The afternoon we arrived we went to Dachau, just outside of the city center. For those that don't know, Dachau was a concentration camp during WWII. It's now a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and much of what was originally there is now gone. The museum at the site though is very good. On the train on the way back to Munich, we met a man whose parents were both Holocaust survivors...his mom was in hiding, and his dad was in a concentration camp. After the war, Germany apparently turned much of Hitler's land into shelters for refugees, so this man was actually born in Hitler's airplane hangar. Very interesting person to talk to.
That night we made the quintessential visit to the Hofbrauhaus. It's a little intimidating at first, because it's huge and full of people and you have to seat yourself. Of course, it's not like you get a table to yourself. You just have to walk up and ask if you can squeeze in at a table with other people. This concept is actually pretty typical in Germany. Anyway, we wanted a table that was locals, not tourists, and that looked like nice people to chat with. We ended up choosing a table of 4 German men who work for BMW. They were really nice, and let us practice our German all night....mostly because they didn't speak very good English. Later another couple of guys joined our table who were in Munich for a big soccer game the next day. It was a fun night, drinking Maß (liters of beer) and eating Wurst and Bretzeln.
Em and me inside the Hofbrauhaus with Maß in hand!
Our group of German buddies...minus one of the soccer fan guys
That night we actually met up with the soccer fan guys, who took us to a bunch of fun bars and dance clubs in a part of town we never would've found on our own. It was a lot of fun. The only bad part was when we decided to head back to our hotel. Turns out at 2am the trains don't come all that frequently. So we had to wait on the train platform, in the cold, for 47 minutes. Luckily the guys were nice enough to wait with us and make sure we made it home okay.The next morning, we forced ourselves out of bed and headed downtown to do some more sightseeing. We saw the famous Glockenspiel clock in Marienplatz, climbed up St. Peter's Cathedral to get a view of the city, ate Bratwurst and Weisswurst for lunch, went to Odeonplatz, saw the Munich palace, and then headed to the Chinesisch Turm beer garden in the beautiful English Gardens. It was a whirlwind trip, but super, super fun. I can't wait to go back to Munich for Oktoberfest this fall!
Glockenspiel clock in Marienplatz
View from the top of St. Peter's Cathedral
Our lunch: Weisswurst und Brezeln & Bratwurst und Saurkraut
Movie star Em in Odeonplatz
Something special that lots of tour groups stopped to look at. :)
Cool yellow church
Lion outside the Munich palace entrance
Courtyard in the palace
Cool "Walking Man" we passed near the English Gardens
The Chinesisch Turm (Chinese Tower)
Em enjoying one last Bier und Brezeln before leaving town
1 comment:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Clark,
In preperation for the 3rd annual beerathon, Mr. Geoffory Lee Brennecka and I ran into an important, but completely irrelevant question. In the year that you have been in Germany, has Mr. Andrew Clark performed any of his well-renowned personal drunk runs? And if so how does the reaction of the old women of the old world think of his personal solo tradition. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Khalid
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