Beer and Pretzels

So I went to Bavaria...and don't worry, I did way more than drink good beer and eat the most amazing pretzels in the world. Although I'm titling this blog "beer and pretzels" because I am now convinced that a good german weissbier and a giant pretzel is the best food/drink combination on this planet (besides coffee and strawberries...but that's for the morning). Anyways me and 6 other friends from the program decided to spend Easter break touring Munich and Garmisch. Like I said earlier, I've been to Munich before but I am SO happy I gave it another chance. The city is amazing. Good live street music and food surround you everywhere you turn. The people are crazy nice and the buildings are gorgeous. I'd really like to go back during the summer though so I can lounge in the English Gardens (public park much larger than New York's Central Park) with a picnic and watch the Munich surfers.

http://youtu.be/LTTct6xBIc8

There is a dark side to the city though. The takeover of Hitler is still a large part of Munich. The city has gone through a transformation since the third reich but statues and stories are still seen and heard everyday. Not as chilling as visiting Dachau and the Gestapo headquarters in Köln but it was still dark in its own right. It was great getting see where things happened. My favorite story we heard was about the white rose. A 21 year old girl posted fliers around Munich which were against the Nazi propaganda. When she was caught she was hung for her rebellion and now there's a memorial for her in the Hoftgarten. This story will definitely stick with me for a while and hopefully help me to remember to stick up for what I believe in.
Through out our trip in Munich we went on a bike tour which involved seeing all of Munich (given by the most fun, excited Australian man ever), went to the top of Neus Rathaus (new town hall) and saw the entire city, went inside countless gorgeous churches, saw live music on the street and a live performance at a bar, visited Hofbrauhaus a couple times, walked around Nymphenburg Palace, visited the Residenz which is where the old german government used to live, and watched the Munich football team beat down on Hamberg (9-2) at the Augustine Keller brauhaus while eating amazing schnitzel and potato salad. This was all in two days... Munich was a lot to take in and we didn't get much sleep but we still had two more days of vacation to take advantage of and we decided to spend it in Garmisch, a little mountain town in southern Germany. The goal was to ski in the alps. I've never been skiing before.....and I was a little bit intimidated at first but if you just make it to the top of the mountain knowing the only way down is to ski then you learn pretty quickly..you have no choice. We went skiing for about half a day on Easter Sunday and it was a tad foggy. So I'm just learning how to ski and its foggy and apparently all the easy slopes are a little more advanced than in the states. I fell. So many times. But after a couple slopes it started to feel more natural and I'm proud to say that I stopped falling and I could actually pick up some speed! It was insanely fun! I can't believe I've never been before (well cross country skiing when I was 13....but that's wayyyy different) and now I want to go all the time! I was feeling pretty good about my new found skill so I convinced one of the guys I was with to go down the mountain on a red (the intermediate slope of Germany). I love and regret that decision. I'll explain. We started on the top of the slope with a goal of not falling and by about an eighth of the way down the mountain our new goal was survival. After the first steep hill (what I thought was steep) we came to a stop and peered over the big slope down. My definition of steep was redefined at that moment and my confidence was shot. Hence, the new goal of only surviving... Since it was still a bit foggy we couldn't even see where it ended. After about 45 minutes and about ten more falls (I also rented a helmet with my skis) we made it down all in one piece. I'm pretty proud of myself for making it down but I would never do that slope again, well maybe after some practice haha. Our train home was at 6 pm the next day so we decided to have some dinner and relax on Sunday. Nothing too crazy because we were all tired from Munich and sore from skiing. We woke up on Monday (I felt insanely sore) and headed for the slopes again! After the first slope the soreness went away though :) We had a another couple misadventures on some reds trying to get the the blue (easy) slopes but they weren't as bad as the one yesterday. Still hard though. Once we got to the blues I was able to practice my technique (on the reds I basically slid down on one leg trying not to turn or I'd face-plant) and get a little more speed. Around 4 we returned our skis and packed up and hopped on our train home. Oh! And I bought a Swiss Army knife! I'd been wanting one since my trip to Europe four years ago. And now I have a pocket knife, which is pretty handy :)
This break was so much more of an experience than I ever expected!! It was so great and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Not ready to go back to the real world yet...