Part 1: Heidelberg & Munich
When we got to Heidelberg our first task- after the inevitable bathroom break- was to find my longtime penpal Chris. He called my phone and said he was waiting outside the train station for whenever we got there. The time had come to find out if he was a murderer/stalker or simply a nice penpal that I'd had for about three years now! Luckily it was the latter and the three of us set off towards Altstadt- Old Town.
Before setting off on this journey I checked out TripAdvisor for some ideas for food. One place- Schnitzelbank- caught my eye. I'll admit the name was a huge part of the attraction, but the reviews were quite good. Despite the fact that nearly all reviews said it was difficult to find, I decided that I did not need to write down any directions of any kind. When we set off to find this restaurant, everyone was a little less than impressed with my planning skills. I wasn't really concerned, I knew that I'd find Schnitzelbank!! I had Chris ask a few random people if they knew of it or where it was and no one seemed to know. Not exactly a good sign... but I wasn't deterred. I was sure I knew where I was going. As we kept on walking down the main street Meredith and Chris were growing tired of the search and just as they wanted to abandon the quest I looked to my left and shouted "Ha! Schnitzelbank! In your face!" There it was on a lonely alleyway right where I knew it would be... I had a feeling the whole time!! No one could believe that I managed to find this place, and we went inside to eat. It was amazing. The start of a wonderful German-food eating extravaganza that I happily participated in for the rest of the week. HUGE proportions, tons of meat, sauce with spices and interesting flavors, and don't forget the tall glass of cold beer!!! Ah. Deutschland =D
After we stuffed our faces and learned a little bit about some German beer drinking culture - everyone is apparently supposed to finish their beers at the same time or girls finish them first? Obviously I paid attention... Our next task was to walk to the Heidelberg Castle! We could see it from where we were and it was really, really awesome. The only non-awesome thing was the hike up the extremely steep hill after eating more food than I have had all semester. Once we finally got to the top of the hill, I was so so so out of breath! Luckily everyone else was too so I didn't feel quite as ridiculous. The castle was really neat and parts of it were being restored while others were left in ruins. We walked around the grounds a little bit and got some great views of the city. We actually encountered quite a few Americans there. I guess it is quite a hotspot for American military families to visit on weekends.
View of the river and the city from the Castle.
The Castle!!! The part being renovated is what crumbled and fell down a while back. After all of that walking around we decided that nothing could be better than some delicious gelato! We first walked down the hill and over the bridges and things. There were some amazing views and a crazy guy kayaking on the super cold water! After that we went back to the main area in search of ice cream! We found this little place and ducked inside. I got cookies and chocolate as my two flavors and they were both delicious. We left the ice cream place and were then in search of a bar/pub to watch my favorite team Bayern Munich play Dortmund. Just as we walked outside I heard this massive thud and turned around to see poor Meredith on the ground!! (***Please note that falling will be a common theme throughout this great adventure!!***). We got Meredith off the ground okay and then set out. Here is a fun fact about pubs in Germany: When in search of a bar, the best place to look is by a church! That is where we found the pub and settled in to watch the greatest team ever!!!!! We only got to stay for a little bit- long enough for me to see Franck Ribbery score yeeeeeeeah- because we had to catch a train to Munich. We left the pub and made a sort of mad dash to the train station to get on whichever train came next!
The train ride to Munich was uneventful and there was hardly anyone else on the train. We did sit across the aisle from this unfortunate young man that apparently only has one techno song on his iPod that he decided to play on repeat for about an hour or so. That was fun!! When we got to Munich it was late and raining and, essentially, we had no idea where we were going. My broken German could only get us so far and it was only a matter of time before we hopped in a cab. The cab ride totaled about 6 euros... we were super close to the hostel and had no idea. Grrreat. We got to our hostel, checked in, and took our stuff upstairs. It was a mixed dorm with 8 beds and that turned out to be quite the interesting experience. After we had settled in and found out some things to do for the next day we went back to the room to get some sleep. There were two guys asleep in the bunk on the far side of the room and at about 2:50am or so we were just about to go to bed when the door to the room flies open and a bunch of really drunk Brits come stumbling into the room. They all had really heavy accents- from Liverpool we found out later- and were just constantly talking and shouting and making noise. They must have asked where we were from about 10 times and one of them was quite insistent that we were from Kentucky. Meredith and I kept exchanging glances and I felt realllly bad for the poor guys asleep in the room. Just as I was about to turn over and go to bed, one of the Brits decides that clothing was just unnecessary. As you can imagine, he gave no warning and I turned my head and there was a butt!!!! I looked wide-eyed at Meredith and we decided it was definitely time to sleep.. and also time to rethink the mixed dorm for the future.
We woke up bright and early the next morning and headed to Marienplatz to meet a tour group that was headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp. We knew it wouldn't be some sort of pleasant trip or anything, but a worthwhile experience that we both thought we needed to have. After grabbing some amazing German coffee and pastries, we met the group and headed to the metro. Ironically enough, when the guide was asking people where they were from, one guy said Indiana! Turns out that this guy, Trevor, goes to Butler and knows several people that went to high school with either Meredith or myself! Even crazier- in the bathroom before the tour started, Meredith saw a random woman that she talked to while her flight was delayed. This woman happened to be on the same flight as Meredith because she was going to go teach English somewhere in Germany (not Munich). She just happened to be in Munich on the same weekend as us, on the same tour as us, and in the bathroom at the same time as us! Crazy!!
The tour of the concentration camp was really intense. It was the longest running of all of the camps. While it was more of a work camp than a death camp, thousands of people perished at Dachau. The whole place was really eery. The grounds were immaculately kept- apparently it was the same way during the time of the war- and there was a really stark contrast between the grassy outside areas and the grim, gravel areas where the prisoners were kept. While most of the barracks have been razed, they rebuilt a few of them when the site became a national museum of sorts. They show the evolution of the barracks from separated bunks to just a massive wooden box for hundreds of people. The tour included the shower areas as well as some of the areas where the Nazis would torture the prisoners. It was all really grim. The most intense of all of these places was the end- the gas chamber and crematorium. Above the doors to the gas chamber there is a sign that reads "Showers" in German. The inmates believed that they were finally getting a shower, not headed to their deaths. While this place was nuts, it kind of just seemed like a big empty room. It was difficult to imagine what might have happened there. The next room, the crematorium, was different. That was the one of the most gut-wrenching places I have ever been. As crazy as it sounds I felt like I could sense the horrors in that room. Seeing the ovens was too much and I couldn't really stay in that room too long. Everyone else felt the same way. If any of you ever have the opportunity to visit a camp, I would highly recommend going so that you can try and better understand the horrific events that took place. It is really worthwhile. Here are a few pictures, but I didn't really take a lot while I was there. It felt weird..
This is the famous gate that leads into Dachau. It translates to "Works set you free". This originally gave false hope to prisoners that believed if they followed orders and did the work they would be set free.
-------
As you can imagine, after a day like this, we were in desperate need of much lighter, more enjoyable evening. Ironically the same company that offers these tours also offers a "Beer Challenge" a few hours after the Dachau tour ends. Meredith and I grabbed some Turkish food at the train station, freshened up at the hostel, and headed out for a night of fun! When we got to the meeting point- Berlin Central Station- the first thing the guides did was hand out beers to everyone. What?? In the train station? Everyone could SEE us?!?!? This must be illegal, right? Apparently as a rule of thumb in Germany, anywhere you can eat bread, you can drink beer. The metro is no exception! We were instructed that we had to finish these beers before arriving at the first Beer Hall, which meant we had to drink them on the metro. I had this intrinsic desire to hide my beer the entire time. I felt like such an alcoholic. I kept wondering if people were staring at me because I had a beer on the metro at 6:30pm! Meredith and I were even sitting across from some nicely dressed couple. Talk about culture shock!! Our first stop was the famous Hofbrauhaus and before entering we were taught the great folksy tune that all the locals sing when prompted by the awesome little band. Essentially it has to do with having a good time and drinking and at the end you yell "1, 2, 3... CHUG!" Excellent. We went inside and it was everything I had always hoped it would be and much much more! The waitresses were wearing traditional attire and tables were a great mix of locals and wide-eyed tourists like me. The funniest thing was when I walked in and saw an elderly woman of about 90 or so with two hands on her huge 1 liter jug of beer just downing it. So funny!!! We got to our table and it was 5 of us from the tour and some locals. I was too much of a wimp to order the full liter of beer so I went with the 1/2 liter of the Hofbrauhaus wheat beer. We also ordered some pretzels and bread to go with it. They had a great polka band and I happily snapped photos of the tuba player. After my liquid courage was in full force, I decided to make friends with the German woman sitting next to me. The conversation was a hilarious combination of broken English and broken German. We understood each other for the most part and it was a lot of fun! My German improved (sort of) as we spoke and she was happy to get to practice her English. She and her boyfriend taught as about the importance of eye contact and cheersing with the bottom of the glass- there really is a lot to remember about German beer drinking! 
TUBA! He was great and I took a ton of pictures of him. He waved when he walked by my table!!! .. probably because I waved first but still :) :)
Just some beers for the table!! Mine is the tall skinny one in the middle. Definitely wasn't up for the whole liter!
-----
We left there around 9pm and headed to the next place. We went to a total of 3 beer halls and 1 bar. The crazy Brits from our hostel were actually on the tour and we got to know them a little better. Turns out they were only half as irritating and douchey as we thought! We met some great friends from all over the place and definitely enjoyed ourselves. Somehow this night- which was supposed to be over at 10pm- was dramatically delayed. The short version is that after we left the bar at 3am, we met a woman outside who asked if we had a lighter. I said no and then she started to talk to me and, for some reason, was totally happy to chat. The resemblance between this woman- who was at least 40- to Cruella Deville is uncanny. It is how I will refer to her from now on (I swear she never told me her real name).
Somehow Cruella convinced Meredith, our new friend David, and me to go with her to a Milch Bar- whatever that is. We followed her around Munich for a while and she rambled to me about Switzerland, her son in Germany, her passion for hot air balloons, and a bunch of crap I don't remember. It was certainly entertaining because we spoke to each other in German, French, and English. Not quite sure when or why we switched from language to language, but I think I just kept going with Cruella because it was too funny to pass up. When the Milch Bar was closed, she took us to this 24 hour Turkish restaurant and proceeded to buy us all falafels and fries! Amazing!! Then we all went across the street to some random bar and thought that shots of tequila were in order. Oh boy. After about 15 minutes or so I decided it was time to go. I was getting really tired and surely it was late! We said our goodbyes to Cruella (who was having a smoke outside) and wandered off. Sadly I have no pictures of Cruella, but she will live on forever in my heart!!
Once outside the bar there was a big question to be answered.. where were we? No clue! We must have asked 5 people or so on the way back to the hostel which way we were going but no one was particularly helpful. We finally made it back to the hostel around 5:45AM. OHHHH my goodness. I was so shocked when I saw the time! Checkout was at 10am! Luckily we could pay for late checkout and we did so promptly. We went back upstairs and climbed into bed after quite a long day.
We woke up kind of late- hard to believe, I know- showered, and headed out for the day. We decided to go healthy with our meal choice and ate some much needed subway. Then we set out to find and visit Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich! We took the metro for what seemed like a really, really long time until we got to the outskirts of Munich. There was really nothing around at all until we got out of the station and saw a GIANT stadium. It kind of looks like a huge (and amazing) white tire! The area around it is totally empty and flat so it was really windy as we walked up to it. Unfortunately the tour of the stadium is only offered in English once a day- 11am- and thanks to the Beer Challenge that was sort of impossible. We did get to see the field, walk around the stadium itself, and experience the 4 or 5 room gift shop! I managed to spend about 50 euros in that place... don't judge!! They were the only souvenirs I bought all trip (minus post cards which do not count... and minus a t-shirt I got Steve in Prague). Considering all of the useless stuff I wanted to buy, the fact that I limited myself to 50 euros is actually impressive. It is, I promise :)
After the stadium we took the metro back and decided to wander around Munich a bit. We saw some really neat buildings and monuments. As we were walking, we saw this one monument that had tons of photos and flowers all over it. We decided to go over it to get a better look at it and figure out who this guy was that was still so popular. When we got close enough to make out the pictures, it was none other than Michael Jackson. Somehow, someway, a random Michael Jackson memorial was started on the base of the monument of some random Bavarian dude. It was so strange. See for yourself:
Sadly we had no random flowers of our own to add to this strange monument, so we simply paid our respects and headed to the train station. We had a 5 hour train ride ahead of us to get to Munich, and we decided it was in our best interest to get some food for the journey. So, what did we get? Well, 16 euros worth of candy is the answer! The best part? It turned out to be all be pretty terrible! Oops. There's a life lesson!
Stay tuned for Part 2: Vienna!!
Hope you are all doing well. See you in 57 days =D
Love you and miss you,
Olivia
1. don't judge people who play only one song on their ipod :p
RépondreSupprimer2. that entry's sooo long. I had to read it in parts while playing my game lolol and I can't even remember all of the snarky comments I wanted to make.
1.) Chen you made me laugh.
RépondreSupprimer2.) why would you ever think german candy was a good idea? People whom perfected beer and pastries and have an uncanny good sense about cabbage, could never master candy. <3 love ya!