15/3/09 Munich

I woke up at 9:45 to get breakfast downstairs. That was a mistake. Since it was at the end of the breakfast time, I didn't get a knife or spoon, so I had to make due with a fork. They were also out of rolls. But I still had my fruit and bread, so it was all good.

I went down to the train station (across the street) and met for the Hitler and the Third Reich walking tour (offered by a different company). The guy that led it was stationed in Germany in the '70s and moved out here recently. He was old and walked with a cane, talked sort of like a professor (in a boring way at times).

The weather was pretty bad all day, with it being by far the coldest day and the rainiest. Not a great day for a walk outside. At least I had an umbrella.

The tour was actually really good, if not a little slow moving. We went to a computer store where Hitler used to go spy on the German Worker's party before joining it, giving his first speech, and gaining power. In just a little room in a computer store now.

We well to the Haufsbauhaus again, this time up to the third floor where Hitler founded the Nazi party with a big speech. He would come back every year there and give another speech, so it was very interesting. The best part of the tour was that the guide had photos from when Hitler and the Nazis were actually in the places, in many of them the buildings hadn't changed very much.

We went by a memorial to the White Rose movement and then went down by where I went on the free tour where the Beer Hall Paunch was and where the plaque was.

Then we went down by King's Square where the National Headquarters were (out of the 4o Nazi buildings, it was the only one hit by a bomb). Next to it was where Hitler's office was, and where the Munich conference was held. Now it's a music school, pretty cool. They also had the foundations from the Nazi memorials to the 16 that lost their lives during the Paunch. The US removed the bodies to the families and then blew up the tops of the monument so that it wouldn't be worshiped by neo-Nazis. But the bases were still there, it was sort of chilling.

It's hard to imagine thousands of Nazis meeting in the square and Hitler roaming the streets, but this made it a little more real. I can't believe it was only 60 years ago.

Afterwards I went back into the church with the devil's footprint. I spent more time in there (and it was nice to warm up).

Next and got a piece of cake (which was awesome) and a pretzel with butter in it (also awesome, but the one the day before was better). Then I went back to the hostel for a while to warm up after staying out in the cold and wetness for the four-hour tour (it was supposed to last two and a half).

I was going to take a train to Salzburg but it wouldn't have really worked out with the times coming back, otherwise it would have been cheap and fun to do (plus it's in another country). I wanted to ride the train too. Oh well.

Since it wans't that nice outside, I decided to get my computer and walk down by the University of Munich area (called Swabing, like the coolest name ever for a neighborhood) and went to Gina's Gelato Cafe. No one in there was speaking English, I felt lost a little, which was great. I pointed at the slice of cake I wanted (a chocolate with some sort of like sugar layer in between?) and took a stab at the tea that sounded the best and I wrote for my class. It was a productive and enjoyable thing to do, I felt like I wasn't just a German tourist.

My phone is having issues, this time of the stupid Catch 22 side. My phone doesn't have enough money on it to make a call, including a call to the phone company where I can add money to the phone. And I can't add enough online because I did recently and it won't let me this soon. So maybe tomorrow I can? Who knows, it's dumb and frustrating.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Berlin, not really sure what I'm going to do there yet, I'll have to read up on it a little, but I'm excited. I've been watching the JFK and Reagan speeches.