We went to Munich, Germany last weekend. It was so amazing! I immediately fell in love as soon as our train left the airport and I had the chance to see the beautiful German countryside! The first couple train stops seemed to be in the middle of nowhere: only a few trees, a handful of cottages, and a couple overflowing bike racks were in sight. As we entered the downtown part of the city of Munich, the city grew much more dense, with tall buildings and sky scraping clock towers. Once we checked into our hostel, we walked down to a famous city square where town hall is: Marienplatz. Town hall is a gorgeous German building, not only full of classic European detailing, but also full of color! The building has a colorful front piece of detailing which stands out against the normal stone walls. Looking around the skyline in Marienplatz there are about six clock towers, each adorned with golden hands and roman numerals, as well as different colored rooftops! You can’t help but smile when you look around the city; it’s so full of color and cute [what I thought looked like] Dutch-inspired buildings!
That night we went on a beer tour to three of the best beer gardens/beer houses. Each place brews their own kind of beer, and let me tell you, they know what they are doing! Don’t get me wrong, I’m no beer connoisseur, but German beer is by far better than anything we have in the states. One of the places the tour took us was the most famous beer garden in Munich called Hofbräuhaus. The place is gigantic! It has the classic “beer garden” as a courtyard in the middle of the building, which reaches two or three stories, I believe (we didn’t get to explore the whole thing it was so large). This ‘garden’ is where they used to keep the beer cooled before fridges were invented. It’s covered in chestnut trees for shade, and is now used as a terrace for dining. They maximize their space with long wooden tables, which customers share with others, and it creates a fun, friendly, outgoing atmosphere! There is a band constantly playing classic German tunes inside, and not only do the waiters and waitresses wear lederhosen and beer girl outfits, so do the some of the customers! In one room of the building, they even have a stage for performing little German skits and such! Despite the enormous size of this place, it was completely packed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, even during the lunch hour there was a large crowd there! The food here, as well as in all of the restaurants we tried in Munich, was amazing. During that weekend, I had the best bratwurst, weiner schnitzel, sauerkraut, and potato salad! My mouth is watering just remembering it!
One of the days we went on a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp. It was a very interesting experience, one that I cannot completely explain. The tour guide was insanely informative, expanding on the details I’d previously learned in school, and giving insight to how everything ran, how the people of the town felt, etc. The craziest part was the location of the camp. I had always pictured them like desolate, isolated, ominous things sitting in the middle of nowhere. I was wrong to say the least. Less than 5 minutes on a bus there is a school, with little children playing outside, surrounded by more residential area. It’s astonishing to think that people lived so near to such a disastrous place. The dead winter trees set the tone of the tour, and seemed to give a much more realistic feel to the place. Most all of the buildings have been reconstructed, but they have simulated the camp as it used to stand in 1933.
After that little tour, we needed a something a more uplifting, so we went back to Hofbräuhaus and soaked in the happy German music, ate some fantastic food, and sipped on a tall house brew. Experiencing this amazing vacation made me realize how badly I would love to come back for Oktoberfest! :)
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