Ever had a 1L mug of beer? If you have, chances are that you've been to Munich. The bravians are renowned for their beer and beer drinking habits, especially their Oktoberfest. So it wasn't much of a surprise when one of the first things I did upon arriving in Germany's third largest city was drink a beer. Mind you, that it was around 10am at the time!

 

Sebastian had to defend his thesis in Munich. So Juan Jose, Rasa and myself thought we would celebrate him finishing univeristy with a couple of litres . JJ and I arrived Monday morning to meet up with Seb and Rasa at one of Seb's friends' apartments. We ate white sausage with sweet mustard and pretzels washed down with some beer (traditionally eaten before 12) before heading out to see most of the sites of Munich. I'll upload pictures tomorrow instead of explaining where i went now.. but i will remove the 100+ pictures of Seb and Rasa kissing  Though really sweet, it was a bit toooo much for JJ and I.

 

We also went on two day trips. The first was to the fairytale Neuschwanstein castle, which was used by Disney for both the inspiration behind Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty castles. The castle was built by Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner, the King's inspiring muse. The castle is ok, its a bit too perfect looking and not that interesting on the inside. But otherwise it was fun playing "I spy with my little eye" on the train to pass the time and the walk up to the castle was a lot of fun plus the views of the countryside and the lake was really really picturesque.

 

The second day trip was to Salzburg, where Rasa and I got to meet up with our former flatmate Richard! He drove us around Salzburg and showed us the sights. Salzburg is the fourth largest city in Austria and is the birth place of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the musical and film The Sound of Music. JJ has never seen the movie, so the rest of us were kinda mean and forced him to watch it, despite him complaining about how cheesy the movie is and how he hates them singing so much. But it was quite good to recognise parts of the movie that was filmed in Salzburg. For me, it was the first time that I saw real mountains as it sits right next to the Alps. So it was great that Richard drove us up one of the nearby mountains. Which is a huge difference from flat Denmark. I really liked Salzburg, walking around the old part of town you could imagine the classical era with horse drawn carriages and people with top hats.

 

Basically, that was my trip to Munich, Neuschwanstein and Salzburg. I had an amazing time, not because of the beer, but because of the friends i was with and the beautiful countryside. But..... i do have to say, being in a beer garden with your friends isn't such a bad way to spend a lazy afternoon.

 

By the way... around August 19th or 21st i celebrated two years living it up in Denmark!!!