Moritz Life

Jonathan and I are finally back on American soil, and it feels good to be back home, even though parts of us still want to be back in Europe exploring different cities.

Since I last sent in an update, we left Leipzig on a train heading towards Weimar. We took the opportunity in Weimar to see the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. For me, it was my third time there, and as the first two times had been it is a very somber event, as well as being very eye opening. After the camp, we headed out of Weimar on the train headed to Frankfurt where we walked to our hostel and spent the night. In the morning we walked back to the train station where we met up with Jesse who is friends with one of the guys who came along to Europe. He has been living near Dusseldorf the last couple of months, and it was great to have someone without perfect German to talk to in German and practice. From Frankfurt we caught the train to Rothenburg ob der Tauber where we spent a few hours walking through this picturesque medieval town. We had a classic Bavarian dinner here, and afterwards caught the train and headed towards Munich, our final destination.

We had been in Munich at the beginning of the trip, but only for about an hour. We arrived and checked into our hostel. We walked around a bit more throughout the central area of the city, and finally called it a night. The next day we bought a day-pass for the train system, and took the S-Bahn up to the Munich Olympic park, where we walked around a bit, as well as took in the BMW museum, which is a very good price. After this we went back to the hostel, and from there took the train down to a very large cemetery which we found on the map. We walked through the cemetery for about an hour and a half, as they can be very interesting to see, especially the really old ones. From here we went back to the hostel and met a group from Minnesota who has in the middle of a year-long study abroad program in Birmingham, England. We invited them to join us for dinner, and we all headed for the Paulaner Brewery Restaurant for dinner. After dinner we went back to the hostel and hung out for the rest of the evening, waiting until midnight to ring in Jonathan's 21st birthday. Next day we woke up and did some exploring around Munich, including the Hof Garten, the Rathaus (with a lifesize cuckoo clock), some shopping, and another cathedral (at which we caught the end of a German mass). That being Jonathan's birthday, we decided to have dinner at the Hofbrauhaus, which is one of the best experiences in Munich. It is the touristy beerhall with oompahpah bands playing, and big wooden tables, etc. We got a table with our new friends from Minnesota and ate some good German food (I had the Spaetzle). Before we left we did some polka dancing in front of the band, as well as heard a rendition of Happy Birthday polka style for Jonathan. We walked back to the hostel, and tried to get a good night's rest before we had to wake up at 5:00am the next day to leave and catch our flight.

We left the hostel, took the U-Bahn train to the airport, and left on our planes for home. Jonathan and I flew from Munich to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to San Francisco, getting to fly on a Boeing 747 on the long flight to the USA (Jonathan's first 747). Unfortunately no Business Class upgrade this time, but we survived.

One thing I really enjoyed about this trip as compared to my other trips is that I was forced (and sometimes I just did it for fun) to speak more German, and I feel my German really improved from this trip, and I have gotten the urge to practice and improve my German on my own now that I am back.

Stay tuned for a highlight of my photographs from the trip.