Spring Break: Day 1 and 2

Spring Break: Day 1 and 2
Munich (Munchen), Germany

            Friday the 23rd, Tym showed up at my door and I headed off to class. After 6 long hours in the same classroom, we officially started spring break by heading over to the Luxembourg Gardens with all of the girls from my class. We just sat in the sunshine and watched all of the French people play guitars, dance and play with sailboats in the central fountain. After getting all packed up we headed towards the Gare de l' Est train station for our night train to Munich, Germany. We made it to the train and found our seats just fine. We thought we were going to have the whole six seats to ourselves so we could each have a row of three to sleep on but of course two other people showed up. Turns out, the compartment next to us was open so we moved over there. Traveling by train is 20x better than by bus. There is so much more leg room, it is way easier to get to the bathroom and you don't have to climb over people to get there and you can move around in your compartment. We joked that we were in a Harry Potter movie because it looked just like we were on the Hogwarts Express, rather exciting :) After talking to my parents in the home, we both took our blankets that we brought along and hunkered down to sleep for the night. We arrived in Munich at the main station no problem and headed to find our hostel. After a 15 minute walk we found it and were able to freshen up a bit before heading back to the train station to catch our tour for the day. Neither one of us had had breakfast and we could not find anywhere selling breakfast. The only place that even sounded appetizing for breakfast was Burger King and we ended up having hamburgers at 9:45 am.

Tym in front of the train schedule monitor! Just about to board our train to Munich!

Bundled up on the train :) 

          After "breakfast" we found our tour for the day. We were heading to the Neushwanstien Castle in southern Germany, only a few miles from Austria. The part of Germany we were in is also known as Bavaria or the Black Forest Region. Definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and it was so neat to be able to go back! Our tour guides name was Mien, pronounced Me-on, and he was a nice and strange little man. There were only 5 others on the tour besides us  and one lady was from North Carolina so she stayed with us for most of the time. We jumped on our train and Mien started telling us all about the history of the area. This went off and on until we ended up at Hoeschwangau, the little town home to the two famous castles. We booked our tickets and headed up the mountain.

Our tour guide, Mien :) He was an interesting character... but he was a good tour guide!

Views from the train we took to get to the castles! 

A view from the mountains!

A view from Mary's Bridge

As you can see, it was raining and rather chilly but still beautiful!

A look down from the mountain at Howenschwangau, the castle that King Louie's parents lived in. 

Looking out the third floor of the castle at the bridge that the pictures above^ are taken at!

          After we went on the tour, where we were not allowed to take pictures, we traveled the mile back down the mountain to head into Howenschwangau to look at the little shops. Since it was just before "tourist season" the town was relatively dead but it was fun to walk around and see the German architecture and the beautiful mountains. 

One of the three pickups I've seen while here, we took a picture for dad :) 

Howenschwangau, the town. 

Traditional German dress. 

Tym in time out :) 

My knight in rusted armor!

Nuff' said. 

Coo-Coo clocks! 

At the Glockenspiel! 

Tym's beer and my Karmaschmarf....? It is like a thick sugary pancake that you dip in applesauce, delicious!!

At a beer garden!

Walking down the streets in Munich. 

Munich metro map! 

          Sunday afternoon we took an afternoon trip to Dachau, a concentration camp during World War II. We took the metro there and we unsure how to feel about going. Thankfully it was a sunny day but even so that gave it an erie atmosphere. Walking into the camp there is a big wall surrounding it and there are town houses surrounding all the way around. We were having trouble grasping the idea of living in a house with a concentration camp in your backyard. Besides that, walking around the camp was extremely sad and difficult but it was something that we needed to do being that close. It was not like a fun or exciting thing to do but being that close and possibly never having a chance to see it again, we knew it something we needed to do. 

The entrance all of the prisoners were taken through. 

Office building of Nazi officers. 

Door to gas chamber. 

Ovens next to gas chamber. 

The same Glockenspiel that Tym and I have pictures of before but this time covered in a Nazi flag when Hitler had just come into power. 

          Hopefully new blog posts will be up more often now that spring break is over and I am back in Paris for classes! Watch for more posts about my spring break trip! Love you!