Munich

Exactly one week ago, I left for Munich with my friend, Sarah. We left late at night on Thursday and traveled to Amsterdam to catch our overnight bus. After a painfully long 14 hours (but no border check!), we arrived around noon on Friday at the campsite we were staying at. Our campsite was mostly filled with Americans and Australians. Throughout the weekend, we met quite a few other exchange students from the US, which was really nice. Anyway, after we got our tents, we dropped our stuff off and headed into the city center. I'd been to Munich once before five years ago with my family to visit my brother when he lived in Germany, and I was surprised to realize that I could actually remember significant parts of the city and where to go! It was really exciting.

We took a train to Marienplatz, and the first thing we saw coming out of the station was the Rathaus (New Town Hall). It is such a beautiful building!

Rathaus (New Town Hall)

Also, all transportation was free while we were in Munich because of Oktoberfest -- that was super nice! Our Friday was filled with visiting churches, cafes, eating German food, going to the Hofbrauhaus (one of the biggest and most popular beer gardens), and many other touristy things. It was so much fun!

A church in the city center

The Residenz (royal residence in Munich city center)

Gardens by the Residenz

A tower of the Frauenkirche, one of the most famous churches

Sarah and me in Munich! :)

The next day, we woke up and got ready to go to Oktoberfest! There were SO many people and most of them were dressed up in lederhosen and dirndls (traditional German costumes). It was really fun to see everyone dressed up, the girls in braids and the guys in nice hats. It was kind of funny to see all the foreigners (like us...but we weren't dressed up) wearing the costumes too. The atmosphere was amazing and so different from the first time I'd been to Munich, which was during Christmas. We watched the parade, where all the different breweries had horses and marching bands playing. Then, at noon, we somehow managed to get into a tent, even though people had been lining up since 7am to get into them. We were very lucky that weekend. We even managed to find a table of really nice Germans who were kind enough to offer us both a seat! The tent was so lively -- everyone was singing and drinking and laughing and meeting new people from all around the world. It was a lot of fun!

New friends at the Paulaner tent!

On our last day, Sunday, we went back to Marienplatz and climbed Peterskirche, the church across from the Rathaus, in order to see the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, a kind of weird and interesting show of dolls dancing and bells going off. The view from up there was spectacular!

View from Peterskirche

We spent the day eating more German food, visiting Schloss Nymphenburg (a castle in the city), walking around town and visiting more churches, and finally going to the Olympic Stadium of 1972. It was a great and relaxing day!

Schloss Nymphenburg

Gardens of Schloss Nymphenburg

Munich Olympic Stadium of 1972

We headed back to the campsite at 10pm that night and got back home around 10:30 in the morning. We were exhausted but so excited about all the traveling ahead of us because we know that this is just the beginning. Until next time! :)