Gastehaus Zehmerhof Walpertskirchen

... in a mad hotel with a pool and sauna, so we spent about 2 hours in the recreation area. The best part was when Tow was in the sauna, Deutsch filled a bucket with cold shower water, opened the sauna door and tipped it all on Tow. It's so funny when Tow's the victim. Our night I wanted to do yet another Sandemans tour, the Munich Beer Challenge, where they take you to several beer halls and beer gardens incl. Hofbrauhaus, have beer races, and ...

... most delicious pastries!! (Matthew, you will have to learn how to make these and teach me!!) So the ride went smooth and we caught every train we needed to. But we wanted to make sure that we had a hostel to stay in. Unfortunately the Internet was down at our last place, and we could not look anything up. Luckily I ease dropped on these two girls with backpacks going to Munich. So when they got off the train we asked them where they are staying and we ...

... waiting for the beer to start being served (on opening day they dont start serving until noon). It seemed like it was taking forever and we were all very tired. I did my best to keep everyone cheery and got to know my neighbors including Tanya and Judith, who were from Munich and dressed in the very lovely traditional durndl dresses. Finally the opening parade marched through, the band started playing and beer was being served. The beer wenches were carrying eleven steins at a ...

... while the boys c*ught up. Ry*n told C*ry *ll *bout the fireworks show, bec*use th*t's where they met two ye*rs before. Then, of course, Mel*nie got hungry. So, we he*ded out to *n "ex-p*t" b*r th*t C*ry liked. (Ex-p*t st*nds for ex-p*triot, the n*me for *nyone who le*ves their country to live in Germ*ny.) The pub w*s * lot of fun. We h*d * couple beers, I h*d some delicious b*r food (chicken *nd fries,) *nd we enjoyed some interesting k*r*oke perform*nces. Th*t night w*s * lot of ...

Neuschwanstein is one of the famous castles in Germany. We used our cute little GPS system (dubbed Olga for her annoying old lady voice) to find it. We hiked a good 20 minutes uphill where I promptly lost my ticket in the bathroom (but found it right away!) and had quite a nice little tour. Then we peaced ...

... There is a crowded beer garden near the Chinese pavilion and I decide to join the happy throng. This is Alice's last day before returning to Melbourne, and she has saved it up to go shopping on the last afternoon, so off she goes and we will meet up again in the evening for dinner. I order a half litre of weissbier, a plate of fried potato, sausage and small pieces of pork, some bread and lightly pickled cabbage, and settle in to eat and people-watch. I can tell you this with no ...

... group for keeping us waiting. He does so, but in a self-righteous manner, saying, "I'm sorry, but it's what I felt I needed to do." Then, guess who he sits next to on the bus? You guessed it. I spend the ride back to Munich City Center hearing about his spiritual experience in the woods in which he sees "signs" in the most innocuous events. People will see things when they want to, I guess. Sitting at a café in Munich, it becomes ...

... version of Bye, Bye, Bye of course- it was cool) We drove around Munich for an hour looking at the sights. THen we went to an italian restaurant and got some lunch. We sat down eating lunch on Cori´s balcony when I received around 5 text messages from friends at home who were celebrating new years. Cori and I were so incredibly tired. I had a siesta and unfortunately Cori had to start work at 5. I was going to go out with one of her work friends for the ...

... upper trim of the building. Because some of the boys wanted to try the famous Munich beer, we stopped by athe Hofbäuhaus, which is famous for its annual Oktoberfest. Frau Muelsch then led us to the English Garden, which is a huge park that has also has a river good enough to swim in. The Chinesischer Turm is a famous part of the English Garden, and we stopped there for another drink. After that, we walked back to the U-Bahn station and finally to the hostel.

... We had all been there before so it wasn't a shock to any of us. It was extremely crowded and after wandering for a bit we found 3 open seats outside in the beergarden. The couple at the table were Americans from Arlington Heights, which is just outside Chicago. Once again its a small world. They were married, staying in Berlin for a few weeks and had made a one night trip to Munich. Friday was probably a little later of a night than we wanted, setting up ...