Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Munich

Bonjour!
Bonne Année!

I hope your new year as been blessed so far! Mine certainly has.

Here's what happened on the rest of our Christmas break trip:

Wednesday we arrived in Munich after visiting Dachau. I was emotionally and physically exhausted from the day, so I camped out on my bed for a few hours after we got to the hotel.

For New Years Eve, we ordered a few pizzas and watched movies in our hotel room. There were fireworks at midnight and from our window (5th floor) we could see them all. It was so loud, but fun to watch. It was kind of a boring NYE, but Germany had Dr. Pepper, so I was entirely happy where I was.

Munich on New Years Day was pretty desolate. All of the things we wanted to do were closed that day, so we stayed at the hotel and watched 2 seasons of Big Bang Theory. I finished the book I was reading, and overall it was just a very relaxing day.

The next day we got out of bed and headed out to see the city. First on our list was Frauenkirche. I think that's basically the same thing as a Notre Dame; it means "Our Lady." This church was beautiful. Actually, every church we visited in Germany was beautiful. They are much more simple than French churches, but still very ornate. There are small details that make it beautiful instead of grand scale beauties.



In this church there is an interesting legend. It's called The Devil's Footprint. So, legend has it that when this church was being built, the Devil was flying by and saw the church. He was curious so he stopped inside to see what it was about. He was standing in the very back of the church. He liked what he saw because it was very dark inside. There were no windows and it was a dreary place. The architect came over to speak with the Devil. The Devil offered to help the architect complete the church within 20 years if he promised to not add any more windows to the building. The architect happily agreed. The Devil then sent his minions to help build the church and it was completed in 20 years like he had promised. He then came back to the church to see this dark and gloomy place again. This time, he entered through a side door instead of the front door like he had last time. He was surprised to see many soaring windows and the place was full of light. The Devil found the architect and was very angry with him because he had gone against the deal. The architect took the Devil back to the front door and stood him in the very place they had made the original deal. He pointed and said, "See those windows were already in place, but you couldn't see them from here. I didn't add any more windows." The Devil was extremely angry; he stomped his foot so hard that it left a print in the marble; which is still visible today. 


From the church we went to the Munich Residence which is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs. It was very beautiful. The tour took us through many grand halls and through all the many bedrooms and chambers of the King and Queen. The tour also included a walk through of the Treasury and a theater.

Once we finished, food was next on our agenda. We walked the streets of Munich and could not find a place to eat. We had never had this problem before! Usually in a big city, especially in the tourist part, we can walk down any street and find restaurant after restaurant waiting for us. Not here!

After walking quite a while, we did find a little restaurant. It was warm and had good food, so we were all happy. At this point, it was raining pretty heavily and we were all soaked and cold and ready to go back to the hotel, so we went there and spent the rest of the evening on Netflix.

The next day, we got up again and went out into the cold to see the city. This time we went to the Judisches Museum. It was all about the history of Jews in Munich. I found it quite interesting. In most Jew museums,  the exhibits focus mainly on the Jews in WWII because that is when most people know they were persecuted. Instead of that, this one had an exhibit on the general history of Jews in Munich with a display on the practices of Judaism, then it had two floors dedicated to Jews in WWI. Many Jews were loyal Germans and fought bravely for their country. Even then, antisemitism was on the rise. Jews in the German military were treated differently and hated, but it wasn't until WWII that they were publicly hated.

I had no idea of any of that, but I intend on doing a whole lot more research into it. I keep finding that there is so little I really know about anything here.

We grabbed a quick lunch then continued on through the Munich streets. It began raining again and after a while, Joe and Lizette decided to go back to the hotel. I was enjoying myself so I decided to stay on the streets and continue shopping. I grabbed a coffee and went my merry way. I was entirely happy that day. I enjoyed the rain in my solitude and just walked and thought about everything. I didn't buy anything but a deck of cards for the other two, but I had a good time by myself.



Eventually I had to return to the hotel (mostly because I didn't want to be in a strange city, alone, after dark). We went to bed late and got up early the next morning.

Our train left at 6:30am. Our train that day was 6 hours to Munich. That sounds awful (I was dreading it) but it passed very quickly for me. I had a good playlist on my iPhone and I slept through most of it. The first hour or so, though was tough. There was a screaming, crying child in our car and the mom could not get him happy. (I understand now why we don't see a lot of Europeans with children. I don't blame them.)

Once in Paris, we had a short layover, then we hopped on the train for the 2 hour ride home. It felt so good to be back in Poitiers. We had been gone for way far long.

I was in a rush when we left nearly two weeks ago, so I didn't get to clean my room like I normally do before we go on a trip. I got back and it was a horrible mess. It left me feeling slightly off-kilter all that day and the next day. (I cleaned it that day, but I had some a extra stuff that a friend had left me and I couldn't quite figure out how to organize it.)

Since we were going to be gone for so long, I cleaned out my fridge, so when I got back I had very little to eat. Plus, it was a Sunday so everything was closed. I had to eat spaghetti for dinner and it was absolutely not what I wanted that night. (But that's nothing to complain about, so I'll stop now.)

Can you guess what Monday and Tuesday were spent doing? Anyone? (Bueller...Bueller?) Yep, laundry and shopping. It's a never ending vortex of responsibility adulthood is.

Now I'm just preparing for our next trip. We'll be gone for only four days this time, so that's a relief. Then, the day after we return is our first day of class. The end of January will be busy!! I'm simultaneously looking forward to it and dreading it. I have awesome things planned for the end of January, but I don't want to go to classes. (The excitement overrules the dread on this though, seriously, I'm ecstatic for January 24-28!!!)

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading!

Je t'embrasse,
Sarah


PS. While I was home, I uploaded the rest of pictures from Paris, Germany, and Dachau. There are also links to those pictures at the bottom of their respective posts.

And here are the Munich pictures!

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