Deutschland #1!

Night trains are categorically designed not to allow for sleep. Between the extra hard cushions, beds just short enough to prevent you from fully stretching, and the fact that you´re on a train where things make lots of noise and bounce around, we arrived at 6:30 AM into Munich much less than fully rested.

We hit the ground running, though, and went for a 3 hour walk around the city before anyone was really up. Despite a slight chill in the air and periodic spurts of light rain, we ventured to Odeonsplatz, the Opera house, Marienplatz, Residenz, and took a break in Hofgarten.

When you walk through the gate at Dachau Concentration Camp there´s a message cast into the heavy bars, ¨Arbeit Macht Frei ¨- Work will set you free. Dachau was the Third Reich´s first concentration camp, set up in the early 30s for people who the regime didn´t take a liking to (and who´s maltreatment didn´t end at evil phrases on doors). It was a significant experience to visit the camp, hearing and seeing the stories of the 200,000 people that passed through its gates- I don´t think its possible to viscerally feel the magnitude of the Holocaust until you walk through the ¨showers¨ and into a room with four ovens, gates open, waiting.

On that happy note we headed back into Munich and checked into our hotel, did some laundry and headed over to the Hofbrauhaus for food and beer. For the classic Bavarian biergarten experience, this place is second to none. Loud, big, and a pervasive atmosphere of fun. Of course, the liter sized mugs of beer go a long way in faciliating all of those things. After a dinner of sausages and mashed potatoes, four liters of beer (! - this is where the title of this post comes from as I decided that saying that very loudly was a good idea), a full evening with new freinds, we made our wobbly way back to the hotel.

Today we took advantage of the nicer weather to visit the Englischer Garten and watch people surf (yes thats right). A stop at the Deutsches Museum and then back to Marienplatz for some food.

Tonight we say goodbye to the land of the most delicious pretzels ever (I theorize that God has a hand in making them) and at 11:30 pm board a night train bound for Vienna. With a 6:00 AM arrival, we´re in for another long night.

Prost!