On to Salzburg

9-7-2008

This morning we had our last breakfast at the Euro Youth Hostel. I’m going to miss that warm milk on my bland flakes every morning. But I’m sure the hostel in Austria will be just as classy.  Currently, I’m back on the bus after a stop at Dachau where we saw the ruins of a Nazi Concentration Camp….I’m pausing, hesitating rather, to find the words to describe that experience and they just aren’t coming to me.

I’m glad I saw it. But at the same time I feel odd and strange that I felt I had to see it, that anyone has to see it. As if the stories and accounts of that dark time aren’t bone chilling enough.

Do we need to see with our own eyes before we will believe? Or even worse, do we need to see and experience in order to feel?

We will never forget. That phrase has come to encompass a lot of meaning in recent years and has almost turned cliché. So while I’m glad these pieces of history exsist, a part of me wants it gone… 

Until Salsburg.

Another Day in Munich

9-6-2008

Not going to lie, after last night (see previous post) this morning was a little rough. However, that didn’t stop me from tagging along with the group to visit Nymphenburg Castle.  It is a beautiful royal summer home with a massive pathed garden that made me wish I would have taken my running shoes along.  

That was a relatively short tour and later in the day, a group of us journeyed out to the Englischer Garten, a park that dwarfs Central Park in New York. After getting off at the wrong U-ban stop and asking a kind old lady to lead us to where we needed to go, we made our way into this beautiful piece of real estate. Right in the middle of the park is, not surprisingly, a beer garden full of Germans and tourists enjoying a beautiful Saturday afternoon. In a Chinese pagoda a live polka band towered over the gardens and filled the park with a grand German drinking accompaniment. 

Let me back track just a tad to the old lady. This woman is a prime example of the selfless kindness most Europeans posses. I asked this lady to point us in the direction of the Englischer Garten. Instead, she walks us a good kilometer out of her way to get us on the street we needed to be on. Perhaps she realized none of us spoke German so she couldn’t explain directions. However, even if that is the case, she could have waved us off and went on her merry way. But she took the time to get us where we needed to go.  Kind people please me.

 Anywho, moving on with the story: We grabbed a beer and just chilled in the park for a few hours, getting to know each other and seeing some peculiar sights. Afterward, we made our way once again to the Haufbrauhouse and enjoyed a light dinner, and a few liters. The walk back from there was rather leisurely as we took in the sites. I stopped with a fellow traveler to listen to what I think was probably the most talented busking group I’ve ever seen perform.

The "Beer Challenge"

9-5-2008

Because Germany is the only place that does beer better than Wisconsin, we all decided that a pub crawl of some sort was in order. A few students did the Euro Youth Hostel pub crawl and from what I hear, it was a crazy good time. I along with the rest

of the students went on a “Beer Challenge” tour that was once again led by the Sandeman’s New Europe tour company. This time we were with Ian. After stopping by a convenience store to grab a traveler (a beer to take with you as your walk/go on the subway), he took us around to some of the happiest places on earth, starting with the Haufbrauhaus.

 

This massive beer hall features a live polka band every day/night and liter steins that women wearing traditional drindls, carry out by the dozen. I don’t know how these tiny girls do it. Chances are if I took one of them on in an arm wrestling match, I’d be crying my way home.  They scury in between hundreds of picnic tables trying to dodge gauking tourist while they carry what is probably the equivalent of a small child in each hand. At the Haufbrauhaus, we learned a traditional drinking song that the band plays every half an hour or so. When they do, the entire hall bellows in unison:

                             "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemutlichkeit"

                             "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der gemutlichkeit"

Following the Haubrauhaus we ventured to Munich’s beer garden, a well-lit, fenced in park with picnic tables inside and 6,000 people drinking beer.  The atmosphere here as well as in the Haufbrauhaus is incredibly warm and welcoming. People of every age, race, gender, truly enjoying each other’s company, and of course, the beer.

Our night of learning the true art of beer drinking came to an end at the Euro Youth Hostel.  For some, the night was over, for others, i.e. me and a couple friends, the night was still young and Munich was still to be explored.

We ventured to a club called Seasons. The €8 cover charge should have been the first sign that this place was going to be ridiculous. Inside it was your classic “I-paid-way-to-much-for-this-drink-because-I-can-afford-to” kind of place. Psychedelic lights, bimbo dancers on the speakers, and plush leather couches lining the walls. The DJ was decent and we danced until our legs we about to give out. On our way back to the Hostel we stopped a Euro McDonalds (had to just once) to cure our drunken munchies.

At the hostel bar were a few other students who also didn’t think the night was over. We grabbed more beer with them and before too long they too wanted Euro McDonalds. So off we went for a second time and honestly I wasn’t complaining.

A Day in Munich

9-5-08

Following my running ridiculousness, we went on a walking tour of Munich with a brilliant tour guide named Travis. Very knowledgeable, personable, and an entrancing story telling.  He's part of a tour company called Sandman's New Europe.

If you ever find yourself in a European city where they run tours, do yourself a favor and learn something from them.

The city is surprisingly easy to walk and possesses an old world charm. I've learned that about 70% of it is actually a reconstruction of the city before it was devastated in World War II. One can only imagine what this place must have looked like before the Allied Forces bombed it to hell. We visited one cathedral that is actually centuries old without being reconstructed, as the Allies were ordered not to destroy it, since it's twin towers were used as a bombing maker. 

That little tid bit of knowledge is just a sliver of the knowledge I've gained about this great city, mostly thanks to Travis. His stories gave life to historic pieces of Munich that we would have missed or taken for granted such as the devils footprint in the cathedral. And he gave us trivial facts that we never would have known, such as the pope's beer of choice. He taught us about maypoles, Mary's statue in Marienplatz, beer gardens, the Hofbrauhaus, and probably more that I will recall as I galavant around Munich. The point being, while Munich is the beer capitol of the world and I am consuming my fair share of the delicious beverage, there is much more to this Bavarian city.  

A Morning to Remember

9-5-2008 

I think I’m good to go. It’s the first morning of the European tour and I’ve already done the stupidest things I can do (*knock on wood*).  So the way I see it I’ve got it all out of my system:

After a long night of getting to know the UWSP group and the locals at the Euro Youth Hostel Pub, I awoke this morning still a tad intoxicated. That doesn’t bother me. What did is when I looked at my iPod to see why the alarm didn’t wake me, only to realize it was 1:30 in the afternoon! I look at the bunk below me and one of my roommates  gone and the other is still passed out. I wake up the one still sleeping, tell him how late it is, and we both spend five minutes saying, “wft, we missed the tour. Where’s Chad? How did we sleep so late? Are we seriously still this drunk?”

Then one of the lovely ladies on our tour comes to our door and informs us that it is actually 8:30 in the morning and that we simply didn’t change our clocks.

Sadly, that’s not the stupidest part. Realizing that it was still early, I decided it was time for a run around Munich. Two minutes into my run I come to the following realizations:

            I’m still ridiculously intoxicated

            I can’t see, as I didn’t put my contacts in

            I have no clue what street our hostel is on

            I don’t speak German

Needless to say, I made it back and I’m alive. You live, you learn.

A First Night in Munich

9-5-2008 (wee early hours)

Seeing as it is rather early in the morning on a Thursday night / Friday morning, I’m going to make this quick. In a nutshell, one of my roommates was too young to hold his alcohol and the other roommate got him to bed. By the time I was ready to go to bed, they were both passed out. So I had to go to the front desk and ask for a €5 Euro room card in order to get into my own room.

Prior to the binge drinking we had dinner at an amazingly authentic German restaurant. Amazing mushroom soup, salads with cauliflower, green beans, and sour coleslaw mixed in, and the main course consisted what we eventually somewhat agreed was pork with a dumpling-like ball.  I loved every bite, however the salt content of everything was a bit overwhelming after a few bites. For dessert, lime jello with a vanilla pudding on top. All of that, plus a liter of Munich’s finest brew definitely filled me up.  Until tomorrow!!