Day 6

Munich, Germany

Finally feeling a little more rested having slept for the first time in four days in our own beds we ventured out into the city of Munich. Along the walk we stopped in one of the most amazing churches I have ever been into. St. Johann Nepomuk built in 1740s. After we walked towards the main Marienplatz square, the city's focal point. Here contains the Mariensaule, a large column of St. Mary, the Neues Rathaus, or new town Hall built between 1867 and 1909 that has figures that perform a song while spinning that commemorates the end of the plague. The square also holds the Fischbrunnen fountain, Old Town Hall and much more. Just a street over was the cities most iconic landmark, the Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady. Inside is the Town of Emperor Ludwig IV, the footprint of the Devil, allegedly, a gigantic organ and a huge crucifix hanging from the rafters. After many pictures and fighting the groans we went to the local outdoor market Viktualienmarkt just around the bend. The lively market boasts 140 shops and stalls that offer everything from flowers, vegetables, cheese, sausages and not only a whole store dedicated to horse meat. Yes horse meat and our new friend Mark went in and purchased some horse links. And again yes we all tried a little bit. Deciding that was not really what I wanted for lunch we grabbed some brats and meandered towards another something cool looking on the map, mind we had almost no idea what anything we were seeing at the time.

The Odeonsplatz square contains the Feldherrnhalle, the most prominent structure with two large Bayern lions guarding the entrance, the Hofgarten, a beautiful garden along side the quire, the Theatinerkirche Church. We spent maybe an hour trying to figure out where this square was and we took the most backwards roundabout way, but little did we know we could basically see the Marienplatz square. At the end of the long road entering the city and finally leading to Odeonsplatz square was the University of Munich. Currently Linnie and my list of universities abroad is quite extensive. Next to the university was the Siegestor or Victory Gate. It has been rebuilt along with much of the city because of extensive damages caused by WWII. Of course wandering around again made us hungry and we grabbed some awesome Gelato. Next we went to the historical English Garden. We frolicked through for a while until yet again we got hungry. We stopped and got some pretzels and delicious mustard, which I know have a new craving for. We stopped at the super market and got some more beers and headed back to the hostel around 6ish. We drank beers and hung out all together down the in the common area.

That night Bayern Munich was playing Real Madrid in one of the semi-final games, I believe, and the game was taking place in Munich. So after already killing the beers Linnie and I had purchased playing hards a couple hours before the game we needed to make a beer run. Unfortunately ALL convenient grocery stores close at 8pm nightly and it was 7:58. We ran but by the time we got to the store it was about 8:05. Cleverly we saw that there was one more person getting their last minute groceries and that the automatic door would open when they walked out. So we decided I would wait by the door hidden from the employees and wait for that person to leave (desperate times call for desperate measures). As the person exited I slipped in and ran for the back of the store where the glass beers sold individually were kept. All the beers in Germany are mainly served as .5L so the bottles are quite large. The baskets were right next to the check out stand and so I was forced into carrying in four loads enough bottles of beer for all four us in need. All in all a success and we headed back to the hostel. The game was on around 9 and it turned out to be a great game. Germany won and we thought there would be some celebrations... wrong. Nothing was really happening but naturally we all went out and had a good time. Michael on the way back from the club decided it would be a great idea to run through the huge fountain in just his underwear. It was about mid 40s that night. 

Day 5

Zurich -> Munich

Caught the early train out of Zurich Monday morning. It again was about a three hour train winding threw the countryside making multiple stops along the way. When we stepped off the train we could tell this country was going to be much more affordable. Even the train food, though we were back on the euro, was much more reasonable. We stopped at the Starbucks to load some wifi and made our way to our hostel, any of our first hostel stay ever. To all of our beliefs the place was charming and amazing. The people working were all quite helpful and gave us great tips on places to go and see. We had seen some tall structures in the distance and decided that would be a good place to start. Plans changed once we got into the room. We were staying in an eight person sleeping room with four bunk beds. We had six of us so we were just waiting to see who the other two could be. Mark, our awesome new roommate, was from Singapore and was studying slash traveling across Europe. He was almost done with his schooling and studying to be a food chemist interested in the makeup of different foods. We headed to Paulaner a local more traditional looking restaurant for some food and some traditional beers. After some beers we went frolicking through Munich, an amazing city so completely different from Zurich. Our first stop was at the Bavaria Statue, the home of Octoberfest in Munich. After Linnie, Michael, Mark and me split off from the rest of the group and continued to walk around while everyone went and showered and got ready.

For dinner that night we went to Augustiner a traditional Munich brewing company. Right when we sat down we were served ice cold liter beers in giant mugs. With recommendations from Mark we each choose meals and enjoyed every bit. On our way home we ran randomly into some fellow Seattleites, one who "knew" someone from Mercer Island studying with his sister in Florence, though he couldn't remember their name. He had along with him some guys he met in his hostel visiting from Brazil and we all enjoyed a few more beers before finally calling it a night.