Munich

Every time I arrive in a new city I'm super confused and disoriented.  Luckily it took me no time at all to find my way to my hostel.  It also helps that I can read and speak a little bit of German.  I guess me trying to learn German in high school wasn't a complete waste of time.  I got to my hostel around 07:30, so I went to get a true German breakfast, with lunch meat and hot chocolate.  I guess hot chocolate probably isn't what Germans drink.

Some king, but the funny thing is the building in the back.  They're renovating it, but they have a facade to show what the building is suppose to look like.

Taking tours has become my favorite thing to do.  It's a great chance to meet people that are in the same

Glockenspiele

Opera House

position as you.  I learned a lot about the rise of Hitler and all the cool churches of Munich.  I would also like to take this time to say that the weather is CRAZY.  It oscillates between 80 and sunny with 50 and rainy every 4 hours.  After the 3 or so hour tour, I went back to the hostel to check in.  My hostel is more like a hotel, crazy big and super clean.  I left shortly after and walked about 3 or so miles to the Olympic park in Munich.  It was pretty cool to see the old stadium and swimming hall.  The swimming hall has been converted into a recreation center, which is pretty cool.  BMW world was right next door, but it was getting pretty late so I didn't have time to go see it.  At this point in time, it began to rain....again.  It was only a light drizzle at this point so I hiked up a hill to get a really cool view of Munich.  When I started heading home, it began to down pour.  My shoes were soaking wet and so were my pants.  Good thing I know how to use public transportation or I would have had to walk home in the rain.  Also, good thing there weren't any bus inspectors because I doubt I bought the right bus pass.  I spent the rest of the night in the lobby of the hostel updating my blog.

Munich Olympic stadium

Dachau concentration camp

I got to sleep in the next day since the next tour I wanted to go on didn't start until 10:00.  I decided I wanted to go to Dachau, a concentration camp and Nazi officer training school.  The tour was very sobering.  It's one thing to learn about Nazis and concentration camps in history class, but it is completely different to walk through the barracks and gas chambers.  I'm pretty sure I had the chills most of the time I was there.  Clearly the most logical German thing to do to get out of a depressed mood is to drink.  And so I did.  I went on a beer challenge pub crawl with a bunch of people around my age.  I got to meet and talk to everyone, but the Irish were my favorite.  Not only did they have awesome accents, but they were a bunch of fun to drink with.  I didn't bring my super awesome camera, so I just took a few with my phone.  I would also like to mention that Munich has some pretty awesome beer.  I walked home with some friends that stayed at the same hostel as me; we got home around 23:00 and I went straight to bed.

Number 1 tourist attraction of Munich

A LITER of BIER at Hofbraeuhaus!

An American on the left and two Irishmen on the right.   I only remember the middle guy's name, Steve.

New mates (as the Aussies would say)

Linderhof Castle/Palace (Schloss)

Bavaria's landscape  

More landscape pics

Aussie friend, Alan

The next morning I had to wake up extremely early since my tour to Linderhof and Neuschwanstein leaves the bus station at 08:30.  I got up at 07:00 and got to the bus station around 08:00.  The double decker bus was full of tourists.  This tour probably cost me the most money.  I was sitting alone on the bus and an Aussie sits next to me.  I soon realize his camera is almost identical to mine and that he's traveling alone too. We spent most of the trip together helped take pictures for one another.  Bavaria, a German state which Munich is the capital, is beautiful.  It's hard to describe, but I took a bunch of pictures to show everyone.  The tour first went to Linderhof, a small palace that King Ludwig II built.  Talk about ornate!  Everything is covered with gold and baby angels.  Too bad I couldn't take pictures inside.  Our next stop was a gift shop. I think I spent almost $100 on souvenirs, bummer I have to carry it around now.  Our final stop was Neuschwanstein.  I was really fortunate to have great weather for my trip since it rained for the last 2 days.  I realized that there were doing renovation and was quite bummed.  One side of the castle was covered up.  Anyway, I still got some really good pictures of the surrounding area.

Neuschwanstein!

I got back to the hostel around 19:00 or so and started to do my laundry.  I hate doing laundry.  I spent that time doing computer and blog stuff until my clothes were dry.  I figured I should go to bed, but I ran into some of my friends that I meet on the beer tour, May and Cat.  I stayed and chatted with them for a while and then we decided to walk to the main train station to get ice cream and chocolate.  I finally went to bed around 01:00.

Kat Chow and I, get it? Haha

May and I!

I woke up pretty early the next morning to pack up my stuff and check out of the hostel.  When I got to the main train station, I was extremely confused about where I needed to go to catch my bus.  Good thing I asked for directions or I would have missed my bus.  I got on and spent the next 5 hours sleeping and reading.

Overall, Germany is a pretty great place.  I loved the fact that the public transportation was so punctual.  Everything in Europe is smaller compared to America, expect for bier.  I wish I hand an extra day in Munich!

Next stop Prague!