Germany: Day 1

So the last 3 days in Europe (Spetember 3,4,5) can be explained in just a few words: beer, money, Tom, and Nutella. So we flew into Memmingham on September 3rd and by the time we got into Munich it was 12:15 or so. Now the flight was fairly forgettable but it is worth noting that it was only $16 and nomatter how you look at that, it rocks. We had to take a bus into Munich from Memmingham and I slept for the whole bus ride, but I hear it was very nice.

When we got to Munich we went to check in at our hostel, and we were ambushed by two men who have the ability to change the course of a trip, Tom and Brian. They are both in the Rome study abroad program and they were traveling via Euro rail across the continent. Now they are both very experienced in the Munich lifestyle (without ever visiting) Tom puts down liters like they are filled with kool-aid. His drinking habits besides the point, I need to get into all the things we did that made this city great.

First things first, I told everyone there was one stop I wanted to do, and that was the Munich Olympic Stadium, site of the 1972 Olympics and is famous for the terrorist attacks against the Israeli Olympic team. This stop was actually quite pathetic. Like going to a WNBA game it seemed like it could have been a fantastic stop full of athletic grandeur, but in reality was a failed attempt. All the buildings were decrepit and under construction. Plus, it was 5 bucks to get into any of the Olympic buildings and the buildings were all built in the 70s, which is quite possibly the worst era in architectural history. The historical significance may have made up for not getting to really see anything, but I am still bitter. The only highlight of the stop in the Olympic plaza was destroying ants and getting on the train to leave.

Next we got to do what Tom wanted, which means a beeline to the Hofbrau Haus, one of the worst tourist traps in all of Germany. This is where I learned something about German culture, if you are a human being and obviously old enough to tie your shoes, you drink. I don't know if I really asked for beer in any of the pubs we went to, overpriced liters just sort of appeared in front of me. So it was at the Hofbrau Haus I had my first German brew. You would have to ask the other four about how good it was, but it seemed like it was tasty, I managed to convince the waiter to give me a half liter, so maybe I wasn’t being a real German, but a half liter is still an imposing beer.

We went on a pub-crawl that night, I chose not to pay 17 Euro for the tour and instead told a sad tale of heart attacks and such so I could go along. We ended up at a small bar on the far side of town, its name is now lost to all of us. They sold some great stew and the conversation with the South African barkeep kept everyone entertained. The rest of that night will be left out due to a significant amount of tomfoolery. To make a long story short, I ended up watching after some of my compadres and witnessed the greatest southpaw boxer in history, a true young Muhammad Ali, take on Tom for the heavyweight championship of Wombats hostel.