Salzburg, Munich and Muehldorf

I spent a few days with my good friend Christine in a small town called Muehldorf, which is about an hour south east of Munich. I was going to use this ride share program to get a ride to Munich, but looked at the wrong bus and train schedules (week, not weekend). So I missed that and I had to take the train. I ended up taking a train from Marburg to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Walzburg, Walzburg to Nurenburg, Nurenburg to Munich and Munich to Muehldorf. It was an all day process! Totally worth it though. It was a lot of fun seeing Christine. She's so sweet! We walked around Munich one night and saw most of the sights in the old part of town. I saw where Hitler once stood and gave to give his speech. Behind the square was an alley with a "gold" stone path, symbolizing where people would walk to avoid saluting Hitler. We walked through a bit of the English Garden which was SO COOL! We saw the permanent wave with some surfers. I could sit there all day and watch them! We also went to Fruehlingsfest (spring fest), which is a mini Oktoberfest. It's held in the same spot with the same beer tents and everything, just at a smaller level. We ate cotton candy and chocolate covered apples and a huge butter pretzel... we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! :) Afterwards we drank some beers in a beer garden and met up with Christine's boyfriend. I was ready to pass out after my pint of beer that night! So good. We all went to Dachau Concentration Camp one day as well. Actually, it was something like 40 or 50 years to the day we visited that the camp was liberated by American troops. It was sad, intense and interesting at the same time. I learned a lot from my visit and changed a little bit, somehow. I tried to mentally prepare myself before going so that it wouldn't make me too emotional. The site has a large museum in the main building. The camp was the first started by the Germans and was actually built to imprison Germans, not Jews or other minority groups. We went on an English guided tour and afterwards watched a film in German. I think everyone should visit a concentration camp if given the opportunity- it's a good lesson in tolerance. Christine and I also went to Salzburg, Austria. It's only an hour away by train. I LOVE Salzburg! It's just so cute and charming. It's clean and just has a special feeling to it. I didn't go on the Sound of Music tour, because I don't honestly care but I did see the outside of the house Mozart was born in. I also tried Mozart kugel (chocolate ball) from the original candy store in which it was invented. There's a beautiful fortress that overlooks the city. Christine and I hiked up to it and did a self guided tour of the dungeon area. I saw a chastity belt! I had no idea those really existed! I thought it was something Robin Hood: Men in Tights thought up. I could spend all day in that fortress. I've been to castles before, but a fortress is really something completely different. It's like a tiny city inside of the walls. I'd like to come back one day and explore it more! I might apply for a teaching job next year in Austria, hopefully that'll be the opportunity to revisit Salzburg. :) We also visited Chiemsee one afternoon. It was nice but kind of busy because it was a holiday and there were a bunch of little bugs flying around. We didn't stay too long. Christine also gave me a tour of the paper factory she works at. She's a process engineer, a pretty respectable position. She's one of the few women to be working in the factory and was the first to hold that position. It's really an inspiration and I really admire her!