Oh, The Places You'll Go!

       Wroclaw was great. I'm glad I decided to make a stop there. The city was beautiful and I met some great people there. Wroclaw is somewhat known for its 240 dwarf statues that are hidden around the city, so I spend some time searching for those. I don't think I found more than 15.
       After Wroclaw I went to Prague. When I was in Athens I made friends with someone who lives in Prague, so I was able to stay with her during my visit. I spent a lot of time hanging out with her and her friends. On my first full day there I walked for about 5 hours around the city and saw all the sights. In the afternoon I had some drinks near the river with my Prague friends and later took in some of the nightlife. The next day we all got breakfast together and spent most of the day just hanging out in a park. The next day I walked up a hill and climbed a tall observation tower, went to a mirror maze, and spent some more time walking around the city. I also went to a couple breweries, including one that was an old monastic brewery and was in what felt like a cave. That night I went to a fancy cocktail bar to try out some real absinth. Then I wandered around trying to find some cheap food and got caught in a rain storm. I had walked a lot further than I thought and was completely soaked by the time I got back.
On Tuesday I caught a train to Berlin. I had a great time in Berlin and was especially excited to have some great German beer. On Wednesday I explored the city a bit. I visited the Berlin Wall memorial and museum, the natural history museum, Check Point Charlie, and the Berlin Wall art gallery, which is a long section of the wall where people have, and continue to, paint all different things. On Thursday I caught a train about an hour south to the Beelitz military hospital, which is a large complex of abandoned hospital buildings used in WW1 and 2. Hitler was even treated there near the end of WW1. I went alone and there was no one else there. It was one of the creepiest places I've ever been. After that, I headed back to Berlin and visited an interactive museum that showed how life was on the east side of the Berlin Wall before it fell. I explored some other areas of Berlin before I went back to the hostel to make myself some dinner and plan for the next day. I decided to catch a train to Nuremberg.
When I got to Nuremberg I checked into my hostel and then walked into the historical center of the city. At this point I've seen far too many historical centers with cobble stone streets and giant cathedrals. I ate dinner at a brewery and got the taster tray of beer. It included some beer schnapps. It was strong. After dinner I walked up to the castle in the center and took in a great view of the city. It was getting dark, so I headed back to the hostel. I decided to go up to the rooftop bar of the hostel to see what was going on, but when I got up there, I decided that it was not my scene. I went to bed. I didn't get much sleep because the room was so hot and humid.
The next day I caught a train about an hour north to Bamberg to visit a brewery there that brews rauch (smoke) beer. It was delisious, as I had expected, and I had a meat stuffed onion with mashed potatoes for lunch. After that, I wandered around the city for a bit, which was nice.
When I got back to Nuremberg I checked into a hotel near the train station since the hostel was full for the night. A few minutes after I checked in I walked back down to the train station to meet up with my mom's cousin's son, Gregory, whose in the army and is stationed just outside of Nuremberg. I hung out with him and some of his friends for rest of the day. We got dinner, checked out some video game and toy stores, had some drinks, including some cocktails in plastic cups with dome lids, which we carried around a department store, and basically had a good time.
Yesterday I took a train to Munich. The hostel I'm staying at is huge and seems more like a hotel. The majority of the people here are 12 and younger and they keep running around the courtyard, lobby, and lounge area screaming in German. Last night I tried to go play pool downstairs, but when I walked into the room there was a huge group of them playing DDR and they all turned around and looked at me and it was weird.
When I got here there was a huge festival going on for the 187th anniversary of the city. I went to the city center to check it out and had a couple bratwursts and some beers. There were a lot of musical and dramatic performances going on and a lot of people. I happened to meet a Californian who invited me to hang out and drink with him and his English buddies. I ducked out of that one and caught the metro back to the hostel.
Today I did a, sort of, beer tour of the city on my own and ate plenty of sausages. I even caught a regional train 40 minutes north of here to Freising to visit a brewery there. It was a good day. I'm back at the hostel now, relaxing.