A Tour Through Munich and Berlin

Hello Everyone,

So I am getting down to the last few stops on my Eurotrip, and as much as I don't want it to end I feel my body might need it. However I am enjoying every minute that I have here traveling because it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

So after getting on my flight from Venice, my Easyjet flight took me back to Stuttgart. It was a short flight so I slept the whole time, which after my time in Italy I really needed (Go read my Italy post to find out more). But after I got into the Airport I found Beth and we headed off back to her place. After a bit of catching up, and putting together Beth's new TV we headed down to her local and got some food. I got to meet some of her coworkers and have a nice meal with them. I also met Gina, who would be traveling with us over to the Bavarian city of Munich. So we all left early because we all knew that we had an early train to catch to get over to Munich in the Morning.

After getting up, and making our way to the train station, I got an underground ticket to get on the same train with them to Stuttgart HBF. There were two things I learned at this point. First no matter where you are in Germany the rail infrastructure is amazing. Second HBF stands for Hauptbahnhof which in English means Central. So there you can say you learned something from reading this blog. The train wasn't to long to Munich, and once we were there it was a hunt for food.

Once filling our stomachs we headed off to my Hostel so I could drop my bag to walk around. It was a quick stop at my hostel after spending a half an hour to find it. I couldn't get in my room yet so I just dropped my bag in a locker and we were off to explore. Just as we left both Beth and Gina seemed shocked at how nice a hostel can be.

But we all walked around for a while going into churches, and enjoying the atmosphere of Munich on a rainy Sunday. We ended up seeing the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. We timed it right so we could see the Glockenspiel move around, which actually was really cool. At this point I was hungry again, and I wanted to get out of the rain, so our next stop was the probably one of the most famous beer halls in the country, Hofbrauhaus.

So I ordered some sausages, and a liter of beer. Now I can finally say that I have had a stein of beer at the Hofbrauhaus. The food and the beer was great, but there was a lot of it. However right as I finished my stein one Beth's Bosses met us there. He wanted to drink and no one else was drinking, so he turned to me and said he was buying me a beer. When he said that I was kinda hoping for a small one, but another liter was put in front of me. Yeah it was a long time at the Hofbrauhaus.

After chatting for a bit we headed off to see some more churches, and said farewell to Beth's Boss. It was a nice afternoon walking off all of the food, and beer from earlier. We all saw some amazing churches and landmarks from around the city. But just as they had shown up we were at the train station saying goodbye. I won't see Beth again until a month before I graduate, so Beth enjoy your time there and I can't wait to see when your home. After that I headed back to the hostel and called it a night since I had a tour the next day.

Up early, and back to the train station to meet my tour guide. We then hopped on a train to get us to where the tour would start. It was only a short ride on the train before we got off at the Dachau train station. As some of you might have guesses at this point I did take a tour of the first concentration camp used by the Nazis during the second world war Dachau. It was amazing to see this, and was a valuable history lesson for me. We need to make sure that something of that scale will never happen again. I found out that every student in the Bavarian region has to go to a memorial of the holocaust to remember that something like the holocaust will and can never happen again. I was very humbled I had saw as we were leaving, and learned a valuable lesson.

From there it was back into the city, and I walked all around. I did find myself walking around the english garden, and found the man made wave that gets surfed in Munich year round. I must have stood at the wave for a good solid hour or two to watch these surfers. After wishing I could do that I headed back to the hostel and called it a night since I had another early and long train to Berlin the next morning.

I got on my train at 9 am and I didn't get to Berlin till 3pm. Yes, the train sucked and it was crazy long. I didn't have any trouble getting from the train station to the hostel. I really didn't go out that night, so I grabbed dinner and met these German guys and watched Germany win their last group stage match of the Euro's. I spent the rest of that night watching those matches. The next morning I was up and off to see the sights.

First it was the Berlin TV Tower, then to Berlin Cathedral and then from there it was only a short walk to the Brandenburg Gate. I stood there for a moment to soak in the importance of that monument to the German people and the world. But to the left of that monument there is the US embassy, and in front of it was one of the most amazing things that I saw during my travels. In another country people are mourning the tragic loss of life that happened in Orlando with candles, flowers, flags, and handwritten letters. It was a moment I won't forget because it was the moment I realized we are all people of the world no matter the flag we stand behind.

From there I saw the Holocaust Memorial, the Berlin Wall Monument, and Checkpoint Charlie. I then proceeded to get lost in a massive park before seeing the Reichstag Building. That building is amazing! I wanted to take more time to see if I could get in to see it all, but that will have to be for the next trip, because I had an early train the next morning, that would take me to one of the destinations I've most looked forward to, Amsterdam.

I am a bit behind on the blog so I will try and get on that soon. I hope you are all enjoying these posts because I love telling you all about my travels. But remember to stay safe and have fun!

-Tucker