Celebrating the Holidays in Munich: Part 2

As I get this blog up and running, I'm posting summaries of our past trips, starting in 2011. This is the second post about our trip to Germany in December 2011.

Day 6: December 26, 2011

After two restful days with friends in Grafenwoehr (we fell in love with the "zombie blinds" that come standard on many German homes), we were shuttled back to the train station in Presseth to head back to Munich. We were the only people in this fairly rural train station on Boxing Day. Of course, the train came right on time.

After dropping our stuff at the hotel (we returned to the same one), we hopped on the U-Bahn and headed to Olympic Park. I'm too young to really remember the Munich games, but it was still fun to see.

We went to the top of Olympic Tower, and we could see for miles. Aaron wanted to focus on the soccer stadium.

This is the tower where we took the photo:

There was a cafe in the park, so of course we stopped and had a beer and a snack.

After Olympic Park we started wandering through other districts of Munich, using the U-Bahn to get around. The Freiheit station was amazingly modern. It was definitely my favorite.

We stopped at a pub in the University District and had a delicious plate of meat, cheese, and bread. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

The bar played only American pop music, which we found pretty amusing. We did a little more wandering and came across some sad Christmas markets that were in the take-down stage. Then, we stumbled across the freedom gate.

We knew we had to end our night in a beer hall, so we decided to cross a big one off our list: the Haufbrauhaus. It was very busy (as I imagine it always is), and we were seated at a communal table next to a trio that was having a very entertaining evening. They were German/French, and humored us as we attempted to speak German for a couple minutes ... then transitioned into almost flawless English. We had an excellent time chatting with our new friends, drinking a few liters of beer, and listening to the house band (and singing along when we knew the words). 

We left the hall and noticed what restaurant was immediately across the street: The Hard Rock Cafe. That was a downer. We wandered the streets of Altstadt (I'm not going to lie, we were a little turned around), and saw more intoxicated people than any night in Germany. Granted, most of them were Americans. 

Aaron noticed a store with our name. We're pretty big in Germany (pardon the pun).

Day 7: December 27, 2011

Our destination today was important to see, yet not something most people would base a vacation around. We visited the Dachau concentration camp. The site actually isn't that far from Munich. We took the U-Bahn to an outlying station, then hopped on a bus for a short ride to the camp. Once there, we bought tickets for a guided tour, which ended up being led by a history scholar that spoke perfect English. Our tour took over 3 hours—much longer than others—but we were never bored. The tour includes a movie, a museum, a walk through the yards, barracks, and then the crematorium. We learned so much, and at times couldn't believe what we were seeing. Humans have done awful, awful things to each other.

This is the gate the prisoners walked through to enter the camp. In English, it says "Work makes (you) free." Of course, that was a bald-face lie. I didn't take any additional photos of the camp, but I can vividly remember the barracks, which had large boxes for "beds" that half a dozen or more people would sleep on. The area we walked through, which seemed enormous, was only a small portion of the camp that was preserved. It was many times larger than what we saw on our tour.

After the tour we took the bus back into town and had a coffee and pastry at a cafe while waiting for our train back into Munich. Back in the city, we had dinner at Donisl. A colleague of mine in Wisconsin (a German teacher) recommended it for excellent, authentic German food. Of course, we started with some beer.

Aaron had fried pork loin, and he loved it. I had beef roast, which was ok, but the dumplings served with it were absolutely delicious. After a day full of walking and Dachau heavy on our minds, we retreated to the hotel for a drink at the bar before bed.

Day 8 - December 28, 2011

On the advice of our friends we visited for Christmas, we took a day trip to the Zugspitze—the highest point in Germany. Our train took us to the little town of Garmisch, along with hundreds of Germans on vacation that weren't there for sightseeing. They were going skiing! Pulling into Garmisch on the train, you could see the beautiful mountains (the Alps) towering over the city. 

Once we made it to Garmisch, we purchased tickets for the trip up to the Zugspitze. First, you take a cogg train that takes you up and through the mountain. Then, you take a tram from the glacier to the mountain top. Everything was very slow-moving, and the cogg train was actually late—a travesty for Germans. These skiers were not happy. It was also freezing that day (it was much colder in Garmisch than Munich) and I wish I had boots and warm(er) socks while waiting for the cogg train.

But, once we made it to the top, we could see Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Snow-capped mountains and green valleys surrounding clear blue lakes stretched as far as you could see. And, for the first time on our trip, the sun was out!

Of course, there's a beer garden on top of the mountain. It's the highest mountain in Germany. Given the temperature, we chose to eat in the indoor restaurant. We sat next to some ex-pats that were in Germany for a military assignment. The wife was not having a good time, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. We had to be careful while moving about the complex at the top, though. At such high altitude, even a flight of stairs left us out of breath.

After a couple hours at "the top of Germany," we descended the mountain and made our way back to Munich. We had to switch trains at a small regional station, and Aaron was delighted to find beer (which you can carry on the train) for 1 Euro per half liter. So, he was set for the ride back.

After a long day of travel and high altitude, we were beat. We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, and called it a night early, yet again.

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