Munich Part 2/Austria/Prague Part 1

So...Dachau. One of the spookiest places I've ever been to in my life. As we explored around, we all got audioguides to listen to while we walked around. At one point, I was standing on some grass, and the guide got to the point in the recording where it said, "and any prisoner that stood on the grass would immediately be shot." I got really spooked, and ran off the grass. It was really weird.

The thing that really had an effect on me was the crematorium, with the showers. I went in the exit accidentally, and saw the ovens first, then the showers, then the disrobing room. Because mass murders were never conducted at Dachau, I didn't expect for them to have a shower room, but they did... when I was in there, I immediately wanted to get out. Huge experience to be there, in such an unnatural, evil place.

When we got back to Munich, we decided to go back to the cheap sushi place, and then go to some beer halls. We ended up at the Hofbrauhaus again, but this time, on a SATURDAY NIGHT! You know what that means in Bavaria? Bavarian dancers and a band onstage! Quite different than flamenco, but still really fun. So we enjoyed pretzels and liters of beer in the Hofbrauhaus, right next to the stage where Hitler performed one of his first speeches. Ridiculous how my life is turning out.

The next morning, I decided to take a day trip to Austria... you know, just for the hell of it. I got the early train to Salzburg, and explored around for a while. Not much to do in Salzburg, just a lot of museums. So... when in Austria, I did as the Austrians do... I went to a modern art museum, a toy museum, and a marionette museum. I also went up to the fortress and took some aerial shots of the city, but the line for the fortress was hella long... so I decided to go back to Munich to be back for happy hour (and my friend Amy's arrival in Munich proper!).

That night, we did another independent bar crawl... this time, it was Amy, Mike (from Michigan), Ashley, and I. We started out at a pub called Ned Kelly's... an Australian bar. We had a plan... appetizer at Ned Kelly's, real food later. Turns out, our "appetizer" was enough food for the night. What did we have? We shared a kangaroo steak and potato wedges... oh yeah, I ate kangaroo meat. It's actually really tender, and it was spiced very well. Delicious, though. I also managed to eat 7 giant ketchup packets (we're guessing that it was about 14 regular packets) with the wedges. Typical.

So, Auf Wiedersehen, Munich, and however you say hello in Czech to Prague! The train ride was long and kind of hot, but we made it to the Czech Republic in one piece. When we got to our hostel, we were immediately in search of food... and we found it, about a kilometer up the street from our hostel. Ashley and I had some cheap Czech food... it's actually ALL cheap... steak and bacon and salmon for about 7 American dollars! Plus... dollar beers here in the Czech Republic! It's mug night... all the time. It's the best. When we got back to the hostel, it started raining, so... no big bar tour this time (plus we're kind of in an area of town that MAAAAYYY be a little creepy at night).

In the morning, we took one of our favorite things... a free tour! We learned a lot about Prague, and the history of the buildings, etc. We're going on a tour of the Prague Castle with the same company this afternoon (sadly, not free...). After the tour, we crossed the river, and went up to the castle, and had some absinthe ice cream on the way down. It was BRIGHT green, and you couldn't really taste the absinthe, but it was still a funny thing to eat. As we made our way down, it looked like rain. Sarah, our Prague travel companion (there's always at least one), didn't believe us, so she went to explore more, as we searched for a Metro station. Right before the station, we ran into a DOWNPOUR. So, we took shelter at a local pub, and had a few Czech beers. The rain let up, and we found a traditional Czech restaurant where we had goulash, potato pancakes, a chicken, beef, and bacon kebab, and we also tried bread dumplings (not so good). BUT! We tried the local cuisine, so that's great. We took it easy again tonight, played a few games of rummy, and went to bed.

This morning, all bright and ready to face Prague, we're getting our lives together and doing work schedules and writing blog entries. I realized that I'm back home in 20 days... that's so soon! But for now, still living it up in Europe!