Back in the States

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Hi Everyone,

We lost internet connection after crossing into Germany a few days ago, so here's the quick summary of the end of our adventure. The train ride into Munich was really interesting. The scenary and amount of snow changed dramatically in about 30 minutes, and before we knew it we were in flat farm country. Once in Munich we found a restaurant in a park were I had one of my favourite soups... liver dumpling. When I asked the waitress what the soups were she prefaced it with... 'it sounds really gross, but...'. I told her I'd take a BIG bowl!

We then walked up to our B&B, which was in a really neat part of the town (Ludwig-Maximillian University area), pretty close to the Altstadt. I was pretty impressed with the architecture - very Roman. Unfortunately we both had a bit of a stomach bug that dampened our explorations in the afternoon. We recovered in time for dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, a rambunctious beer hall, where we had local cuisine (pork knuckle, sausages and beer). The beer they only serve in 1L glasses. I think the beer stunned the stomach bug for the night, but it came back with a vengence the next day!

After a mandatory stop at the grocery store to pick up water, we spent our last day in Munich doing more exploring. We found a FANTASTIC tour guide (Levi) from Wisconsin who made up for the guide we hired in St. Anton. He really made the history of the city come to life and made me want to learn more. We spent the afternoon following up on a couple of his suggestions; climbing one of the clock towers for a 360 deg view of the city, going into one of his favourite churches, drinking heiss met (hot mead) in the market and exploring the 3rd floor of the Hofbrauhaus. We had our last dinner in an old beer hall (the stomach bug had subsided again), Schneider Weisse known for it's white beer. As an interesting fact, after the purity law was introduced in 1608, only the royal family could brew white beer (made from wheat instead of barley).

Anyways, we're back in Boston know. We're both sad the trip is over, but we're amazed at everything we saw and did in the last 3 weeks (and what we didn't get a chance to do). We'll have to go back sometime soon - maybe in spring or fall to do some hut hiking, climbing and city exploring.

That's all for know, thanks for your comments and emails!

Steph

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Photos

Beer Celebration
Every 7 years the coopers (and everyone else in Munich) celebrates beer. Originated after the last plague swept through Munich around 1500 and wiped out 1/3 of the city's inhabitants. After it had passed through most people were afraid to leave their houses. The coopers started a celebration (end of the plague) that showed people it was ok to come out.