August 4
I headed out for a tour to Dachau later than I expected only because my blog post was not being published. Since yesterday I caught myself running late, I really didn't want that to happen again.
But since i am a pro with the city now, i made it to the town hall by 10:30, where we were meeting at the Mary's column at 10:45.
When I was with tour guide Tim I didn't feel like I had to really know my way because he did. But now that I am on my own I feel like I know my way around the tram and city more than I did any other city. It is pretty incredible and makes me feel super independent.
The tour was bigger than I thought. Thankfully, right when I got there I recognized a girl who was on my tour of the castle yesterday. I didn't talk to her yesterday only because We had met other people but we got talking right away today.
We got to Dachau which is a concentration camp 30 min outside of Munich.
The best decision I have made wAs doing an actual tour of Dachau. I saw people just aimlessly walking around with the audio guide and it would not have been as eye opening and informative. Our tour guide was great! Not only was he extremely knowledgeable but he also showed that he was passionate about this topic and his emotions and thoughts were shared as well, which made it even more real.
This is the first gate the prisoners had to enter when they got to the camp. It says "arbeit macht frei" which means "work makes free". This was just one of the ways they psychologically tortured the prisoners. The prisoners would enter and read that and think that the harder they worked, the chances of getting out were higher. Well in actuality, the harder they worked the chances were higher they would get ill or injured. If this happened, they couldn't work, therefore were shot.
At the end of the tour our guide said "yes this is all very dark history in Germans past, but Germany is one of the only countries that is this honest and open about their history. This being said, it was the past and it was horrible but now as we learn more about this we just need to look towards the future and how we can put a stop to torture so this never happens again." It gave me the chills!
It was an incredibly emotional draining day and very very hot!
Natalie and I were planning to do a beer tour afterwards. We didn't get back until a little before 6 and the beer tour started at 6. She had to catch a train to Amsterdam at 10:50 so she wouldn't have been able to do the whole tour. We scratched that idea and just did our own thing.
We went to the hofbrauhaus because she hasn't been there yet!
We hadn't eaten since 9 am so we were so ready to just sit down and enjoy some yummy food and beer. She hadn't tried the pork knuckle or the sausage and sauerkraut so we got both and split! It was absolutely perfect.
Natalie and I just had so much fun together and getting to know each other. She is a world traveler and has been all around the world. She has a goal to go to 21 countries by age 21, 31 countries by age 31, and so forth. She is 20 and has been to 20 countries. She is crazy because she will just find a deal on groupon and go! Then she'll call her mom and tell her where she is and she could be half way around the world. It was so fun to hear her stories.
We just were chatting and listening to the band and two guys sat down next to us. We got talking and they told us that before we leave we have to go to the 6 main breweries in Munich. Natalie and I weren't familiar with the "big 6" but we were suddenly determined to go to as many as we could before her train. We quickly paid our bill and chugged our beers! The guys felt our excited energy and chugged their beers to come with us
Thank goodness they did because we wouldn't have found the two brew hauses if they hadn't.
Our first stop was Schneider Weiss which makes all different types of wheat beers!
They are regulars of this brew haus that will be served before anyone else in the restaurant and have special treatment.
The sign says stammtisch which means reserved.
They briefly talked to Natalie and I when we walked in and we wanted so badly to go and sit at their table. We figured this was our only opportunity so we went up and started talking and asked if they wouldn't mind if we sat with them to drink our beers.
They were more than welcoming and even taught us a few things in the 10 min we had before we had to move on to the next brew haus.
1. With the glasses of wheat beer you must always Prost (cheers) with the bottom of the glass instead of the top or side because they will crack.
2. I asked how the reserved table works. They said they were friends from highschool and they have been coming to this brew haus for years and years and years. Now they have the privilege to sit at this table.
3. If you ring the sign with the bells on it, many servers come and take their order and the person that rings it must pay the round. It seemed like a huge deal and one of the drunk guys we were with rang the sign and Natalie and I were terribly embarrassed. The regulars had a horrified look on their face and within 15 sec there were 4 servers standing around the table. The servers came and told him he will have to get kicked out if he doesn't knock it off.
We apologized to the 4 local men we were sitting with and emphasized we did not know them. They were very sweet and really liked Natalie and I. We had to move on to the next brew haus though so Natalie wouldn't miss her train to Amsterdam.
Out next stop was hacker-pshore. The quality of the beer was just not as good as all the others! We had less than 10 min to be at this bar to stay on schedule. The guys bet us we couldn't finish our beers in less than 10 minutes. If we did, it was on them. They obviously didn't know us well because we were done in 4 min.
Here is a picture of us and the drunk tag along guys. Natalie and I didn't want them there but we just kept reminding ourselves we wouldn't have gone to 5 out of the 6 brew hauses if it weren't for them! (Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbräu, Augustinerbräu, hacker-pschorr, and Schneider Weiss)
Natalie is always up for anything and said if I ever want to go on a trip next year to let her know and she will be my travel buddy!
I went and sat with her at the train station while she waited for her train. We were so happy with how our night had turned out.
We said goodbye and I took the tram back to my hostel, laid on the hammock, and looked at the stars.
Shortly after I went and got in my bed and my mom texted me and said "be sure to look at the stars because they are the same ones we see at home :)"
We think so much alike!
I went to bed planning to hopefully see Tom B.and then head to Salzburg.
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