Roman Holiday: StrongBeerFest- Munich, Germany!

Grub gott! (hello in German!)

This past weekend we arrived in Munich, Germany! This now holds the title as one of our favorite places we have visited in Europe (Switzerland holding a close second place). We took a 2 hour speed train from Rome to Florence to meet the bus company- from there, of course the bus 8 hour bus ride has a story to tell. Sara and I sat on the top of the double-decker coach bus and got "comfortable". As we dazed in and out of sleep listening to Coldplay and Taylor Swift on repeat... we noticed that the bus kept stopping every hour causing the arrival time in Munich to be pushed back 2 hours. We didn't realize until we walked off the bus in Munch sleepily, that some boy had been puking and the bus bathroom was broken... causing us to stop every hour or so. Guess some people don't understand the concept that drinking and long bus rides are not a good combo...

The hostel we stayed at in Munich was called Jagers (yes, we were referring to jagger bombs every-time we said it) It was such a nice hostel! Amazing breakfast, our own bedroom and OWN bathroom- this screams royalty in hostels :) Talk about luxury!!

Friday we met in the lobby of the hostel after a few hours of sleep and began the walking tour of Munich! First stop (and most importantly) we had to go to the Lowenbrau Beer Hall to get our tickets to the Starkbierfest (aka Dark Beer Fest)! Apparently they sell about 5000 tickets for the night and usually sell out! After purchasing the golden ticket we continued on our walking tour. We realized that maybe the reason we liked it so much here was because it was the cleanest and most organized city we have been to yet in Europe! This is mainly because after WWII the city had to be almost completely rebuilt.

Friday night was something we have never experienced in our entire life and was one of the most culturally enriching adventure we have done yet!! It was time for the beer festival. The beer they were "celebrating" it only brewed 3 weeks out of the year, and we were lucky enough to be there for the first night it was served. We never considered ourselves dark beer drinkers, but it was surprisingly good!! The beer hall was a HUGE room with long tables made to seat about 30 people each. They look like they should belong in Harry Potter and everyone is squeezed together. We wore "lederhosen look-alike" t-shirts found in a souvenir shop- we are trying our best to fit in with the locals and make out ancestors proud! With matching pig-tales we entered into the beer hall and were literately speechless at what we saw. People of all ages holding huge Stein glasses of dark beer (stark beir), dressed in traditional German clothes we both have only seen worn at halloween or in movies, and plates full of unrecognizable meat and potatoes! On top to that, there was a traditional polka band playing, dancers showing off their moves, weight lifting contests, and a fashion show, which we of course found ourselves in...

Surprise, surprise....we somehow ended up in the "Miss Triumphator beauty contest!!! We walk onto stage wearing our "trying to fit in with the locals" t-shirt (which we got laughed at by the Germans later because it turns out our t-shirts had the traditional male outfit on it). So, we march onto stage, finding ourselves standing in front of about 5,000 people. We 5 American girls along with 7 other German girls went down the line introducing ourselves. It was at this moment that language was a bit of an issue....perfect! The microphone finally made its way to us and we said our name and stated we were from Nebraska. You could have heard a pin drop after that. Awkward....

To avoid anymore embarrassment on the stage we walked back to our seats getting a few claps along the way. The show continued with a weight lifting contest and more dancing. Unable to read the menu we somehow ordered a HUGE platter of different meats. Of course this didn't hold us back from finishing the entire thing.

After dinner and a couple STRONG beers, we began to dance with the locals. We walked around and found a table of young locals who were dressed from head to toe in German attire. We thought they would be perfect contenders to teach us how to dance. We introduced ourselves and asked about any person who spoke even a little English what our last names meant in German. They got very excited when they found out about our German last names!! (Rudersdorf meaning a small rowing town in southern Germany and Peitzmeier is Bavarian and means they were dairy farmers!) Who woulda thought!

Saturday morning was relatively a easy morning to wake up only because of how excited we were to spend another day in GERMANY! We made our way out of town to the Dachau Concentration camp. We bought the audio tour and spent about a hour walking around. It was really educational and sombering experience. We defiantly needed a little "pick-me-up" after that. How about shopping! One thing we noted: there are H&M's everywhere! When we say everywhere, we mean on each corner (Mens, Women's, Accessories, Children, Shoes, etc.). Maybe the most exciting thing we bought on the trip.... PEANUT BUTTER!! Peanut Butter is extremely hard to find in Rome.

Saturday night we made out way to the famous Hofbrauhaus. We squeezed between some locals at a long table. Oddly enough, the lady sitting right next to us lived in Appleton, Wisconsin for 5 years! She loved to hear we were from Marquette. Then we met another girl from Canada traveling on her own for 5 months, and then a bunch of german boys here for a big soccer game! We ordered some classic steins and had an amazing beer- Its a mix of lemonade, sprite, and beer. Yummy! After dinner, Sara found herself in a game of Poker with a bunch of local men. She proudly beat them after the first round. YES!!!

We woke up extra early the next day to get ready for our long bus ride home. On the way home though, we took a detour to see the original Disney castle. It is the castle that the one in Disney World is modeled after! To get to the castle we had to take a long walk up an icy path. We had to walk up an even scarier route to get to a bridge that has the absolute best view of the castle. We knew it was going to be a tough walk because we had to sneak around a sign saying "CAUTION: no trespassing." Rules are meant to be broken, right? I wish someone could have videotaped that walk. It would consist of a lot of falls and grabbing onto the railings for our lives! The walk was well worth it though. Just look at the next pictures and you have to agree...