Munich for Springfest: Guten Tag!

Ciao everyone!

So the time has finally come....our last trips outside of Florence. I really cannot believe that it is already May and I only have 12 more days left in Florence.  With 7 countries down already, we had one more trip outside of Italy planned.  Last weekend we jetted off to Munich, Germany for the first weekend of Springest (a scaled down version of Oktoberfest for the Spring) along with almost everyone else we know abroad! Although we had originally planned to go on a 9 hour bus ride to get there...our moms thankfully convinced us to book a flight last minute instead.  We were lucky enough to have a gorgeous 50 minute flight over the alps! I guess moms really do know best...

Our first stop in Munich  had nothing to do with Springfest at all, but it was one of the most incredible experiences I have had this semester so far.  We got up early on Friday morning and took a bus over to Dachau to visit the concentration camp.  Although this was not an easy visit for any of us, it was extremely moving and emotional.  It was almost impossible to wrap my head around the idea that I was walking inside the actual camp where thousands of people died during the Holocaust.  We had the chance to walk around the entire camp and see where the barracks used to be and even go inside some of them.  It was mind boggling how tiny the rooms were (designed for under 200 people each which seemed to be much more than it could hold), yet by the end of the war they had over 2,000 people in each of them.  The most difficult part was seeing the crematorium house which was a long structure containing the gas chambers and ovens.  We were able to actually walk through the process and stand in the room where prisoners were told to undress before the shower, and then stand in the actual gas chamber that was used.  It was very disturbing and hard to grasp my mind around the fact that this type of cruelty actually existed in the world.  It is truly something I will never forget, and I am so glad we had the chance to visit it. 

On a more uplifting note, the rest of our Munich trip was filled with a lot of laughs, a lot of beer, and a lot of pretzels:

Neuschwanstein Castle:  We took a day trip to a famous castle about two hours south of Munich.  We had a beautiful bus ride through green rolling hills until we reached the adorable village with a large castle perched on top of a mountain.  The castle is actually the one that Disney's sleeping beauty's castle is based off of! As if this wasn't enough of a fairytale, we took a horse and carriage ride up the mountain to go see it.  Of course I DJ'd our carriage ride with Taylor Swift's "Today was a Fairytale" to complete the mood.  Pretty safe to say I was in Disney Princess heaven!

Beer on Beer on Beer:  I can pretty confidently say that I have seen more beer abroad than I have in my entire life, but Munich took this to a whole new level.  Apparently germans LOVE beer! Or should I say "bier"!  We of course had to check out the oldest and most famous Beer house: Hofbrauhaus.

But the craziest display of Beer was definitely at the Springfest Tents! Springfest is a giant festival set up for 3 weeks filled with rides, games, food, and of course- beer.  There were giant beer tents filled with hundreds of picnic tables (kind of reminiscent of a camp dining hall) and a band playing music filled with hundreds of people dancing, singing, drinking, and eating.  We tried pretzels, bratwursts, and had the best roast chicken i've ever had in my entire life! And the beers were so big that our hands were sore from holding them! And of course we ran into every person we've ever met from high school, Michigan, and camp - it was a lot of fun!

Our final adventure in Munich? Bike Tour: Yep, that's right - Bike tour.  Apparently everyone does this when they come to Munich, and we were a little nervous at first (can you tell by the look on Staci's face??) but it turned out to be so much fun!  It was called Frankie's Bike Tour and a hilarious guy named Frankie took us on a ride around the city to show us some sights.  Except it was much different than any other tour i've had since Frankie had absolutely no filter and said anything and everything he wanted to! We are so glad we did it!

It was the perfect last trip outside of Italy filled with a lot of great memories! But we were very excited to get back to Florence and enjoy our last few weeks of being in Italy.  Except I think we may have brought some of the Carnival spirit back with us to Santa Croce......

Ohhh, Santa Croce.  I am really going to miss your weirdness.

Special Edition: German word of the day! - Guten Tag means hello!

Ciao for now,

Jordan