Munich and Neuschwanstein

Herbie and I arrived in Munich and quickly found out hostel, being that is was near the train station. We checked in and found out the hostel's policy was there was only one key and if you were in the room you had to open the door for others, but if you were the last one out, you had the leave the key downstairs... weird and slightly inconvienent for everyone. We learned that there was a beer like tour starting soon and it included a dinner so we hustled over there and made it on time. We went to a museum at first and learned alittle bit about the history of Bavarian beer making and how important it is to the culture there. At the tour we were given pretzels and 3 different samples of beer. Afterwards, we were taken to a restaurant and had a schmorgesbord of bavarian food including weiss sausage. We had to buy our own drinks so Herbie and I got a liter of beer! We sat with some Brits who were here for a bachelor's party. After dinner we were taken to the Hofbrauhaus which is the famous beer hall there in Munich. Herbie and I somehow found a seat and the other Americans on our tour found us and we all sat and drank together liter beers. I met some people from Cincinnati and they all seemed excited that I lived in Columbus. After downing the liter beers, we headed to an Irish bar and had only 1/2 liters and talked a while. I ran into an awkward situation involving a french guy and him wanting "to go for an hour with him" so after that went down we quickly headed out. We parted ways and exchanged email addresses and that and made our way to our respected dwellings. Adding up the total amount of beer consumed that night, it came out to be almost a gallon.

Today Herbie and I met up with his German contact. Peter drove from where he lived (about 45 mins from Munich) with his girlfriend Anna. We traveled through the Bavarian countryside while making our way to the infamous Neuschwanstein Schloss, the castle Disney uses in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. It was pouring rain with a mix of snow earlier so we were nervous that we might be rained out from going but it all cleared up by the time we got there. We saw Mad King Ludwig's castle and got some spectacular shots. After taking a short tour of the castle, we had some traditional Bavarian food. Anna paid for the meal and Herbie and I were eternally grateful. They took us back to the hostel and we said our goodbyes and invited them to come out to DC sometime.

Tomorrow we head back to Berlin and take up classes again Monday. It has been a great trip. We went to alot of great places and met alot of interesting people.

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