Finding Germany

I'm German-Irish. I have German grandparents on both sides of my family. Now I am very privileged in the face that I have been to Ireland. So I figured I should make it to Germany. I didn't really know what to expect from Germany. Although I have family history there, I have to confess my concept of Germany was built on almost two decades of video games, Indiana Jones movies, and other assorted movies I would watch with my Dad or my Grandpa. In other words I connected Germany with Nazis. While this is a sad fact, it was the truth. However, my time in Germany quickly changed that.
Our day in Munich started off with a visit to the Glockenspiel. This was basically a huge tower with moving figures. I wish I could tell you more about it's cultural importance, but it wasn't that exciting. After that we moved on checked out some historical landmarks and headed off toward the Englischer Garten. It's the biggest park like it in Europe.

After receiving directions from a really nice and well spoken German guy we headed off towards the first of many beer gardens. Now beer gardens are not places where Budweiser and Sam Adams grow on vines like oranges, they are places of public gathering and drinking. The first one we hit up was the Chinese tower, it was just as it sounds a Chinese tower surrounded by a beer garden. Check it out behind Steve.


After that beer garden we hit up the beer garden next to the lake in the park. The beers at this garden were HUGE. They were one liter beers and took about an hour to drink. Check out this size of this beer.
The beer garden was a great time, here is a shot of me and Ruby.

Now after hitting up two beer gardens we decided we should experience some culture. We headed off to the Olympic Park in Munich. This was the site of the 1972 Olympics. The picture that starts this section is of the Olympic complex. This place was very peaceful, the grass was a vivid green and the lake was pristine. Having it be so serene seemed a little strange considering the violence that took place at these Olympics.

Here is another shot of the park.

And the park's cool architecture in the setting sun.


That night we hit up the Hobrauhaus am Platzl. This is a famous beer hall in Munich. It was a great way to end the trip. Here is us by the entrance sign.
That morning a man in the hostel asked if I was Tim Goessling. I replied yes and I asked how he knew me, he said from Belknap. It turned out this guy was Peter Schaefer one of my Sam's old friends from camp. We had a great talk about camp and life.
My time in Germany was amazing. I met so many amazing and friendly Germans. They were the nicest people I met during my travels. Even though I drank a lot of beer there, I felt that I experienced the kindness of German culture. I feel like I got in touch with my heritage. But the road of the trip kept winding on to the final destination: Prague