Munich, Germany...aka "the Homeland"

Guten Tag!
(hello in german)

So, I just got back from Munich and I LOVED IT! I literally was sad to be back in Madrid, even though it was considerably warmer than in Munich. It was the first country I went to that I felt really attached to and felt that 2 days weren't enough to see everything and get the full experience. Munich, Germany was by far my favorite country, but not for the reasons you might think, it wasn't exceptionally beautiful in land or architecture like some of the other places I had been, but the culture of Germany was what I fell in love with. The people were sooo nice, whether they were speaking English or German. Which, by the way, I don't see why everyone thinks the German language is ugly...I thought it was cool and different, not ugly at all. The people were super nice and friendly, there was a number of people who approached Me, Ally and Lynn to offer us help on directions. My favorite instance was getting complimented in German from a small, cute, old german woman while riding the escalator out of the metro. The lady was so sweet and while speaking in german hand motioned that she liked my braid. So...sweet! O and as most of you know I do not like escalators or revolving doors, well I loved them in Germany! lol it sounds crazy, but they moved slower and smoother. Ally and Lynn kept referring to Germany as "my homeland" bc my heritage is mostly german... lol another thing was that everyone looked similar to me and my family. Ally and Lynn were baffled at how "tall" everyone was, I was like they aren't that tall...and then i realized my entire family is tall, I'm just used to it! These are just a few of the observations we made!

So, with that introduction, I will go on with where we went...

Day 1: We were extremely tired from sleeping in the airport the night before because our flight left at 7:40 am and we didnt want to pay for a taxi. We got into Munich at 10:10 am and immediately went to the hostel to drop our stuff off. Luckily Munich wasnt as cold as it was supposed to be, altho it was 10 degrees cooler than Madrid. We learned real quick that the German language was a LOT different than the other languages and got a lot of laughs out of trying to pronounce the metro stops. We then got lunch at a local restraunt and luckily the waitress knew some english that she could read us the menu, because we had no idea what was on there! While eating a scrumchious lunch, we planned out where we wanted to visit on our map. The first stop: Konig Platz= Koenig Plaza! It was really exciting to see that our last name was a beautiful plaza in Munich, Germany. It had 3 big building around it, in my pictures I am standing under the sign :) From there we stumbled upon the german botanical gardens, some old churches, and pretty fountains. This is the beauty of not taking a tour you experience and see so much other parts of the country that aren't touristy. From there we stumbled into a church and were awed by how different the church was from the other churches, it was more open and plain with high ceilings. From there we went to Marienplatz...one of my favorites! It is the big white castle with red flowers on it, it was beautiful and inside of it was a plaque of 8 different places that were affliliated with Munich and GUESS WHAT! Cincinnati, OH was on there!! I was freaking out and so excited! I couldnt believe that little pieces of home were popping up everywhere in Munich! In the same square of Marienplatz, was Mary's Column which has Mary on it and people pray there, the last night we were there, people had a picture of the pope bendedict and were praying around it. From there we went into a more ornate church of St. Peter it had lots of gold and was very beautiful. I lit a candle there for Kevin bc he had swine and for aunt Marcy. From there we found a market full of cheese and pumpkins and then eventually found a beer garden. We went to Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer garden. It was a really cool experience we tried the beer which was really good, but I personally like Belgium's better, and had a pretzel. The waiters and waitresses were dressed up in traditional German attire, there was a band, it was really cool, so many people mingling among the large tables, we met some nice Germans there. We were exhausted by this point and went to get dinner at a traditional german restraunt. We ordered a traditional german meal too...sausage, sauerkrat, and potatoes. It was delicious...the sauerkrat not so much but I tried it! From there we mingled with some Germans, Lebanonese, Austrians, and Eygptians and had fun.

Day 2: We got up early and went to the Dachau Concentration Camp. I would like to mention that I was terrified of going, but I knew it was something that I needed to see. It was extremely eerie, overwhelming and sad...but overall worth it. I learned so much that I didn't know before and somehow seeing where all of it took place made it more real to me. I was overwhelmed at how calculated and planned the Nazi's were and how people could be so cruel. After 2 hours of being there, we all left somberly thinking we were going to the Ludwig's Castle that Walt Disney based Cinderella's castle off of. Well we got bogus directions and found out that it was actually 2 hrs away and by that time it was too late to go. We were all really bummed about that, but decided to go to The Olympic Stadium instead. That area was one of my favorite places of Munich...it was soo green and beautiful! We passed the BMW museum and saw the Olympic Stadium, the natatorium where they olympic swimmers swam...it was amazing! The stadium was surrounded by a BEAUTIFUL park where everything was green and amazing. From there we ate dinner around Marienplatz and packed to leave the next day.

Germany was amazing, I was sad to leave and felt like I had just had a glimpse of what Germany had to offer. I desperately want to go back and finish exploring Munich and explore the rest of Germany. I know I'll get back there some day! I was baffled at how nice the everyone was and how much of the culture I felt attached to. It was truly a wonderful experience that I hope to repeat very soon!

auf wiedersehen!
(goodbye in german) :)