Munich

as we arrived in munich we were greeted with a throng of people. it was cool to see a bunch of actual germans with a good mix of tourists. as wee got out of the station we got to the tourist office and asked about whats good to see in munich. instead for any of it, we got to the hostel and picked up a few maps/guides. for lunch we went to hard rock cafe because jule wanted to see it. it was just a classy/expensive place. after a good burger we went next door to haufbrauhaus for drinks. i expected the selection to be much better, but there were only 5 choices of beers, and they were all very similar. only the weiss beer was decent, and i the pork steak dinner was decent for its price. the most dissapointing part was the poor service, long wait times, being ignored, and yelled at for playing cards at the table. unfortunate, because i had such high expectations. it was a cool atmosphere and the people were pretty cool. after that, we just headed back and occuppied 3 of our 10 beds in the room. yay for underbooking.

the next day was gloriously german (stereotypically of course). we got out right in time for the bike tour we wanted to hop on to and were reminded why bike tours are the best way to go in new cities. but this one was the best, it was withh lenny's tours, and all the guides and lenny himself was awesome. we went all around the city, learned some german history including munich's founding and hitler facts, and stopped in the english garden, at the chines tower for lunch. here, i had schnitzel for the first time and a beer. this is the second largest beer garden in the world, so i was obliged to. i got the liter size so i could keep the mug, and now i have a souvenier! that made the return ride home real fun. we then took 330some stairs to the highest viewing point of munich. after the crowded ascent and decent we looked for a bathroom. on the way we ran across the tour guides and one of their girlfriends having a beer on their beer bike. they immediately welcomed us in for some free beer, which ensued into great conversation. after killing the keg we went to a beer garden they knew. after another liter there, literally a place full of tables which were full of peole drinking, we moved on to a bar closer to the hostel. at this pointt it was almost 10pm but it was time for me to goo back, so i did. i got to sleep early, and the other two went to sleep shortly after, after cooking some sppeghetti, which ended up burning jule.

when we woke up the next morning we lazily got out of bed at 9ish and decided to go to the Dachau concentration camp. it was the second largest and first opened concentration camp. this became the true history day. just listening to what hapened and then walking through all those locations was beyond ominous. it was just disturbing to hear and see the living conditions and lifestyle of the prisoners. beyond that, the SS was really smart. in the way they had prisoners controlling the other prisoners, brainwashed their soldiers, and convinced the rest of the world, even through the olympics, that life is good. i wish they could have used that application of their intelligence differently. but every german has a sense of remorse. jule has already gone to 5 of them as a part of learning history and understanding the past, and i have a lot of respect for that. then we got back to the hostel and noticed that all the things out of the fridge were gone. some drinks, food, and a mug. after some arguing and dropping jule off at the train station we convinced the lady to give us some free drinks and some breakfast. i can't wait to rate/rank all these hostels. also, this last night we have a legit place to stay. 2 beds only, good amount of space, and a sink. very hard to argue with for only 26 euro/person. we then got a huge meal at a mexican place, plus a coule of beers, franziskaner and spaten, both amazing, to accompany us as we watched the usa vs. japan soccerr game. great game, unfortunate way to. lose. but at least i saw a soccer gamme at a german bar with a bunch of american fans. bed time, less then 48 hours to go!