Munich, but mostly other places around Munich

Lords and Ladies,

Welcome back to my blog. Very exciting I know. Today I am going to tell you the fantastic tale of my time in Munich, which involved me not spending very much time in Munich at all. It is a tale of extreme contrasts, of woe and of wonder, of terror and triumph, of horror and heroes. It begins with a day trip to Dachau.

This was the woe, terror, and horror part I was talking about. It was exceedingly uncomfortable and altogether depressing, but it was an experience I believe every person should have to face once. Once. Not twice, nor thrice. I am definitely not going back. There were times when I wanted to curl up on the ground and cover my eyes and my ears. Mostly I just wanted a hug. A word (or several) of advice: DO NOT ATTEMPT ALONE.

One good thing came from that day, and her name was Chelsea. Chelsea is from England, and I met her on the Dachau tour. We were chatting on the bus ride home, and the talk turned to food that we missed from each other's countries. Eventually a bargain was struck: she would send me packages of hobnobs, jelly babies, and after eights if I would send her packages of nerds and other hard to find sweets from the states. I think this is going to be a wonderful and fulfilling relationship, don't you?

ACTUAL THING

The next day was considerably brighter, emotionally and atmospherically. I went on a guided tour to Neuschwanstein Castle, which turned out to be only about 2/3 as beautiful as the scenery surrounding it. The castle has a purposefully fairy-tale feel to it which is added to by the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of the man who dreamt it up, Bavaria's last king, Ludwig II. The government has never released the files concerning what really happened the night that Ludwig, a strong swimmer, supposedly drowned in waist-high water.

After the castle itself we walked out to this bridge, the one that I am standing on in the picture, to get this glorious view of the castle and its surroundings, before walking back through the gorge to the bottom of the hill, where we took the train back to Munich. I made another friend on this tour, and we went together to get currywurst for dinner. Not my favorite, but I felt compelled.  I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because right now I don't feel like going into my three-day adventure in Berlin. Enjoy!