european adventure: germany... munich

may 9:

germany was the last of the countries that we would be visiting.  by this point of the trip i was so sad to even think that the countdown of this trip could nearly be counted on just one hand... i was also exhausted.  the sleep thing was really getting to me.  for a full functioning morgan i need my sleep.  and the walking thing was also killing me.  and i thought i was in good shape.  ha, um... no!  my feet/legs/heart/ everything was killing me.  anyway, i guess i just had a lot of mixed emotions.  i was ready to leave and settle back into home lifestyle.  but at the same time the thought of leaving made my heart ache.  is it possible to fall in love with traveling?  because i think i did.  except i wouldn't mind being able to take my closet with me next time.  i was getting extremely tired of the four shirts i packed/ the two dresses.

the first thing we did before we got into munich was visited a concentration camp just ten minutes outside of it.  it was the dachau concentration camp.  there was nothing i could have done to prepare myself for what i would experience.  i bawled.  holly, stacy and i walked through the entire camp in nearly complete silence.  there was nothing to say.  there was just a whole lot of emotion to feel.  one of my very favorite books of all time is night by elie wiesel.  he tells of his experience that he and his father had while they were in a concentration camp.  i couldn't help but think of that and so many others, and that this was a real thing that happened.

the rest of the bus ride into munich was kind of a quiet one.  but we made it.. we got all checked into the hostel and such then headed out.  (side note:  the guy who checks you in had major creeper status written right on his forehead! he was grinning like a creepy fool behind the counter.  he handed me our key and tried to linger the moment on, like seriously, he would not let go of the other half of the key.) we went to go into this one building that i really don't remember the name of.  but it's gorgeous.

we got some lunch.  which was so delish.

also a pastry.  because when in rome!  i know, not rome anymore.. but we said that about everything.  a lot of things were closed on this day because it was ascension day.  we seemed to hit all the major holidays that seem to close major touristy things down...  annnd some pictures from all our wanderings.

^^hofbrauhaus... largest beer hall in all of germany.  i was escorted through with my professor.  he's a pretty neat guy.  it's crazy in there. beware.  loud music/laughter/and craziness in there.^^

we did get to go to the neue pinakothek.  ahhh!!!!!!  when i was little i got a mickey mouse art history book for christmas.  mainly it was just a condensed version with the easy facts of art and such for children.  but oh how i loved that book.  i went through and put a sticky note on all of my favorite pages so i could come back to them whenever.  one of the pages was vincent van gogh's painting of the sunflower.  i fell in love.  then a couple of years later i was in sixth grade.  our teacher mr. finch made us draw an old master.  so i drew that one.  long story short it was so so soooo amazing to be able to see it in real life.  his brush strokes were fabulous!!!  the colors are so much better in real life.  life dream= complete!!

other's worth posting:

^^love this one.^^

^^also, never been much of a picasso fan until this piece.^^

after the pinakothek we separated.  holly, stacy, taylor and i wanted to eat some dinner.  i just wanted kebabs. so bad.  because i love them.

then we got ice cream.  because ice cream is as close as it gets to gelato.  which was also killing me that it was no where to be found.  i just wanted the real deal.  and then we did a sinful thing.  we went back to our hostel and took a nap.  but i have never been more exhausted in my entire life!  i woke to taylor's face just inches from mine two hours later.  she is crazy.  but i love her.  then we met some neat fellows that were in our hostel.  there were three of them... from bristol, england.  which made me love them even more. because i have this thing for english accents.  tom, adam and joe it was.  they made for an interesting night.

may 10:

we actually got to sleep in.  which was great.  we had some breakfast in the hostel.. which germany wasn't the usual bread and nutella that we had been having.  it was more a sandwich style.  weird eating ham and cheese sandwichy stuff for breakfast.  we had a real treat after breakfast.  we went to the late pinakothek.  which is probably one of the greatest museums ever created!  the first room was already great.. but stacy and i walked into the second room and there was albrecht durer's self portrait.  um. AH!  yeah, i kind of freaked out.  i think i may have lied about my life dream being completed by van gogh.  because durer's self portrait was definitely something else.  i think stacy and i sat in front of it for about a half hour.  we found so many other great pieces in there also.  that museum is sure a goody.

^^ahhhh!!!  still amazing. but it's so much better in real life!^^

after we tried finding this rococo church that taylor really wanted to go to.  i think the best way to describe rococo is that the architect really just did not know when to say, 'that's enough.'  lovely, but overwhelming.  

we walked through some park, and i got the most delightful strawberries... and a pretzel.    

look how gross...

we mainly to tried to hide under the trees from the large rain pellets that were drenching us!  my boots were soaking!!  we ran into tom, adam and joe at the park.  we tried finding the outdoor surfing thing that is so popular.  yes, surfing.  google munich surfing.  tom and them the night before told us that we have to do that because it is so fun.  i mean, like i have enough coordination to surf, but watching would be so fun.  and they said that's where all the locals are so it's less touristy.  but it was way to rainy to try to find that. so i got some shawarma instead!  because i can't get enough of those kebabs!!  then for dinner, like two hours later we had some more shawarma! 

it was at the same restaurant each time.  i love them... i couldn't pronounce the owners name.. but we became great friends.  and french fries there were to die for.  and the fantas.  this day was a nice chill day that wasn't so jam packed full of everything that needed to be done.  i kind of loved that for a change.

only four days left of my europe trip!  to be continued.