Munich

The nine day escapade began two Fridays ago (Feb. 15) in Munich. They spell it Mϋnchen by the way. After stepping off our Easyjet flight and trekking through customs, we took the S-bahn into central Munich. Our hostel was literally down the street from the train station but naturally it took us about twenty minutes to find it. At the hostel we met up with Holli, our friend from UT who is studying in Paris this semester. After settling into our room, we set off to explore Munich.

It was nearly evening so we decided to create our own walking tour which basically consisted of pointing in a general direction and assuming something cool would be around there. It was snowy, cold and generally bleak outside yet it was beautiful all the while. Somehow it was exactly how I expected to find Germany in the winter. We made our way east through the central square, through some posh shopping area, and ended up on a snowy island on the Isar River. This was the Texans' first chance to play in the real snow. 

The Texans, Holli and I, not sure what to do with so much snow

From there, we trekked north to Munich's main park called Englischer Garten. To make a very long story short, we got lost a lot, played with snow, and fortunately ended up at the Augustiner Brewery on the complete opposite side of town. Augustiner is the local brew of choice at the Munich beer halls. This hall was way bigger than you can imagine. Think huge building with heavy wood tables and benches filled with loud, beer guzzling Germans. It was quite the sight.

Saturday morning was spent at the Dachau Concentration Camp which is only a twenty minute train ride from the center of Munich. There isn't much need for explanation here I don't think. Being there was very moving and impossible to fathom.

We made up for our depressing morning with food from the market near the center of town. Pretzels, sausage, and pastries had already become pretty regular foods for us so Dan and I went for the kebab shop. Let me tell you, this was easily the best kebab I have ever had. It even rivaled the best stuff we found in Israel just a month earlier. And for UT people, think Verts on steroids.

Saturday afternoon was spent checking out the BMW museum near where the 1972 Olympics were held. The museum was actually really cool. BMW, along with the other German car makers, are dominant in Germany. Most of the cars on the roads are BMW, Mercedes, or VW. I've also found the answer to question I have wondered about forever. BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works. This revelation was slightly anticlimactic. 

On Sunday morning, the three of us headed out to the Nymphenburgh Palace which is an enormous estate that is more or less open to the public. We took a walk through the wooded snowy trails, snapped lots of pictures, and enjoyed the morning. 

After Holli left that afternoon, Dan and I headed to the Deutches Museum. This science and technology museum is massive and covers everything from petroleum exploration, to old ships, to aircraft, and space exploration. My fascination with airplanes kept me occupied in that section for a while. 

By our last night in Munich, we were completely exhausted. It's difficult to convey just how much walking we do on these trips. With a bus ride to Prague the next morning, we decided to try and get some decent sleep after going our for a glorious schnitzel dinner. 

Overall, Munich is a cool city with plenty to see. Munich is clearly an economic hub as evidenced by it's modernity and efficiency. Would I go back though? Well, I think there are plenty of other places to see.