Here is to German beer and being "black riders..."

Well, I got back from Morocco on Tuesday afternoon and left for Munich Thursday morning! I was tired but at the same time really excited to go to Germany. Also Wednesday night, Aurora’s daughter, Beatrice, had a concert at Alicante University. Her group is called Dei Suoni. They sing all of their songs in English. They have an English professor in their band so they write them in Spanish and then he helps to translate them. Beatrice is the main singer. Tracy and Erin came with me to the concert and it was a good time. Plus, Aurora was very happy that we all came.

That night I packed up everything for Munich. Our flight was at 6:30 AM so we had to leave for the airport at 4:00. The buses don’t even run that early! So, we took a taxi to the airport. Our flight was 3 hours long. I fell asleep in about 5 minutes and didn’t wake up until we were landing. Tracy’s mom stayed in Munich for two months during high school and her host sister, Christina, still lives there. She picked us up from the airport and was so sweet! She even brought us pretzels! I never knew that pretzels were a traditional German food but she said that they are! She took us right to the city through some beautiful countryside. I took Ryanair again, that tricky little cheap airline. They say that they will fly you right into the center of Munich but of course we fly into Memmingen, about an hour outside of Munich. We were very thankful to have Christine to show us the way. It was so cold in Germany and there was snow on the ground! I haven’t seen snow in monthes and wasn’t quite prepared for the frigid weather.

Anyways, we went to go see the Glockenspiel. It comes out at 11 AM so we made it to that showing and then went on a free walking tour through the city. It was really informative and interesting. Munich has a lot of history and has a lot to do with WWII. It was the city in which Hitler originally gained power and was heavily bombed during the war. Plus, Dachau Concentration Camp is less than 10 miles outside of the city. Because of this Munich has many, many small reminders throughout the city. For example, there was a main street in Munich during WWII where 2 SS guards were stationed. When anyone passed they had to do the Nazi hand signal and pledge their allegiance to Hitler. In order to avoid doing this many people would purposefully go down a side street. However, this was quickly realized by the SS guards and was carefully monitored. Because of this small resistance, there is a street with a very gold bricks scattered throughout. It is now known as Dodger’s Alley. It was very interesting to hear about Germany’s battle with “vergangenheitsbewältigung,” or “struggle to come to terms with the past.” They are very ashamed of the Holocaust and their role in it. Christine really didn’t want us to go to Dachau because it is such a painful part of their past but at the same time she knows that it is an will be forever a part of their history.

Anyways, after the walking tour, we met up with her husband, Fredi. He was such a nice guy! So friendly. He kept saying that his English was bad but I know it was better than my Spanish is! They took us to lunch and then to the Olympic area from the 1972 Olympics. They have a beautiful park and stadium that now holds indoor and outdoor concerts during the summers. We also went up into this big tower thing. At the top there is an amazing view of the city and a revolving restaurant! The top gave me some nerves. I am not too scared of heights but situations like that make me nervous! Then, we grabbed a drink at the little restaurant. Fredi and Christine offered to buy us an apple strudel but we told them we were ok so they let us try a little of theirs. It was the best thing I think I have ever had! So, all weekend long the ongoing joke was, “Why didn’t we get that apple strudel?” Haha. After the tower, Christine and Fredi dropped us off at our hotel. We checked in, unpacked a little and showered. Then, we went to dinner. The only place really close to our hotel was this Italian place. It was very good and not too expensive. We felt cultured because we were in Germany, at an Italian restaurant and the menu was in Spanish! Haha. We were actually pleasantly surprised to find that almost everyone in germany could speak English. We did feel rude however not knowing more than 5 words in Germany. We found ourselves having to simply say “English?” when we went in somewhere and felt pretty rude about it. But, we hope most people understood we weren’t trying to be disrespectful!

The next morning we had our Dachau tour at 11 am. So, we woke up with plenty of time to get to the train station and find our meeting point. We gave ourselves some extra time too just in case we couldn’t find it. But, luckily, we found it without a problem. We met our tourguide, Alan. He was super energetic and very informed. We had a group of about 9 of us and took a 5 hour tour of Dachau. I don’t even know how to explain our time at Dachau. It was shocking. But, also inspiring to see how the people came together and fought for their lives. They have a museum there that I think we could have spent about 10 hours in just reading and viewing all of the artifacts, it was one of the most interesting things I have ever been to.

After the tour, we met back up with Fredi and Christine and they took us to The Nymphenburg Palace or "Nymph's Castle." This castle is a Baroque palace in Bavaria, the province of Munich. Their daughter, Felina, also met up with us. She is 21 years old and speaks English perfectly. She was very nice and we told her that she needs to come visit us in Alicante!

Anyways, this palace was the main summer residence of the rulers of Munich and was constructed in the late 1600s. It was very cold outside but the palace was still beautiful! It is huge and has a beautiful garden in the back, over 400 acres! We walked around for a little and then went inside the cafe there. We had something to drink and talked for awhile. It was while we were talking that we learned that all weekend we had been "black riders." In Alicante, when you get on the bus, you have to swipe your bus pass. There is no way around it. However, in Germany, people would just hop on and not do anything. So, we just kind of followed the crowd, knowing we were probably not doing the right thing, but also just going along as dumb tourists. Christine asked us if we had any problems buying our bus pass and laughed when we told her we never had. She then said, "You are what we like to call black riders." Ha, oops. After the cafe, Fredi, Christine and Feline took us to Munich University. It was beautiful! So, we walked around the university a little but it was already getting late. So, we said our goodbyes, thanked them a million times for being such great tourists and then we headed to the infamous Houfbrahaus!

We ordered our beer, a liter of Radler each. I don't even like beer but I knew I had to order one if I was at the Houfbrahaus, it would have been a sin not to! So, I ordered the white Radler beer with lemonade. We all also ordered meatloaf with potatoes on the side. We thought we were trying original German food but I have since learned that meatloaf is not so typical of Germany, but, oh well it was delicious! We sat around for a couple hours just drinking and eating and enjoying the ambience. One of the funniest things to be were the "beer locker rooms." They have these lockers that the regulars can rent out and put their giant beer mug there for whenever they come back. Haha, I want one of those one day! After we finished up, we headed back to our hotel.

The next morning our flight was at 9 and the airport bus left the main train station at 7. So, we had to wake up at 5 to get there in time. It was an early morning but we were just happy to make it there successfully, with only a few small errors along the way. We boarded our plane without problems and were safely back in Alicante.

Something that I realized in Germany was that people were normal sized! Haha, I say that because one day on the bus I saw this guy and was amazed at his height. Then, I realized he was probably just about 6'2, not even that abnormally tall. What I hadn't realized before was just how short everyone was in Spain, something that I had become accustomed to since coming here. Aurora is very short and always talks about how tall I am. After thinking about this, I have now realized that I probably haven't seen a Spanish guy over about 5'11. So, it was refreshing to see some height in Germany and I am sure now I will begin to notice how short Spanish people usually are!

After spending 3 straight weekends not in Alicante, I can honestly say I feel like quite the traveling but I also am VERY tired and ready to spend the quality time here. That is all for now!

Love and miss you all!!

Love, Me.