Munich

So, like any other blog I've tried to keep, this one too becomes more and more difficult to update as time goes by. It seems like the past few weekends have been so crazy that they just keep me exhausted for the entire rest of the week. That's both good and bad, but I don't mind too much.

Munich was pretty awesome. Although the 12 hour travel time was not so hot. I left Cottbus at 11pm, arrived in Berlin at 1am, and then chilled for 3 1/2 hours at the train station trying my best to stay awake. I brought cards so I played quite a few games of solitaire. After I hopped on my next train I took it to Leipzig and then to Munich. My first of those two trains was running late to I had to transfer at some stop along the way, but things turned out okay. I got there at 11am - only an hour late.

I met up with Galina and we grabbed lunch at some outdoor Cafe. Galina is awesome and she lives in Sandy Springs so we plan on hanging out when we both get back to Atlanta. We went to the modern art museum which was pretty cool. I mean, I like looking at cool pieces of art, but Galina is familiar with all the artists so that was pretty cool seeing it with her. I was absolutely exhausted from only getting probably 3 hours of sleep on the train, so after the museum I was about to die. She also took a night train so she felt the same. We wandered around the city and ended up at the English Gardens - really just a giant park. There was a point on the map called the "Nudist Meadow" so we thought we'd check it out, ha. Turns out yes, it's just the place where all the nudists go to hang out. There's a river that separates the park, so one side is naked people and the other is the hangout for young kids. Young kids with clothes. So we hung out there and laid down in the grass for a bit. It looked like it was going to rain so we decided to try and check into the hostel (even though we didn't make the reservations and nobody from our group was there yet) - luckily they let us so we grabbed our room and I passed out for an hour and took a nap. I woke up with Dana and Judy in the room so we hung out for a bit then went to meet others at the train station. Everyone was hungry at that point so we grabbed some food and then went back to the hostel and passed out. Everyone was just too tired from traveling to do anything, hah. Good thing Galina and I got there early to check things out. It was really sunny and hot - even though we're both from Atlanta we were dying. But it rained the rest of the weekend so I guess we were the only ones who go to see sunny Munich. Sweet.

Saturday we went on a free tour of the city that proved to be really cool. Good thing we found this free tour group. The whole thing is done based on tips so you give them what you feel they deserve. It's mostly students that move to Munich from Australia or the US. Our guide was pretty awesome and I learned a lot about Munich that I didn't know before I went on the tour. Turns out Munich was the original headquarters of the Nazi party before they went to Berlin and took over. Munich has lots of little memorials around the city that represent all the people that stood up to the Nazis while they were in power. But, because it has a pretty dark past, the memorials are very tiny and nobody would even notice them if they weren't pointed out - good thing we had our guide.

That night we went to the Hofbräuhaus - the world's most famous beer hall. Munich is a huuuge beer city, so we had to check it out. It's pretty funny - all the other Germans I talk to make fun of Munich and the Bavarians (southern Germans). It's a lot like the south in the States - the southern people are thought of as stupid hicks. They are the "traditional" Germans, or more like the stereotypical Germans that you would see in movies (wearing Lederhosen and alpine hats and drinking huge steins of beer, etc.) So yeah, the beer hall was really cool. All 10 of us ordered a liter of beer each in these HUGE mugs. It was awesome. The waiter brought all 10 liters out at once (5 in each hand) - very impressive. All the waitresses there were dressed in traditional German Dirndls (like all the beer serving women in movies, naturally). It was a lot of fun and good times.

Later that night we hopped on a club bus (a regular city bus with a bar inside and lights and a DJ and everything) and they drove us to the clubs. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time. They played crazy 80's music - we danced to songs from Grease (the musical), we did the Twist, etc. Awesome. I love European club music. Of course they threw in the new hits from the States every now and then, but mostly it was awesome old music. Good times.

The next morning we woke up early to check out train times and get read to go on a tour of Dachau, the Nazis first and longest running concentration camp. It was the same group that gave the free tours but this time we had to pay a bit because Dachau is a suburb of Munich and we had to take a train to get there. It was pretty intense. It rained the whole day and was pretty chilly so there was an errie feeling while touring the camp. Our guide was amazing and she knew so much about everything. I find German history extremely interesting. The Holocaust is just insane - I guess I find it so interesting because I can't believe that stuff like that actually happened. I guess you can call it morbid finding that kind of stuff interesting, but oh well. I love the museums, the books, the movies, it's all just so interesting. I wish there was a better word for "interesting", but that's all I can really say about it, hah. Oh well. Dachau was really cool and I wish I could have stayed longer. Galina, Judy, and I had to leave the tour early to catch our trains, but if I could have stayed I would. I'm really glad I got to go on the tour - I really really wanted to go to a concentration camp while I was here but didn't think it would happen because they were all so far away. Auschwitz - the death camp - I've heard is a crazy experience to go to, but it's far away in SE poland. We learned that all the death camps aren't in Germany because Hitler wanted to hide the Holocaust from everyone - wanted people to think that the concentration camps were for bad people and they were just like normal prisons. Crazy. I learned so much I just want to type all about it - but I won't. Hah.

So yeah, Munich was awesome. I don't feel I really got to explore the entire city, but on the tour there wasn't all that much to see - it was mostly just a few churches, some smaller buildings, and a LOT of history (but the interesting kind so it was good). Overall I was really pleased and I had a great time with everyone.

Now I'm packing and getting ready to go to Amsterdam tomorrow - eeek! I'm so excited! My train leaves at 6am - getting there early again because I figure I took Friday off from work so I might as well use it all. I've been researching stuff to do there and it's going to be awesome - I'm so excited. So much more than just legal pot and a crazy red light district, hah. I can't wait. My 20th birthday in Amsterdam - SWEEET!

Ah, I made plans to check out of my apartment next Friday. Yay! I'm coming home so soon! Eeek! Here's the plan: since my flight on Sunday is really just too early to leave from Cottbus that morning, I'm leaving Cottbus Friday morning and spending the weekend in Berlin. I've been to Berlin probably 5+ times due to train transfers, but all I've seen is what is out of my window and the giant train station (biggest in Europe, so that's pretty cool at least). I'll have Friday afternoon to tour the city and all day Saturday as well. It will be nice having time to myself and doing whatever I want to do. It's always hard to decide what to do when you have a large group (like Munich - I think most of the time was used to decide what everyone wanted to do). I booked my hostel and it looks REALLLY nice from online. Only 20€ a night, so that's really awesome. Won best hostel of the world in 2004 - sweet. I had a lot of hostel choices and it was hard to decide what I actually wanted out of hostel when I'm traveling by myself - do I want one away from the city in the woods? A small family owned one? One for rugged backpackers? A large one in the city center? Tough decisions. Traveling with a group I just want a place that I can pass out in at night and store my stuff during the day - but when I'm by myself it's different. I finally decided on one I think I'll be happy with - it had the best reviews so I think I'm safe.

Okay, well it's midnight and I still have to make some phone calls, finishing packing, and then I'm getting up at 4.30am. Ugh.

See you guys soon! (For real this time! Ahhh! 10 Days! Ahhhh!)

***Also, check out Munich pictures on the right hand side link!