Our tour was of the historical section of Munich, which was gorgeous. I have never seen a city so large, but so pretty. Most of the buildings are historical, with lots of fountains and towers. All the streets are cobblestone, and although there are a few cars, it's mostly pedestrians and bikes. Munich was exactly the opposite of New York City, which was very cool and refreshing to see. I definitely prefer the historical downtown of Munich to the more industrial- type downtown of NYC. The first building we saw was the city hall, which was absolutely beautiful. Outside of the town hall was a big open square for pedestrians to walk around on.
The city hall
From there, we made a big loop around the city, seeing a few churches and historical sites, as well as a giant market square. The market was very loud and crazy, with a very enthusiastic atmosphere. I liked standing there and people watching. Some of the stands sold over 350 kinds of cheese, and there was a beer garden right in the middle of the square, where people could hang out and eat their own lunch. Our tour guide had several interesting stories and legends about Munich, which I found really cool.
After the tour ended, I grabbed a sandwhich to go with Sydney, Katie, Alex, Lindsey, Veronica and two of the German boys- Ben and Dennis. The boys took us to the English gardens, which were gorgeous. It's a giant park right by downtown Munich, so we walked around for a while before stopping by a beer garden for a little bit to hang out and people watch. While at the beer garden, I couldn't figure out the bathrooms at all, and had to go back and get Dennis to help me figure them out. In the end, you had to pay a machine and go through a little side gate, but it was hilarious. Veronica called this my "struggle of the day" and we all laughed about it.
Veronica, Ben, Dennis, Katie, me, Alex, Sydney and Lindsey
From there, we wandered back through the park to a spot where the river turned into rapids and people were surfing in the rapids. Apparently this is a small tradition in Munich, and there are always people surfing in the river whenever the weather is nice. It was funny to watch them surf back and forth across a small river, but it was so much fun! Everyone would clap for the surfers, and you could hear them all laughing and teasing each other while they surfed.
Surfers in the river
We left the park after watching the surfers for a few minutes, and finished our last few free hours going shopping for souvenirs. I didn't find much, but Sydney and Veronica tried on a dirndl, which was hilarious. The workers did up their hair too, so they looked like traditional Bavarian girls.
We went back to the city hall to meet everyone, and then we went to dinner. The restaurant was a burger place, and it was nice to have American food after so many Bavarian meals. We rode the train home after dinner, and everyone ended their night early because it was a long day. Tomorrow we go to Dachau too, so I want to be well rested.
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