Munich

A few weeks ago a couple friends and I made a trip out to Munich, Germany for the weekend. We once again went with a travel company this time called Euro adventures (we have learned that this is by far the cheapest and easiest way to travel around Italy if living in Florence). After the short bus ride of about 8 hours we arrived in Munich around 4 am. A few hours of sleep at the hostel and we were up and ready to start site seeing! Because we have become such avid bike riders of here we signed up for another bike tour! I definitely think these tours are worth the money. It’s amazing how much ground you can cover by bike. We rode by gardens, the town hall, churches, and got a little background on the city. I thought one thing that was really interesting that we learned was that you wont see the Germans being very patriotic because they feel like it they were to be that would be taken as them supporting Hitler, still a very sensitive subject that it not often talked about in Germany.

For lunch we stopped at the world’s largest beer gardens to get some typical cuisines and a beer! This garden can seat up to 10,000+ people! We were so lucky with the weather being hot that day!
After enjoying a bratwurst we got back on our bikes and went to see the river surfers. These guys were amazing! The water shot out so fast so they had to be on there game when surfing. I wanted to try it out but knew that would never end well.

That night we signed up to go to a popular beer hall for dinner. It was the Strong beer festival and so the beer hall was having basically a huge party. I had no idea what to expect, but as we walked in I was shocked to see everyone dressed up in traditional German clothing, lederhosen and beer fest dresses! I felt so out of place and even that they were not happy to have us “Americans” there with them. The hall was well literally a hall. The room was filled with long tables and a stage in the front where beauty competitions and strong men contests were held all night long. Also there was a traditional German band that played live music.

I loved the laid back feel of the place. Everyone was just kind of hanging out and talking with good friends! Although the locals intimated me at first they were quiet possible the NICEST people I have EVER met! All night we kind of moseyed around and talked to people from all over that were there just to have a good time. I loved meeting all these new people and experiencing this unique adventure!

The next morning we woke up and headed out to Dachau, the concentration camp that was just outside the city center. I cant even put into words what a touching experience this was. Just walking around gave me the chills and made me question how something this terrible could have ever happened. I felt that when walking around I could picture the awful things that took place and the sadness that was brought from ignorance.

A quick nap and we were off to a new beer hall. This time we went to probably the most famous in the city called, Haufbrahaus. This restaurant held about 6,000 people. We didn’t have tickets this night so we had to walk around until we could find tables to share with locals. We just hung out and played cards. I love the relaxed culture.

The markets in Munich were AMAZING. I loved all the fresh ingredients and different foods you could get. We walked around the markets for hours just browsing around. I have to say I got some of the best olives ever here!

Sunday morning Christine, Chelsea and I decided we would wake up early and try to see a couple more sites before leaving….funny thing is EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in Munich. I am not kidding, you cannot find one store open, not even a grocery store. I was the most odd thing to me. The only 2 things open we churches….and you guessed it beer halls hahaha. We were starving so we went to the same beer hall from the night before to get some typical German dishes. I order the spaetzle and it was amazing! Kind of a rendition of Mac and cheese with grilled onions on top yum yum yum! Back on the bus to head back to Firenze!!