So I figured out where my German ancestors are from.

Munich.

The land of leaderhosen, beer halls, singing and just plain rowdiness. My kinda place.

Day 1.

We got into Munich around 7 am, and after a good breakfast at our hostel, we decided to kill some time before being able to check in by taking an AWESOME free walking tour.

We started in Marienplatz, where we saw the world famous (but anticlimactic) Glockenspiel


after that we went to a church where we heard a story about the Devil, this is apparently his foot print....
pretty view of Marienplatz
May pole!!!
Allison's FIRST bratwurst!
beer lion....
the world famous Hofbrauhaus.... (greatest place on earth....better then DISNEYLAND!)
statue of Little Red Riding Hood
this is Dodgers Alley...one place I thought was very cool. A little down the street from here, when the Nazis were in power, there was a place where every person who passed had to stop and give the Nazi salute. People who didnt support the Nazis, would walk down this alley to avoid this spot, so it became known as Dodgers Alley. Unfortunately, the Nazis caught on, and guards were placed there to take down names and times that people went down this alley. Anyone who was suspected of going down this street too often could be beaten and even killed. There is a small memorial on this street, it is a line of gold bricks on the ground, showing a path that people would take. It is a memorial to people who did small things in their every day life to oppose to Nazis.
statue in Marienplatz

Night 1 at Augustiner....(a beer hall)
our great waiter who kept saying things like...
"Make-a-me happy, high five!"
"When I see you something in here goes up, and down and left and right!"
"My lady!"


We also met some fun snowboarders from New Zealand, Austrailia, and England


they threw the rest of my marzipan in my beer, it was very gross.

Day 2.
Allison and I took a day trip to Dachau. I took more pictures but I decided to only put up the pictures of the memorials. I really only took the other pictures for myself to remember where I had been and that something like this can never happen again.

Memorial of the Unknown Prisoner

Never Again.
"Work will set you free"

Day 3.
We went to Olympic Park.... here are some gorgeous pictures from there.





we also climbed St Peters Chruch (view from the top)

Allison and I at the top
we also saw some cool kids playing the cello in the park...

then we walked to another park......

and sat there for a few hours listening to some guys play in a drum circle.

allison and I on the walk to dinner...

we ate dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. (this room, incidentally, is where the Nazi party was formed)
Allison drinking round 3 of giant liter beers (thats 2 pints)
a little proud that its Round 3
fun boys singing and wearing leaderhosen....

so we met these old men, and they kept buying us shots (yes it was 7 at night)
This is Heinz. He didnt speak English and he kept saying to Allison "Opa Opa" which means "Grandpa". We were like "....umm?"
William and I
So then these boys were starting to leave and I asked them if I could get a picture with them since they were dressed AWESOME. They got REALLY excited and all of them wanted to get pictures with Allison and me...


when i asked one of them to take a picture of me and one of their friends...this is what I got...
then, the boy in the sweater, decided he wanted me to come with them to the next bar. So he picked me up and in broken English said "you come with me!" so as i was carried out of the Hofbrauhaus, Allison just waved (she knew I was coming back.) We got to the door only to be stopped by security. The security guard said something to me and I responded "I dont speak German!" he laughed and tipped me back, caught me and set me on the ground. After a few more attempts to get me to come with them, the guard sent me back inside and the boys on their way. It was very funny.
Some more fun people we met.
Then we met some fun people having a Bachelor Party!
the groom-to-be
Allison and the groom-to-be
i borrowed this guys glasses because they were AWESOME!

Allison and I with some lovely (dying) flowers we were given
We finally had to leave because we had a train to catch (trying to get a train with all our luggage, a little drunk was very fun)

Ok this statue is of Juliet. Apparently if you put a rose in her arms she brings you good luck in your love life....

Allison getting good luck...
me entrusting my love life to a statue....
she now holds our futures in her arms....
Munich was wonderful, and this blog did NOT do it justice! We had so much fun at the beer halls and the city itself if full of history!

Loved it and I cant wait to go back one day!

More to come soon!
love from Belgium!