A LITER of BEER???

I got your attention.

Now that I am in Münich, or München as they say here, Things are a bit different. I arrived in the evening of the 15th, and stayed the night in a hostel. I had a chance to do laundry and relax and meet other students touring, and then in the morning, I was to meet my dad at 2:00ish at the hotel, so I had to kill time until then. So, I wandered the streets and found myself shopping. I love the stores here. I was so excited to get to finally shop in them since I wouldn't have to carry anything aroung, but instead put it in the suitcase and send it home with my dad when he left haha. Well, we met up in the afternoon, and after resting for a bit, we were ready to hit the town. We spent the afternoon getting some food (and beer), and then walking around town. There is a river in town that is diverted to create this random huge wave in the middle of the city, and surfers have a blast on the wave. We watched the surfers for a while, and went on walking. At 5:00, we were in the Marienplatz square to see the Rathaus (government building), and saw the clock chime 5:00, where the small figurines circled the clock and put on a bit of a show for the tourists. The next day, Friday, was our day to spend in the city. We instead spent ALL DAY at the Deutches Museum, which is an enormous museum with over 50 exhibits, including a special exhibit on Einstein since it is the 100th anniversary of his famous E=mc^2 discovery. We made it to about 10 of the 50 exhibit sections, and we were there pretty much from when the doors opened until they closed. One of the coolest exhibits was that on model trains, and they had this gigantic model train layout. There were about 15 trains going at the same time around the model, each representing what one might see on the regular tracks at various times in history. Everything from Steam engines, passenger trains, transport trains, hi speed trains, Diesels, electric, etc etc. It was really cool. Besides that, they had a video camera attached to a few trains and it was projected onto a video screen, so you could "ride" the train, and really see the intricacies of the model. It really looked lifelike as the train was stopping at platforms and picking up passengers, and blowing its whistle. So cool.

At night, we went to the synagogue here, and everyone was really nice and welcoming. We'd come earlier and paid for dinner, and really enjoyed it, especially since there was some sort of Jewish History convention in town, and so there were quite a lot of foreigners besides us. There were a lot of college age students too, and they were singing zmirot (jewish songs) all evening. It was touching to see such a strong sense of Jewish pride in a community that was not only disassembled, but endured horrific atrocities. Amazing. One of the women we met teaches Jewish history at the public schools here, and it is actually a requirement here not only to study Jewish history, but also to visit a concentration camp. It is nice to see that the country has taken responsibility for its history.

Dad has been having a blast practicing his German with anyone who will talk to him. He's a riot.

Today we went to pick up our rent-a-car and then drove out to Dachau. We took a tour of the commemerative memorial and reconstructed Nazi "work" camp. It is really eerie being there, and walking through it. We spent about 3 hours there.

After going, we went back to the city of Dachau, and had lunch in a park, and then headed back to town, and went to the AugustinerKeller Biergarten. "Beer Gardens" are literally what they sound like. Restaurants that serve more beer than any fraternity boy would know what to do with. We each ordered a liter. yes, a LITER of beer, and a pretzel. Now, you're probably wondering...Bela doesn't much care for beer, why would she order a whole liter of beer? well, that was the smallest one they offered. I could get a half liter, but it would've been filled with apple juice (used for the kids). It was pretty cool having a beer bigger than my head. The tables were big, so a while after we got there, some people from Germany and Switzerland joined us, and the guy asked my dad "does your wife speak German?" referring to me. Now, I am not sure if he said that because I look like I'm old enough to be married to a 60 year old, or if my dad looks young enough to be married to a 22 year old, or if they just thought he was dirty. Or, if that is just how they do things here in GERMANY...

Tonight, we went back to the Synagogue for the evening service and third meal, and before the service, we sat in on a Shiur, or a lesson, on Judaism given by the cantor. It was a nice class, and it was in English, which I was happy about, but I'm sure dad would've liked to have struggled through the other class.

Tomorrow we're going to the Pinakothek museums, and then leaving town en route to Salzburg.

Until then, I'll think of you while drinking a liter of beer...
Bela