June 28-July 2: Munich and Nuremburg, Germany

Our arrival in Munich was a little less welcoming than we had expected. Our overnight train from Amsterdam and arrived in Munich around 7am. Sleepy and groggy, we got off the train and were met by two plainclothes policemen who showed us their badges and asked to see our passports. They asked where we came from and if we had any drugs with us. We said of course not, and he asked us if we were sure. We affirmed that we did not have any drugs, and then he asked us if we smoked cigarettes. We said no again, and he gave us our passports back. We knew that Bavaria, the region of Germany where Munich is, has a very strict zero-tolerance policy towards any drugs, so this did not seem out of the ordinary. We continued on to the end of the platform and were met by another plainclothes policeman. He asked to see our passports. I said that the other guy had already checked them, but we gave him the passports anyway. He asked us the same questions, and Jeff and I began to chuckle slightly; the whole situation was ridiculous and nerve wracking, and of course we didn’t have any drugs with us. The German polizei are very intimidating. The policeman asked told Jeff that he looked nervous and was he sure that he didn’t bring drugs? He kept up with this and said that he would need to search his bags. He checked through various pockets on Jeff’s clothes and backpacks, and said that we had so much stuff that they would need to have us go into their office and they’ll check our bags there. We were obviously irritated, seeing as how it takes us about 30 minutes to carefully pack our bags each time, but we said ok. The policeman said that it would be easier if we just told him if we had anything, and that we could get in trouble for the tiniest amount. There was nothing we could do but keep telling him we had no drugs. He waited a moment and said, “I have relatives in California,” and then walked away. We assumed that meant we were off the hook, so we got out of there.

Other than that first disruption, our time in Munich was very relaxing as there aren’t many sights to see. It was very, very hot, so walking around wasn’t exactly high on our to-do list. Instead, we rented bicycles and biked around the Englischer Garten (the English Garden, one of the biggest urban parks in the world) and visited all of the major beer gardens and beer halls in the city. We saw two beer gardens within the Englischer Garten: one was around a Chinese tower and the other was lakeside. It was very cool. Then we set off for an “off the map” beer hall, but apparently looked a little lost as we were trying to find our way. An American guy on a bike asked us if we needed help and we pointed out where we wanted to go. Conveniently, he was going there too and told us to follow him. He was meeting his friends there for the Spain vs. Portugal game. The hall was PACKED. He was cool enough to let us have two of the seats that his friends had been saving.


Hofbrauhaus House!


Beer Hall for Spain vs Portugal Game


Englischer Garten with bikes


Delicious German meal


Glockenspiel Munich

From Munich, we took a train to Nuremburg, which is close to where my friend, Brianna, is living. She gave us a wonderful and informative tour of the city, and then her boyfriend, Jose, picked us up and took us back to the town she lives in, Spardoff. We had a great barbecue with her parents and brothers: brats, rolls, mustard, and beer. So German. It was very hot, so the next day we went to a water park. While it wasn’t exactly as the website made it seem, we still had an amazing time tubing down the slides and sunning. Later, we went to a typical Frankonian restaurant (Frankonia is the specific region within Bavaria where Brianna lives) with a beautiful view of the countryside. It had recently become mushroom season, so Brianna and I ordered the delicious cream of mushroom soup…super yummy. Sadly, the next day we left Brianna and took a bus out to Prague.


Lucky Ring in Nuremburg


Nuremburg