Last Night in Maastricht

We, as always, do not know what we are going to do with travel to Amsterdam. We'll decide at the last minute. We arrive in Minneapolis around 4 and then Sioux Falls at 759.

This has been 4 of the most exciting and interesting months of my life. I have learned and seen a ton and have no regrets. I'm just glad I have pictures and a travel journal to supplement my memory - because I'm pretty sure I've set it up for failure in some cases!

Amsterdam

Thursday afternoon, Justin, Jim (Chicago), Grace (Chicago), Albert(Missouri), Jen (Missouri), and I left for Amsterdam. There was a wreck ahead of us (train derailment) and it took over four and a half hours to complete what is normally a two and a half hour journey. Luckily, we had cards and hence Spades to pass the time. We met Adam (Poland), Chris (STL), and Pat at our hostel.

Thursday night we went into a couple different bar districts and did some bar hopping. We ate at a cheap Italian restaurant. We frequented a number of 'unique' establishments that night. Beers were pretty expensive in the Dutch capitol: 4 euro for a half liter of Heinekin. In Maastricht, it is 3 at most.

Friday we did all of the tourist stuff: Reijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, walked around the Red Light District (again), Erotic Museum, Dam Square ... that night we ate at an Irish pub and watched the World Cup drawing. The United States got a pretty tough draw: Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. The Czechs are ranked 3rd in the world and the Italians are top 10.

Later on, about half of the people were sick (and broke) and ended up going back to the hostel. 5 of us went back to the district for some late night fun.

Sunday was kind of a zoo as well. We checked out at 10 and walked to the Anne Frank House - which had a two block line outside. Then, we jumped on a train to Schipol airport so that J-Dubra and I could change our plane tickets ... we waited in line an hour and a half before giving up. Then, we went to Utrecht to see a castle that Pat's Grandmother's family has a claim to, but there was a special event going on and it was too foggy to see even from a kilometer away. And of course, the wreck from Thursday wasn't cleared up yet. We ended up having to take a bus from Denborsch to Eindhoven. From Utrecht, which is normally two hours, it took a solid 3 and a half. Needless to say, not having to deal with public transit will be a definite bonus upon my return to the states.

Munchen

The Lion is the symbol of Munich ... painted Lions were everywhere

We left for Munich on Friday morning at 9 and arrived around 18:00 that evening. The train from Cologne to Munich was completely full, so we had to stand/lean against a wall for the duration of the five hour ride. This was the first time we've been burned not reserving a seat (at a cost of 8 euro per).

We went on a walking tour of Munich Saturday morning. It was raining/sleeting/snowing and cold... precipitation does not mix well with digital cameras.

The tour started at the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in Marienplatz ... which is the most famous glockenspiel in the world. I know it may seem like a difficult title to live up to, but the world's most famous glockenspiel was actually pretty lame. It sounded more like a drunk German clanging bells than any sort of written melody. To add to the excitement, little wooden figures spun around representing the end of the plague and a German jousting victory. Still, the glockenspiel itself and the buildings attached to it were impressive.

Marienplatz


The Glockenspiel

Then, we went to the Viktuelenmart ... a famous market ... briefly saw the Royal Residence and the National Theater ...


This is the home church of Pope Benedict XVI (formerly Carl Ratzinger) ...

and finally we stopped by the Hofbrahaus ...

It was packed. We walked through, got some brief history about how Adolf held some meetings in the conference room upstairs in the 1920s, and then left the group for Dachau (seperate post).

Saturday night we went out for some traditional German food and drink at the Augustiner Brewhouse. From the local Muncheners we talked to, Augustiner Pilsner and Augustiner Wheat beer are the best beers in Munich. Other than the one liter steins of beer, the atmosphere was the most impressive. As opposed to the Hofbrahaus's German band, the noise in the Augustiner Brewhouse was almost entirely that of its patrons. The food was pretty good as well.

Justin, Pat, Manda from Canada, Daniel from Australia, and yours truly at the Augustiner.

Sunday morning something really strange happened. As we were getting ready to leave, Pat recognized someone staying in our room: Kevin Gruenwald. What are the chances that three guys from the greater Pierre area would stay not only in the same hostel as a different Pierre traveler, but also in the same room? Justin and I didn't know Kevin personally before the trip ... Pat had known him from wrestling. A town of 15,000 people several thousand miles away from Munich and we run into each other ... weird.

After we left the hostel we decided that it wouldn't be a trip to Munich without a liter at the Hofrbrahaus. Putting the hair of the dog to use, the three of us enjoyed a beer around 11 before our 12 o'clock train.

Enjoying a Sunday morning liter at the Hofbrahaus

The trip home was too eventful for our liking ... if you want a slightly different version, go read Pat's entry. Otherwise, it is sufficient to say that Pat had stopped to get beers and a brat and we told him we'd meet him on the train ... Justin and I got separated from Pat because we got on a train going to Cologne - our final destination - instead of a train to Manheim - our midpoint between Cologne (so we got on the wrong train). Unfortunately for Pat, I had all three rail passes in my bag. He bought a train ticket to Cologne, got it refunded minus the tax, and everything was hunky-dory.

For our final weekend we are heading to Amsterdam ... what better place is there to end a Eurotrip than the international city of sex and drugs?

Dachau

Dachau was the first and is one the most famous Nazi concentration camps. Over 200,000 people resided in Dachau over the course of its 12 years in operation with over 30,000 executions. This number does not include the several thousands of people that died from the conditions. It was cold, wet and dreary ... hard to believe, huh? Walking through the crematoriums and the never-used gas chambers (for some unknown reason) was a strange experience. Behind the crematorium stand memorials, mass ashen graves, and former execution rows. A little under two hours was more than enough for us.

Initial crematorium with our rock on the rail.


The restored Dachau 'headquarters'. Inside you will find exhibits, a museum, and a theater that shows an extremely graphic film on the horrors of Dachau.


These the cremators are in the the 'new' crematorium. The original crematorium could not keep up with Dachau's death rate. This crematorium is a much larger version of the first.