Munich Part 1

I just got back from one of the most amazing trips of my life!

Munich, Germany is a city full of history, so prepare yourself, this is going to be a long one.

I was greeted in town to a very cool graffiti of Donatello, the ninja turtle.

This was how I could tell this trip was going to rock.

So my wonderful friend, Sarah Cohen, set me up with a nice couple, Heidrun and Peter, to stay with during my time in Munich.

When I went to meet Heidrun to pick up a key, she brought out sushi and sweets to eat while we were getting to know each other.

Afterwards, I set out to explore. 

This is St. Peter's church in the heart of Munich.

I climbed to the very top of that tower! 

 This is when I fell in love with the city.

The views were magnificent!

Next was the Viktualienmarket!

It was so lively and all of the produce looked amazing

I began my food adventures in Germany with schnitzel and a beer.

Both were great!

There was a person playing violin in that gazebo. 

If I wasn't in a hurry, I could've sat here for hours

This picture does not do these ducks justice, they were huge! At least twice the size of American ducks.

Munich is bigger than I had imagined. 

I walked around from the time I got there at 10 until my beer tour at 6. 

I was ten minutes late to my beer tour and was so frazzled I didn't take a picture of the full beer.

But here it is half empty.

We went to the Beer Museum to learn about the Munich beers.

There are six different beers.

The beers we would be drinking that night were Augustiner

Pretzels are always served with beer.

I wasn't complaining.

This is the container they used to keep the beer recipes in for all of the Munich beer companies.

The recipes are no longer in there, but they have a special mass dedicated to this and they parade the box around. Go Catholic church!!!

This story also cracked me up.

Monks in Munich would drink only beer during Lent because it filled them up and they wouldn't have to break their fast by eating solid foods.

We then headed to a Bierhall where we enjoyed a beer and a feast of foods!

All of the people I met on this tour were amazing!

The older couple live near Sydney and the younger couple live in Philly!

The hostel I stayed at for that first night gave me a free drink ticket to their bar so I went there afterwards and met some great people!

The next day I joined a tour to Salzburg, Austria.

Many of you might know this place as the film location for Sound of Music and the birthplace of Mozart!

I have never seen Sound of Music all the way through and I regretted that fact as soon as my tour guide spent over an hour taking us to film locations..

So some of y'all will recognize these places.

I found it funny that there would be locks with combinations instead of locks

Mozart's house!

I met Connor on this trip and we spent most of the day together.

He's from New York and is studying in London this semester!

Mozart even had chocolate candies designed after him.

This was a cool chocolate shop I went into!

They had samples running around on that conveyor belt!

It may have rained the whole time in Salzburg, but it was still a beautiful little town!

 That night, Connor and I tried our luck going to Springfest, the spring version of Oktoberfest.

There was virtually no chance in us getting a seat so we explored the fairgrounds and headed on our way.

This was the main tent where there was music and dirndls and people dancing on tables!

This was their version of the Mouse ride we have at the Texas State Fair!

Something about Munich, the restaurants and pubs only sell one kind of beer. 

So you have to choose the pub based on the beer you like best!

Connor had yet to try Augustiner so on our way back, we stopped at a pub selling Augustiner!

Then we headed to Hofbrauhaus where we enjoyed massive beers and great company!

This was a group of 18-19 year olds from Northern Germany and they sat down next to us and we had a great conversation with them!