München March 12, 2008

We left on our 10-day excursion on Valentine’s Day. Frank’s brother-in-law Brian dropped us off at the train station since he and his family were visiting from Italy, which was nice because we were lugging our giant backpacks filled to the brim. We validated our rail passes and boarded the train to Munich which was only about 5 hours away. To pass the time we played cards and Buzzword and ate Cheetos that Brian and Frank’s sister Monique had brought us from the navy base. Once we got into Munich, we checked into our hostel and took the subway to the city center, Marienplatz, with its giant town hall and glockenspiel. We set off to find somewhere to have dinner and we stumbled upon one of the many Augustiner Brew Houses scattered throughout Munich which are big, traditional German restaurants serving big beers and hearty meals. Our table was right next to a group of Italians so we had a fun time trying to decipher what their conversation was about. The table behind us brought their scruffy dog with them too (people bring their dogs with them everywhere here). I had the best Jägerschnitzel with spätzel to date, and of course we finished the meal with some raspberry schnapps (German schnapps is different from American schnapps; here schnapps is basically any clear form of alcohol–similar to vodka–and in fruit flavors). We then took the subway back to our hostel and enjoyed having a television, excited that it had CNN in English and MTV since we don’t have TV back home.

The next day we went to the Deutsches museum of science and technology ans saw exhibits on hot air balloons, airplanes, biology, musical instruments, physics, and astronomy. We went on a simulator ride outside the museum which is one of those rides where you are in a chair watching a movie and the whole chair starts moving to make you feel like you are in the movie (like the mystery mine ride at the Mall of America…actually I think it was the exact mine ride I had been on in the 7th grade!). Then we took the tram around the city and found another Augustiner Brew House were we decided to have a long lunch. I thought I was seeing things when I went to the bathroom because after I flushed the toilet, the seat started rotating in a circle…apparently there is a cleaning mechanism where a nozzle washes the seat after every use. Never seen that before! Then we went to the Hofbräuhaus, which is a famous brew hall in Munich…complete with long wooden tables, pretzels, and heavy, liter mugs of beer. There aren’t individual tables, instead you take a seat on a bench of a large table and meet the people you are sitting with. Frank and I met a couple from Pennsylvania that flew into Munich for the weekend, a Greek couple, and a group of Germans in business suits who were celebrating after a hard day at work so we did a million toasts.

The next morning we ate the free breakfast downstairs in our hostel, packed up our enormous backpacks, and set off to the Hauptbahnhof (Main train station). Once again, Munich did not disappoint! Now we were off to Brussels…