Munich
One of the biggest and well known festivals around the world comes for only 20 days from the end of September to late October. It's name, Oktoberfest. A celebration of God knows what brings together thousands of tourists, locals, and hooligans alike. A short flight away from Florence would have been ideal but that is not even close to how we got to Munich. The one and only Molly "Shackles" Sackles and myself took an over night train to get there and boy will I never do that again. A small cabin that smelled like fart, bad breath of the two foreigners next to us, and rotten eggs all mixed together was our "luxury" form of transportation. After all that, finally made it to Munich and got in around 6:30 AM local time.

Our first morning was a bit hectic trying to find our hotel but without the lovely Shannon Carroll, we couldn't check in yet, so Molly and I hit the streets of Munich just as the sun was coming up. Walking down what looked like the main street, we stumbled passed a Bayern Munich store and an Apple store just before running right into Munich's Rathaus (parliament building). One of the most interesting buildings I have ever seen, it looked like a new building built to model an old building with the way it looked. Molly and I adventured through this area for just a little while longer before meeting up with Cara Emard and Emma Kuchera. Of course they wanted to go walk around, so we turned right back around and walked to where we had just come from, but this time got our first taste of Germany.

At this point we had been kicked out of our hotel (thanks Shannon) and were left homeless for several hours. A friend from high school was there luckily to house the 4 of us for the weekend and became our new tour guide for the weekend.

With no idea where we were, we sat down to order some food and (of course) beer. 4 steins, 4 pretzels...Nothing more (except cheesecake). One of the best pretzels I had ever had and a great beer to wash it down. That was around 11 and I had nothing for breakfast that day so I was already kind of buzzed. After lunch we met up with Rory near the center of the square and he led us on a pretty long, amazing tour. Bringing us to around 6 PM, we decided to head back to get ready for the night. We ended up meeting up with some of our friends from Florence at the famous Hofbrau Haus. Singing, dancing, drinking, and eating, what more could college kids want while "studying"? We kept the buzz going through the night while eating some amazing food. I ordered a typical German meal, Weisswurst and a stein. Served in a pot of steaming hot water and a side of sweet brown mustard, it was the perfect dinner. Some of the other people in our group ordered giant pork knuckles, German versions of the hot dog, and more pretzels. After a sufficient amount of beer and food, it was time to call it a night and get ready for the morning.

Rise and shine. Imagine waking up at 5 AM knowing the only thing on your agenda was to get drunk, stand on tables, and sing American renditions of traditional German songs. That was our day in a nutshell. We got to the festival around 7 AM and it was already packed. The line for the main German tent was around 3 football fields long (these people take it very seriously). Instead of waiting that long, we cut the line with some friends studying in other countries (Lila, Madi, Fran, Haley, Kara, etc) and got right to the front of the door at the Hofbrau Haus' tent. Killing time, we drank, hung out, took pictures, and finally the mob was ready to enter the tent. A rush through the double doors led to some bad behavior (I'll be honest, I think I shoved a girl) and a charge to find a table. Within seconds, all the tables seemed to be full except one. We pounced. However, the beer would not be flowing for another 3 hours so we had some time to kill. Since we came the first day, we had to wait for the first keg to be cracked until our tent could start drinking, and once it did, it was madness. Large German women filing out through the crowd with armfuls of steins (14 at a time) and then immediately running back for more along with huge plates of chicken, pretzels, and more. Commence singing, drinking, and dancing. Sweet Caroline, Happy Birthday, random chants for crazy Australians, nothing was off limits. Fading, fading, fading, aaaaaaand gone. Next thing I knew I was walking with some girls basically being Dr. Phil (your welcome Nikki) and, what felt like 2 minutes later, was then in a coffee shop eating and drinking someone else's food and coffee. After a long day, it was time to wrap things up for the night.

Sunday was our last day in Munich so naturally we go to one of the saddest places there is, a Nazi concentration camp. Only a short train/bus ride away, we arrived at Dachau and started our self guided tour. It was interesting, sad, amazing, devastating, and emotional all at once. Seeing such a cruel and disastrous time first hand that you really only see in textbooks was shocking. After about 3 hours, we had enough sadness and decided to return home. With still several hours to kill before our train left for Florence, Molly and I had a final dinner on the main drag in Munich. Can you guess what we had? Nailed it, brats, fries, and beer. The perfect ending to an amazing weekend in a wonderful city.

Munich, for those who haven't been there, is one of the coolest cities there is. With a rich history, amazing food, and more beer than you can imagine, it shows why it is one of the most visited cities in Europe. Oktoberfest weekend was unlike any I had experienced and proved why it is one of the most well-known festivals in the world. Munich, I will be back soon.

Check out tomorrow's blog when I talk about our overnight trip to Torino (NorthWest Italy). Ciao for now.