where to start with MÜNCHEN!? we had an absolutely wonderful time there. We arrived in the early morning, around 8 am and like true americans headed for the starbucks. We also upsettingly realized that again we would have to pay to use the bathrooms at the train station, a subject that would come up later with much discussion later in the munich visit. we checked in to the hostel and stripped in the storage luggage room, well i guess "changed our clothes" would be the better description. Needless to say we were quick and happy that we got a knock on the door after we had finished putting our new clothes on. we then decided that we would take the free walking tour of munich that was offered as part of our staying at a hostel. This started at 10:45 so we definitely had a little bit of time to figure out the lay of the land. after walking around the Marianplatz, which was like the main plaza at the center of town, surrounded by three HUGE churches all with bell towers, we just started wandering until the tour started, needless to say we normally use this time to figure out where we want to eat later in the day and where the best gelato stores are. We then joined the tour group and took a 2 hour tour all over the historic parts of munich and realized that we thought english history is difficult with all the henrys and charles and elizabeths, but goodness gracious...the rulers of Bavaria, the region where Munich is located in Germany, were almost all named ludwig or maximiliano, seriously, the guide could have just making up the 1sts, 2nds, 10ths, as she went along and we never would have known! Anyways, the tour was great and we got to learn about why the image of Munich is of a little boy dressed as a monk, kindlemünchen, and the fable behind one of the really large churches, apparently it was built in only 5 years or so because the architect had the help of the devil, who fled and left his footprint behind in one of the floor tiles. we also learned about the glockenspiel and that müncheners really really like their beer, at one point the city boasted more than 600 different breweries, today only 6 exist. After the tour we went and got lunch at a little deli and then walked up to the top of one of the bell towers for a fantastic view of the city. we then headed back to the hostel to check in and relax for a second before heading out for dinner. I had my first bavarian beer which was shortly after followed with a 1 liter beer at the Hofbraühäus.Kris downed the .5 liter like it was nothing! we delved into the german food at the same time and truly enjoyed the heaviest meal we had had up to that point, and it may be the heaviest for the entire trip. meat, potatoes, bread, apple strudel, bread and potato dumplings, sauerkraut...yeah, it was a HUGE MEAL. surprisingly enough, we both got up the following morning and went for an hour run in the Englischer garden which is the largest urban garden in all of europe, it's their version of central park. running throughout the park was a perfect way to do the sightseeing that we needed to do there. we saw their japanese/chinese inspired beer garden, horses galloping on the lawns, the big lake that fills in the top part of the garden, it was beautiful. after showering, eating breakfast and doing our first load of wash in the sink we made our way back towards the center of town to go visit the Deutches Museum. this museum focused on technological advancements and was essential a museum version of those how things work books. we got to see the insides of some reallzy old boats s and there were german bombers and helicopters. there were also sections discussing technological toys like knex and leggos, a glass blowing sectionl where a guy was actually working on this incredibly cool vase and tons more! It was a great change from the usual art museum or history museum. we then wandered around the city trying to take a slightly different way back to the marienplatz and wandered down their version of rodeo drive...goodness...we walked by valentino and gucci and prada, etc. stores...couldnt even fathom going into any of them, what if we knocked a shoe off the shelf and had to pay for it??? there goes the money we have been saving up for the rest of the trip. after grabbing some pizza, its the cheapest food option here...give us a break...and we cant eat liver sausage everyday! we went back to the hofbauhaus to buy some souvenirs. we also got some gelato, i think we have bought ice cream in every city we have been in so far. we did the shopping thing and didnt buy much but did finally find a post office to mail some of the postcards we have been carrying around since budapest. That evening we decided to stay in the hostel and eat dinner at the bar which was a wonderful change from pizza or the heavy german food we were finding everywhere. we also had the opportunity to meet a kiwi (new zealander), three aussies, and a handful of texans. we pushed a couple of tables together and just got to talking and having a really good time until about midnight. the one small aussie girl decided to challenge a rather large texan to a drinking contest, well this turned out to a bad decision for him since she drank him under the table...she was still dancing and promised to wake up the next day not hung over (all in a thick australian accent) while he was puking for the next hour or three in the boys bathrooms. The next morning kristine got up for a run while i limped out of bed...then we essentially followed her running path through munich by going to the residence of all the rulers of Bavaria and then an arch that is supposed to be a copy of an arch that is somewhere in italy. one of the maximilianos really likes italian monuments and such and decided to just copy them and put them all over munich. well kris just commented that apparently i'm supposed to use paragraphs in these posts, its a good thing she didnt also realize that i'm not using capital letters either...these keyboards here are just too difficult...it wasn't until about 30 minutes ago that we figured out how to change our facebook accounts from hrvatski (croatian). we were both getting email messages in croatian and all the links and tabs on facebook were in croatian...QUITE confusing. well i think that is about it on Munich, we learned how to order beer...ein bier bitter...and be happy that our names were neither ludwig, maximiliano or many of the names we saw on those license plates they sell in souvenir shops...like olaf...kris and mags are definitely preferable...thanks parents! ok. if i left anything out...kris will check over it later...i will fix it. thinking of you all and hoping for a sunny day tomorrow...NO MORE RAIN...chant it with us!
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