Munich

We arrived in Munich and checked into our hostel right around dinner time. This hostel was a palace; it has super fast internet (hence the ability to upload pictures), a huge private bathroom that had a dry area to change and sunlight, and really nice rooms. We left our hostel to check out what is considered the most beautiful city in Germany. To the eyes of a car lover this place was amazing. Being home to the head quarters of both BMW and Mercedes leaves a city with Mercedes taxis and BMW’s and Mercedes of every sort racing around every street corner.

We met our Lisbon friend Chris who was from Munich, and he showed us around the actually quite good looking city. We walked down some wide streets and saw a beautiful looking government building which our tour guide said was sort of a landmark because it was where they decided which minority groups should be removed from the German population before and during WWII. Yes, this was where the Nazi party decided that the Holocaust would be a good idea. We continued on and saw some impressive churches and the world’s largest Ko0-Koo clock which we never got to see in action. Our tour guide admitted that the clock was actually extremely annoying to anyone who lived in Munich but Japanese tourists loved it, so they keep it around. This intricate building in the main square is the only structure that came out unscathed during the bombings in WWII. We also passed by the grand palace, which ironically was also unfinished and covered in scaffolding. Europe is like a girl with giant sunglasses, they assume by covering up something you will assume that it’s pretty underneath. Seriously finish something Europe. This city is beautiful as you can see from the photos.

Our tour guide then took us to the famous Hofbrauhaus, which has the famous bier garden and only sells beer in liter mugs. These things were simply enormous and the beer was incredible. German’s take beer very seriously, along with their pretzels and sausages. The traditional german breakfast is white sausage, pretzels and beer. Yes, we joke about breakfast beers in the US, but a German would not get the joke. Everywhere you go Germans are drinking, at a minimum, half liter beers. Beer is cheaper than soft drinks and they even serve it in McDonalds. Also they have no idea what a light beer is and all beers are full flavor.

While our time in Munich was short it was also a good experience, we are now heading to the Tuscan hills near Florence to see what all this fuss is about Italian food and leather goods.