Munich

Beer + Cold Weather = Canada... i mean! Germany! Sylvia and I hoped on a plane on Saturday to Munich. My friend PEC lives there right now, doing a semester abroad at the Munich Business School. This is the first time Syl or I had been to Germany. It was very cold (kind of like home) with snow and slush and a cold wind that made your face freeze. As soon as we arrived, there was a giant BMW grill in the airport - very cool. but what was even cooler was that Lufthansa has free coffee machines in the airport (the fancy ones with like hot chocolate and espresso and stuff too). After meeting up with pec and his friend xavier, we walked around to get a few drinks and catch up. the weird part was that the bars and restaurants were closing at 11:30 or 12:00 on a Saturday! but we found a couple of places to enjoy a beverage and then went to a club. The club was very interesting - loud techno and electronic music and very interesting characters. our favorites were the 2 blond german girls who couldnt dance to save their life - they just bounced around off beat, looking like they were having an epileptic seizure. they also had high top, hip hop style sneakers lining the bar - random but cool detail.

Dachau: on valentines day, syl and i headed out to Dachau, where the former Nazi concentration camp was. we knew it was going to be an intense experience going in, but it was very hard and emotionally draining. we got the audio guide which provided so much more detail and sometimes in a graphic manner. it was nonetheless very interesting to see exactly where all of the things you read in a history book actually happened. the day itself was super cold and cloudy - the perfect conditions to experience Dachau. Especially after seeing the crematorium, you feel a profound sense of loss and complete confusion - how can one person do this to another.

Bavarian Dinner: We went for a very Bavarian dinner that consisted of meat and potatoes in different forms. It was excellent and VERY German. There was a band playing at the restaurant as well, giving us a nice ambiance. We then went to the Hofbräuhaus, a beer hall that is all over Germany. A friend of mine advised me not to go there, but it was awesome! There was a band playing, 1 liter mugs of beer and very salty pretzels. It was really fun to just chill, drink beer and chat.

BMW: On the way to the BMW museum, we had to wait at the u-bahn stop, münchner freiheit. it was the coolest metro stop ever! pec described it as the star wars metro stop. whatever it was, it was awesome - electric blue columns, lime green walls and mirrors on the ceiling. while we were in Munich, it was Carnival, so the BMW museum had a bunch of things planned - one being a Brazilian carnival party and the other was a motorcycle demonstration. For the Brazilian party, they had a small capoeira demonstration, dancing, a band playing and food and drink from Brazil. There was also a guy doing tricks on his motorcycle on the stairs, it was cool. The brazilian music was a cool soundtrack to looking at the new BMW cars and motorcycles. We went to the Olympic park after (it was across the street). Nothing is open, so we just walked around. It was a little anticlimactic. Like it was cool that the Olympics were there, but we couldn't see much other than the outside of the buildings.

Carnival: In Marienplatz (the main square in Munich), the carnival celebrations were in full swing. I guess Carnival in Munich is like Halloween. Kids and adults dress up as whatever they want (take a look at the picture of the 2 guys dressed up as M&Ms). There are concerts in the main city squares and of course crazy parties. We walked around the city center in the freezing cold. Munich is a really cool city - it has a small town feel but has so much history and significance.

Party: Our last night in Munich, we went to a University party in a Roman Temple. That should sound weird right? But it was really cool! One area had a DJ, another area for drinks and in another room they had a band playing disco remixes. We had a good time dancing around in a very strange location. We then went to the Milch und Bar which was so much fun. They played 80s music all night and we just danced the night away. We made friends with 4 other Spanish people that were also studying in Munich and lived in the same building as pec. They were awesome and really fun to party with.

See the pictures here