we decided to check it out and that's where it was! We thought it was funny that we're reading a book from the children's section. The other girl was also looking for the same book.

Then we met up with the rest of the group and saw the Glockenspiel. Everyday at 11:00 and 12:00 it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century. The top half tells the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine. First time around figures are dancing and the second time there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria and Lothringen. The Bavarian knight wins every time of course. The bottom half is a bunch of dancing figures. It's called the coopers' dance because in 1517, the year of the plague in Munich, coopers are said to have danced through the streets to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to the king through difficult times. I listened to a tour guide and he said its the second most overrated tourist attraction. I thought that was really funny.

{Jousting happening in the top half; dancing in the bottom half}

Then we walked through the market again. I bought a well known pastry called schmalznuclel at the first cafe. It was like a doughnut and similar to the balls I had at the castle. Then I bought dried fruit. Greta raved about it and I needed a snack for the ride home (plus I had so much cash leftover. That never happens).