Busabout Trip - Part 3 (Munich)

Munich was our next stop and the only other place we were to stay for 5 nights. Which again was a good decision as we had a great time, there was so much different stuff to see. Oktoberfest was all over by this time but we went up to see the grounds and there were alot of tents still standing...apparently it takes like 6 months to get everything ready and then 2 or 3 to pull it all down. Alot of people on busabout had started their trip at Oktoberfest so we heard a lot of stories and are keen to go next year (well, Niki is =). We stayed in quite a nice hostel, actually all the hostels were great especially compared to the ones we encountered on our June Italy trip. Usually 6 bed mixed dorms with ensuite toilet/shower, lockers, bedlight etc bars, internet, tours, laundry etc etc all the good stuff!

We went to Dachau concentration camp which was heartbreaking, awful, freezing, eye-opening and educational. I'm really glad we went but what an awful thing to see, especially the gas cahmbers (even though these particular ones were never used) and the big incinerator. There was a lot of information and pictures of prisoners and piles of skinny bodies, we heared about the experiences of survivors on the audiguide. We went with quite a big group so the mood remained light on the way home otherwise it's quite a lot to take in emotionally for 1 day!

The next day we took the hostels free (for tips!) walking tour which was pretty good, you learn/see so much that you wouldn't see if you just wandered around yourself. That night 6 of us went to the famous Hofbrau Haus for dinner. Niki had a pork knuckle and I had meat loaf and an appel strudel, and again had a radler which was extremely drinkable...they're just sooo huge you can only handle one. They had an Oompha band playing which really added to the atmosphere. These beer halls are massive and busy. You also notice heaps of men wearing the traditional lederhausen (leather pants thingee) for real and they're there for club meetings!

The next day we headed out to the 'Disney' castle in the Bavarian alps, approx 30mins on the train. Neuschwanstein is the castle that the original Disney castle was based on. There's also another castle on the hill next to it called Hohenschwangau caslte. These were used by King Ludwig II who died over 100 years ago and since then it's been a major tourist attraction. We didn't pay to go into them but you can get inside the castle walls and take some cool pictures, also the surrounding mountains are awesome. Felt like I was in a fairytale! tehe

On our last day in Munich we just laxed about and did important stuff like buying Niki an authentic stein to send home, writing a few postcards, and purhasing a warm jacket for me. Niki went to the Deutsch museum for a couple of hours too...meant to be pretty impressive.

Next we went to Stuttgart (also in Germany) basically famous as it's the home of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche so we looked around both those museums (thrills!) and just explored the city a bit. Only had 2 nights there which was all we needed...a bit of relaxing before PARIS!!