I'm known to be long winded...GERMANY

Hey guys!
So I just got back from Munich, Germany today and I am so happy that I went. I was a little apprehensive about going to Munich, because the only reason we bought tickets was because they were cheap. Neither Stephanie, Kelsey nor I came to Spain with intentions of going to Germany, but because it looked convenient, we ended up buying them and going. It was also a little bit of a stretch because we knew that we would be leaving sunny, 70 degree, Southern Spain to go to snowy, 30 degree Munich. We also were arriving with absolutely no idea what to DO in Munich, because we were so unfamiliar with the city. But I figured it would be a nice adventure to try out. We flew out of Seville right after school on Thursday (we don’t have schools on Friday), got in at about 10pm that night and checked in to our hostile. Nothing was really open by the time we got there so we decided to have a seat at the bar in the hostel and chat with the guys that ran the place. Pretty carelessly, I asked the bartender “What stuff should be we do tomorrow?” I thought maybe he would rattle of a few suggestions, but then he got out a pen and paper and made an ITINERARY by the hour for us, complete with a circled underground (like the subway) map and city map. So we woke up bright and early the next morning and began to do everything on his list.

We had breakfast at Café Beethoven and then took the underground to Marienplatz, the main square in Munich where the Town Hall is located. After wandering around a little bit and sight seeing, we hopped on the free walking tour of Munich. The guy who led it was absolutely hilarious and I think that Steph, Kelsey and I were a little sleep deprived because we kept saying the most random things to him. On the tour, we got to learn a lot about German history and saw some pretty cool things. One of the main things that we saw was the Glockenspiel, which is the town hall which has a giant bell tower. Every day at 11 and noon, the bell tower goes off to reveal dancing mannequins and a bird that sings. Even the tour guide said that it was the most overrated thing in all of Munich. But the 3 of us were still excited to see the biggest cuckoo clock we’d ever seen. We also saw the Peterskirche, which Munich’s oldest church, and The Rauhaus, which is the old town hall which now is a toy museum.

After the walking tour, we took the underground and another bus to visit the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. This memorial was built of the former site of the National Socialist’s first concentration camp. This concentration camp is unique in history because not only was it a concentration camp, but if was the place where Nazis were trained on how to run other concentration camps. The model for prisoner treatment was invented here. We knew that this would be a very depressing trip, but at the same time, we knew that we had to go witness what was there. Our tour guide was incredibly helpful; he is actually writing a book right now about the Holocaust so it was interesting to have long conversations with him about its history. It was a little ironic that it was so cold when we visited it, because it looked like a cold, snowy, waste land. While a lot of it was destroyed during the liberation, there were still original parts, like the work quarters and the gas chamber. The 3 of us left that place with changed hearts and a better understanding of the extent of human ability.

Fortunately, our emotions got a little better as the night went on. After the concentration camp we went to the Hofbräuhaus, which is a huge, historic beer house in downtown Munich. It was here that Hitler and the Nazi party held functions and declared policies. Despite its negative past, today, it is very lively with world-famous beer, German music, German food and traditional dress. The food was AMAZING. This was probably my favorite place to go. Sadly, our time got short when 3 older German men would not leave us alone until we moved tables to hang out with them. They also spoke hardly any English so we couldn’t tell them that we didn’t want to go with them (How do you say “leave us alone” in German?). They kept harassing us and hovering around our table, so we left. After some dessert and some wine at another cafe, we took the underground to an area called Kultfabrik, which is a street that has 14 bars and night clubs. You pay 5 euros and you can go into every single one and yes, we did go to every single one. Of course we did not drink at every single one (I actually didn’t even drink at the clubs) but we danced to a song and took a picture in every single one. We back to our hostel at around 3 am, just enough time to rest up before our trip to Salzburg.

We were all really happy that our day in Munich went so smoothly and that we had so much fun. We hoped that our day in Salzburg, Austria would be just as successful but sadly, it was a little unlucky for us. We had planned to go on the sound of music tour when we arrived, but we literally got to the hotel minutes after the only tour of the day had left. I cannot even explain how disappointed we were. We didn’t really have anything planned besides the tour, so we got some Austrian food (amazing) and walked around the town. We did take a cable car up to the top of a mountain and got to visit the church where the Sound of Music wedding was filmed, which were incredibly beautiful. It was snowing and SO cold, so even walking around was literally impossible. Plus, for some reason, all the shops, museums and landmarks closed at 6am. It seemed like the entire town shut down at 6. The hotel website told us that they show “The Sound of Music” nightly, but they said it was broken. We literally went out and BOUGHT the Sound of Music. The hotel was nice enough to let us use one of their conference rooms to watch it because there weren’t DVD players in the rooms. So we bought some chocolate, got in our PJs and watched “The Sound of Music” in our hotel.

The next day, we took the 2 hour train back to Munich, got on a plane and came back to Seville. Going to Germany was one of the most random things I have done in my whole life. We went on a complete whim, but looking back, it was one of the most fun weekends in my whole life. This was my first weekend trip to another European country this semester and I don’t know if any of my future weekends will top this one. I’m excited to find out though. Now I back in Seville, attending classes. Next weekend, I am taking a trip to Cadiz to go to the world famous Carnaval. This is the Mardi Gras of Europe. I’m a little nervous to see how crazy it is because I’ve heard it’s insane, but I am planning on being a respectful, intelligent person while I am there. But you all will hear about it in my next blog! Thanks for reading! Sorry this is so long again!

Love,
Michelle

here are pictures: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2363886&id=10235591&l=0e27b