Munich, Germany

I got to Munich on Friday after a few days in Prague. Prague was very beautiful but out of all the places I have been, I had the hardest time with the language barrier there. Shoot, when I left Prague I just kind of listened for certain words in the crowd standing under the train board. The departure board never actually displayed what dock that the train would be arriving on. The ladies in the information booth were pretty unhelpful as well. I ended up following this older couple. On the train I rode next to Peter who was also 25 and grew up in the Czech Republic. We talked the entire train ride because he wanted to practice his English with me. After a four hour train ride to Nuremberg from Prague, I successfully made my first less than 5 minute train switch to Munich later. I was so damn proud of myself for reading the departure board and navigating the train station. I did not have much room for error!

Anyway, my friend Moritz (Paul) who was a foreign exchange student with me back in high school lives in Munich so he met me at the train station when I came in on Friday. For those of you who know him as well, he is exactly the same. Not changed a bit! We hit up a jazz club, drank a few beers and then met some of his friends out at a dance club. We pretty much watched the sun come up as we were walking home. It was a crazy night. It was nice to be in an era where I could be taken around and see some of the things without being a full blown tourist. I was able to let my guard down and not worry about getting lost because I knew Morita knew the way home.

It was amazing to hear some stories regarding World War II and see the area. Munich was where the Nazi party has a lot of roots and it was amazing to see how the area was cleaned up from the bombings. (Most of the old building debris is under the Olympia Park!) My grandpa was an American WWII veteran and he knew about WWII from a German side of things. Now we are both walking the streets together and are good friends. It's amazing how the world can change even in a lifetime.


On Saturday we took a bus tour of Munich, walked around the city, grabbed some food from the market and then went to the English Gardens. The gardens had quite the eclectic crowd. Between all the naked people, African drum circles, people playing football and the guys and girls surfing the "wave" in the river that flows through. Later in the afternoon we walked into the Englisher Garden and saw some drum circles and all of the nudists taking a dip in the creek. Over there it's like nothing, they don't even care about the nudity. America seems so stuck up and prudish compared to Europe and especially Germany. We spoke about music and shared some of our favorite songs. It was really a blast from the past and it was nice to be able to meet with an old friend while on my adventure. We chilled out for a few hours there just chatting about the old band days. Then we walked over to the world famous Hofbräuhaus and had an authentic German meal and drank a few more beers. I think I've tried about 11 different types of beer just this past weekend in Munich!


Before I forget, there is this pretty good cola drink called Mezzo Mix. The first time I saw it was at the train station in Germany so I don't know if it is sold anywhere else. It is cola mixed with a bit of orange flavor. Pretty tasty!! I also tried the carbonated water and absolutely hate it. If I need to quench my thirst, I'll just stick to something else.

We walked around town the next day and had breakfast at a little pastry shop near where he lived. He also cooked some German sausage for lunch and I did a load of laundry which was my second load on the trip! Needless to say, with the one backpack mentality, you have to hunt down laundromats during your trip.

Later that evening I left for Interlaken, Switzerland. The time was too short as always, but Moritz was a great host and one day I'll be back!