European Adventures: DEUTSCHLAND

This weekend we went to DEUTSCHLAND! My roommate Mary has a friend (Rachel) that plays softball in Munich (Munchen) so we were able to stay with her in her (very nice) flat! We left early (4am) Friday morning to catch our flight to Memmigan - where we then had to take a train into the city. (This would turn into a hilarious adventure as we got off at the wrong train station and tried to find Rachel who was waiting for us at the right station. We were at a burger king and Rachel was trying to find us at one of the two burger kings at the other train station. This was also our first experience with non-english speaking people. Trying to order a bbq chicken burger with no mayo and getting extra mayo and Mary trying to order a cheeseburger with pickles and cheese and getting everything but - so needless to say - it was an experience! hah) Once we finally realized we were at the wrong train station we hopped on a train and found Rachel.
Friday was a day of exploring the city and beer hopping! We took the U-Bahn to downtown where we visited Frauenkirsche Cathedral and Tower - we walked all the way up the tower/ took the elevator - to the top where we were treated to breathtaking views of Munich. We could even barely see the Alps it was such a nice day! From there we walked to Hofbräuhaus biergarten to enjoy my first liter mug of the radler (a mix of beer and 'sprite' - what they call lemonade). Here we met up with some Aussies who told us some stories and and asked questions about America and we practiced our accents. From here we walked to the English Gardens which is the biggest park in Europe (behind Hyde Park) where it was basically a big party of people laying out by the river. Once in the garden we walked to the biergarten at the Chinese Tower. Here we watched the Netherlands v. Brazil game and enjoyed another liter of beer (we also stole the mugs as a souvenir- local tip - they give you a token when you buy the beer - if you return the mugs with the token you get a euro back - so we stole some 'tourist's' mugs and returned them and kept our own. win win!). After the biergarten we walked to Rachel's favorite place - The Munich Cafe for some food and yes more beer. Then we hopped on the U-Bahn and headed towards Olympic Park (host of the 1972 Munich Olympics). This place was awesome and so pretty at sunset! We were exhausted so we headed back to Rachel's to navigate our route for Saturday and catch some much needed zzz!
Saturday Rachel had softball games so we were without our navigator but she mapped out our entire route- by U-Bahn and bus - to Dachau (the first concentration camp in Germany). This was an awfully chilling experience to be in a place of such cruelty, torture, and murder - and an experience I won't soon forget. We walked through the solitary confinement, torture cells, the barracks, and crematorium. There were also several churches and memorials built after Dachau was turned into a refugee camp post war. There was also a museum full of pictures, stories and great information. It was pretty emotional - but glad I did it. After Dachau we navigated to the 'Beverley Hills' of Munich to watch the Germany game. We watched the game at a field where screens were set up and we watched the game with a bunch of Germans and were treated to German food and beer! And Germany won 4-0! It was crazy to be a part of it - the Germans celebrated all day and night. The German flag was everywhere and everyone was honking and cheering all over the city. From here we went to this Festival on the Olympic grounds where there was music, food, crafts, clothes, beer and soccer. It was a great night and trip to Munich! It was fun being able to hang out with Germans because we got to ask a lot of questions, here stories, and get insider info -and I think this really enriched the trip. (Plus I don't think we would have seen half the sites because trying to navigate through Germany alone would have been awful). Sunday we had to catch an early train to get back to the airport and catch our flight - we had to celebrate the fourth in London! A whole bunch of us went to Hyde Park to listen to the Wireless concert - the likes of Lily Allen and Jay Z were performing. We had ourselves some food, beer (nothing will ever compare to the German beer), played games, and decked out American - all while listening to the concert.
This week there's a lot to do! Mary and I made a checklist of things to do, go and see - along with the schooling part of it. Today we are touring Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) stadium. Thursday we are touring the London Olympic site and Friday it's off to the races at Royal Ascot. Then we are off to Wales for some cliff jumping, surfing and hiking! I'll try and keep you updated of the events as best I can!
On a side note: We've been having quite the luck with weather! It's been so beautiful and hot here in London and apparently we brought it to Munich as they've been having kind of crappy weather. It was 31 degrees there (about 87) and was cold here in London so we lucked out!
Here are some pictures from this weekend...