The Best of the Wurst

Credit for that punny title goes to Amanda. ;)

Anyway! Eurotrip 2012 continues today, as our intrepid threesome left Lausanne on a Munich-bound train at yet another horrendously early hour. Munich was an entirely unknown quantity for me. Amanda had been adamant about adding it to the itinerary, and I didn't really know all that much about the city. What I did know is that I'd get to visit an Olympic stadium and a concentration camp, so I happily went along.

By this point in the trip, we'd been traveling for almost two weeks, and Munich was when I reached my mental burnout stage. I was exhausted, and kind of cranky, and sometimes it was a little bit of a struggle.

However, I absolutely adored Munich. Bavarian culture and food is just amazing, and the city itself is so authentic and beautiful, and the street musicians there are out of this world. (Amanda even bought a CD from one of the groups we saw repeatedly! They were amazing!) The Pinakothek museum was one of my favorite museum experiences ever -- we were seriously in there for hours -- and what can I even say about Hofbrauhaus that hasn't already been said? So. much. fun. We went back a second time, it was that great.

We visited the Munich 1972 Olympic Park and the Dachau concentration camp on the same day and, to be honest, this may've been my favorite day of the entire trip. I've always been fascinated by the Holocaust and World War II in general, and getting to walk around at a concentration camp was so incredibly powerful. As a Jew, there are no words for the experience of walking into the gas chamber and being alive to walk out the other side. Being able to see where all those horrors actually occurred was eye-opening and sobering and just quite the experience.

And THEN we went to Olympic park! I don't think I quite grasped how awesome this place was when I looked at photos online before we went, because as soon as all that architecture came into view... holy cow. I swooned. It was love at first sight. That stadium is GORGEOUS. The whole complex is gorgeous. You can pay a few Euros to get into the stadium, and the aquatic center is now a public pool, and let me tell you, Munich is a flawless example of Olympic legacy done right. I would apologize for the number of pictures I'm about to include from inside the stadium, but I discovered here that stadium photoshoots are basically what I live for. (And Jen decided to split off and go to the BMW museum instead of the stadium, which is why she's not included. She's a mechanical engineer, so we forgave her.)

Munich was our low point in terms of our "regular" photos. I didn't throw up the U, Amanda did not sweep me off my feet, and I jumped alone. You'd think I'd be sad, but...

...yeah, not so sad. I had Otl Aicher's beautiful pictograms to keep me company! ;)

Basically, Germany is the greatest. Next week I'll be chatting about Berlin, including another injury and another Olympic stadium, and our threesome becomes a... seven-some?

For my original post about Munich, see here!