münchen

Monday morning I hustled to the Venice airport, and had a quick flight over to Munich. By the time I landed, got to the trains, trained to Munich, checked into my hostel and dropped my things it was already 3:45 on Monday afternoon. originally, I had planned to depart for home on Wednesday, but after chatting with mom and I dad I thought it best to find my way home sooner. luckily there was a cheap flight out of Munich to Paris, but it was an early one.

I set out for the town in Munich and the weather was perfect. sun was shining and there were loads of people shopping and roaming the streets. I only had a few places that I absolutely wanted to fit in, so I started with the market. it was so cute! had a bunch of shops selling mostly meats and cheeses, with a few restaurants sprinkled in here and there. I snagged a small brat with a little mustard.. so good. I am a brat fan on an average day but in the land of bratwurst it was even better. the market had little shops selling homemade items like decorations and pasta as well, with a huge beer garden in the middle of it hustling and bustling with people. I walked through some more main streets, stumbling upon what looked like important buildings (I know I've been saying this much too often lately..) and made my way to the hofbrauhaus, the top priority spot for me to visit. I sat outside in the beer garden, and the waiter came to ask for my order. I asked for a pretzel and an original beer, which he then asked if I wanted a big or small beer. I said, oh definitely big and he proceeded to smile and gave what looked like a nod of approval. thanks pal, glad we're on the same page. I sat there for a while, enjoyed my beer but holy cow it filled me up so quickly I don't know how people can take down more than 1-2 of them. it was exceptional beer though, which everyone says duh Jules it's Germany but forget not I have been living in the land of wine for the last 4 months, so a good beer is few and far between.

after I left the hofbrauhaus, I popped into a lederhosen shop recommended to me by Clare and her roommate. it was so cute and so fun, until you looked at the price tags. 60-100 euro for a dang dress, which may or may not include the undershirt and the apron. though I was feeling a little tipsy from the beer, I needed to be rational on spending that much on a dress that I could probably only wear for Halloween. let me tell you though, it was extremely tempting to pull the trigger. honestly the fact I had no room in my backpack won over the practicality of the dress, whoops. in the end, I decided I'd have to just come back for Oktoberfest and buy one then.

after the store, I roamed for a little while longer, popping into a gorgeous park (I think it was the royal garden or palace park.. I'm trying here guys) and it was so pretty with greens and flowers and monuments all around. you'd think I'd be used to it by now, but one never gets "used to" European PDA. it's intense as hell. everywhere I looked - so many couples. so many couple hangout spots. eurojules wasn't loving it

post-park I went back to the market beer garden, snagged another bratwurst this time with sauerkraut and another beer but much smaller than the first. when in (Rome) Germany right? i wandered some more, saw a few more parks and made my way back to the hostel for an early night, anticipating my early morning on Tuesday. don't worry, the room was a thousand degrees and my friend from China snored louder than a grizzly. needless to say, the sleeping part didn't really happen. joy

now back to angers! I feel like I've been gone for 2 weeks but it's only been 8 days. I'm ready to see the girls, but not ready to power through the massive load of homework and finals prep that awaits me. only a few more weeks as eurojules, 4.5 months down and .5 to go..

cheers, jkro