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Published: June 19th 2009
Sorry for the hiatus. As most of you know, I'm back in the States. Six months to be exact - and quite frankly, I wish I was still wandering aimlessly overseas. I've been busy settling back in the US now living in Seattle. BUT my heart is still in Europe. The good thing is I still have Italy, Spain, & Portugal to cover and more stories not to be left untold...Its good to be back in blog mode.
Anyway..so after Austria, I headed to Bavaria, the southeast State of Germany to the town of Munich - home of Ocktoberfest. No couchsurfing again for me this time. Wombat's Hostel would be my shelter the next few days thanks to an old friends recommendation as "the" place to stay.
Wombats did live up to my friends praise. Plenty of activities organized by the front-desk, an exceptionally friendly & knowledgeable staff, a hip lounge decorated with fat boy bean bags to chill out on, vibrant colored walls of pink and green, free wi-fi, and most importantly - a BAR. 😊. My room wasn't half bad either. The minute I stuck my foot in the door I thought I was at IKEA. A
Dachau now...
Where the barracks once stood...3-bunk room with a private bathroom to share and big lockers to secure valuables. Very clean and plenty of floor space to move around for 6 chicks. I became acquainted with a few of my roomies - Olivia from San Diego (small world) & Mai from Japan, both whom were also traveling solo. That was comforting.
At this point I was reenergized from my decompression in Salzburg and was in the mood to socialize. I had a "free drink" coupon given to me at check-in to make good use of at the bar downstairs. Olivia passed on the idea and I almost didn't bother to ask Mai who looked comfortable under the covers with her nose in a book, but before I could even turn around to ask if she was interested, she propped herself upright with an eager look on her face that screamed "Happy Hour." My kind of company.
Mai and I shared a few beers at the bar enjoying the company of Tom, part of the Wombat staff, off-duty of course & unwinding from a long-shift. Tom offered awesome recommendations of things to see and do during our stay. We didn't stay too long as
the crowd grew bigger, the music got louder, and the place appeared more like a meat-market than a bar lounge.
With only one full day in Munich I decided to venture just beyond its borders to the town of Dachau to visit the first-ever Nazi concentration camp built there that subsequently served as a model for all other concentration camps during WW II. I ended up spending a good four hours here completely taken back by where I was. Being there was like turning the page in a WW II history book having just visited the Anne Frank House back in Amsterdam a few weeks before. But it wasn't a history lesson out of a book. I was actually there - standing upon a place that once bore horrible inhumanity. The pictures and videos should tell it all....
Back at Munich, my visit was not complete without indulging in Bavarian beer. Thanks to the recommendation of Tom, I set my sights for the Hofbrauhaus, Munich's famous beer hall. I recruited the company of Su Joeng (Su-yung) my new roomie from Korea and another solo Europen traverler. A cute petite thing she was who hardly spoke English and relied
on her mobile translator to carry on most of our conversation. But regardless, we managed just fine.
We arrived at the the Hofbrauhaus to the loud banter of the crowd - a combination of tourists and Bayern fans, Munich's football team, celebrating victory over a rival German team dressed proudly in their red & white jerseys & scarves around their necks. We of course took care of business ordering beers first. I was starving -- and excited to order dinner but to my luck, the entire menu was in German. No English translation underneath each entree, my German phrasebook was left back at the hostel, and our waiter wasn't much help either. Su-Joeng and I both had the "Oh crap." look on our faces. Luckily Su-Joeng overheard our neighbors sitting across the way speaking Korean who were already half way done with their dinner. She went over to ask for their recommendations and the end result was telling our waiter "we'll take what they're having" - sausage for Su-Joeng & a huge turkey drum stick for me. Or at least that's what I thought it was?! Oh well. Fortunately it turned out to be a good dinner in good
company nonetheless.
For more Munich Pictures ---> Click Here
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fannie Daly
non-member comment
So Proud
Dear Lynn, I'm so proud of you going solo on this wonderful trip through so many countries! Your blogs have been fantastic and I have throughly enjoyed each one. Hope that you are enjoying Seattle. You are still sorely missed at the LB Convention Center. Thanks for including us in your adventures. Love, Fannie Daly