Blog #3

It was a little rough night's sleep due to the awkward time change from Cincinnati to Munich, but I managed. The hostel served a pretty hearty breakfast for €3,70 and lucky for us offered a 'free' tour of Munich. Technically its a Tour for Tips, meaning that instead of the norm of paying before actually receiving a tour, you go through the tour and then tip the guide according to how good the tour was [which really helps save a lot of money because they expect a little less than the average touristy prices]. Our tour guide, Ozzie, was fantastic; giving us ample amounts of history, fun facts, and money saving tips for Munich. In his words, he was us to 'feel' Munich and not just see it. You could really tell he had a passion for his German heritage and culture [P.S. did I mention he was black? He made sure to crack several jokes at his expense before anyone got to question if he was German or not]. During the walking tour, which was 3 and a half hours, he enlightened us on history, dates, wars, economic struggles, etc [all of which applied to Munich's rich past and flourishing present. I was very enticed when we stopped in front of a couple very old churches and he explained a little bit about each one and its construction and design. All throughout the tour I was snapping pictures like professional photographer, not caring how many extras I took. I was so enthralled in the information being dealt to me and my surroundings that I just couldn't help myself. I also took a few videos, mainly of the infamous Glockenspiel and its surrounding Gothic-style facade. Another great part about the tour was visiting the Hofbrauhaus and learning its history, mainly because Cincinnati is Munich's sister city and is home to one the only other Hofbrauhaus's locations, which we found out is because during the reconstruction of Munich after World War II Cincinnati was the only city willing to finance the re-building of St. Peter's Church there in the middle of town. After the tour we walked back through the city streets on our own, re-admiring some of the buildings. I grabbed another Steak sandwich from the same booth before heading back to the hostel, grabbing our backpacks and going to the train station to approach our next leg of traveling...Innsbruck, Austria.