Munich...the summary

Sorry for the absence of posts lately, I was in Munich and out and about so much that I didn´t get time to update the blog. Actually Im not really sorry at all =)

For those of you who got lost, Ill give you a brief summary of how I even ended up there (and please bear with the bad grammar and missing symbols...all these keyboards are weird). The original plan was to go to Salzburg, Austria and never into Munich, but because I travel day to day and really without a plan, I just assumed there would be availability. Of course during the last day of Florence, I finally muster up the idea to book a hostel only to find there is NOTHING. Partly, this is due to tourist season starting to pick up, but mostly, I believe it was due to Easter holidays for the Europeans. Either way, Salzburg was immediately eliminated (and I really wanted to do the Sound of Music tour too), and an alternate destination was pondered over. My thoughts were to get OUT of Italy since I had already been to Rome, Cinque Terre, and Florence, and getting too far East on a "last minute" scamper didnt seem like the most logical move. Somehow though, my eye caught MUNICH, it sounded cool, so I just booked a place and jetted out of Florence the next day. Now the only reason why Munich was a problem was because my guidebook doesnt have ANYTHING about the city...DAMN you Rick Steves and your Best of Europe Guide. No, Im only kidding, that book has been my bible. Anyways, I arrive in Munich in the early evening with NO clue how the city looks, how far away my hostel is, etc. This may not be a big deal for groups of travelers, but for a single traveler, this could mean disaster, and getting mugged, and conned, and forced to sleep under a bridge...for the rest of your life! Fear not though, I found my hostel without too much of a problem, and it was sweet 3 star hostel! How does a hostel get rated so nicely - well for starters, they give down comforters, sweet ass beds, 24 hr reception, and breakfast which for some odd reason has sandwich meats and cheeses!

Okay though, enough about GETTING to Munich. While there, I participated in a lot of drinking at night, and also drinking during the day. What can you do though, its basically one of the beer capitals of the world. Well during the days, I actually kept very busy despite not having a real tour book to guide me along.
Day 1: took the New Europe Tour of Munich (free ninety nine in cost) that lasted 3 hours and walked around the city center of town. Also drank at some beer gardens for 30 minutes in between and munched on brats.
Day 1 night: met two girls from the hostel, and went across the street to the Augustiner brewery restaurant and consumed about 2 liters too much beer. I asked for something local for food, and got half a crispy pork leg (bone hanging out) and a 1 liter beer to start...it was overwhelming and I felt like a barbarian...it was cool. It was adventurous afterwards...if I know you, Im sure Ill tell you the complete story at a later time. Lets just say, it involved too much drinking and an attempted hike that lasted into the wee hours of the morning.
Day 2: took part in a FREE bike tour of the city. Free ninety nine is the theme of my trip. This may have been the best worst idea ever. The tour was good and dandy, but the potential problem was, halfway through zigzagging through the city on some bikes that didnt have brakes (only had the kind where you reverse on the pedals), you end up at the Chinese Beer Garden and drink massive amounts of beer, and then get back onto the bike and ride around for another hour. In hindsight, Im extremely happy that I have all limbs in tact and functional...not very smart, but so cool when you are doing it. During this tour, we went through this huge park called English Gardens, and they have a nudist area. Of course we rode around it, and I almost crashed as I was riding by this old lady (who at this time had her bathing suit on) but decided to strip butt naked and jump into the river JUST as I was riding by. I was completely caught by surprise.
Daz 3: took a serious tour, of Dachau concentration camp. This was the only tour that cost money up front (the others were tip based...dont worry, I tipped them!), but it was probably the BEST tour I have ever taken. For those of you not familiar, Dachau was one of (if not) THE first concentration camp to be opened and used as a model for all the other future ones. It is in amazing condition whereas others were torn down or destroyed along the way. Anyways, our tour guide was absolutely amazing and had infinite ranges of wisdom about the camp, and about the whole subject in general. If anyone goes to Munich, I strongly encourage you to take it...you wont regret it at all.
Day 4: left Munich, should have stayed a little longer though!

Overall, each city I have been to has been so differnent, yet the same at the same time. Munich felt most like an American city just because of how new everything was. A large percentage of it was bombed during World War II but yet they rebuilt it and kept much of the old architectual style in tact. It was very clean (compared to Italy). People didnt jay walk AT ALL...not even if it was the smallest cross walk, as long as the walking light was red, they waited. Everyone spoke English and most people even apologized for the "little" bit of English they spoke, which of course turned out to be PERFECT. Lets see, what else...oh, people drink beer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (I think). Oh oh, finally, the "y" key and the "z" key are backwards on the keyboard which becomes extremely frustrating!

Thats a pretty decent summary of my Munich experience I think! As Im writing this though, Ive already left and made my way to Budapest, Hungary. Met a couple random guys at the hostel and went to get dinner. We were searching for local and authentic food, but of course, ended up in the most American restaurant in all of Budapest! Any recommendations for what I should do here? Ill check back in a few days!