Munich is so much more...

...than that super creepy sex scene in Spielberg's epic of the same name.

Last weekend I went down to Germany's golden city with my friend Courtney because Erik was working down there. It was so fun, and was the most beautiful stop on my April 2008 tour of Gross Germania.

Munich looks more like an Italian city than anything else. Although we bombed 80 % of it, the reconstruction efforts (led by Americans, dirt off our collective shoulders) were spectacular. Most buildings look like they were part of the original beer-brewing Monks' designs, and the city squares are clean and always protected my big golden lions. Because Munich was/is Bavaria's capital and home to its royal family, the city is dotted with gorgeous gardens and palaces. From the Residenz to the Nymphenberg Castle, the city oozes charm.

It also oozes beer.

This too was a highlight of the trip. Beer, beer everywhere and many drops to drink. The Biergarten is the greatest cultural contribution Munich has given the world, and I could not believe the amount of people at the Chinesiche Turm in the Englischer Garten on a Saturday's dusk (The Garden is bigger than Central Park and three times the size of Hyde). It was a party. Throw in a couple of Butterbreze (pretzels sliced like bagels and spread with melted butter in the middle) and you've got the happiest place on earth.

We took a really great Mike's Bike Tour, ate Weiswurst at the Hofbrohaus, saw the monument to Hans and Sophie Scholl, sat on the beaches of the Isar river, shopped the food markets, walked the grounds of the castle and saw the awesome exhibits at the Moderne Pinakothek , Munich's newest art museum. We stayed at a great youth hostel, and although it was crowded with hyper Italian teens*, it was pretty snazzy as hostels go.

Check for pictures later tonight, when I figure out how to download them.

* I'm in the process of developing a theory on Italian teens. I think they go through hyper adolescence: They are the most loud, the most outrageously dressed, the most curiously coiffed, and the most flirtatious of any teen group in the world. Note, this theory is largely being based on my one stay at the youth hostel, but seriously, I've never seen such teens. And the girls! There may have been a handful of super beautiful girls in my high school at 15, but most of us were (still am) awkward-looking. Not Italian girls! They all look like 28 year-old Art Gallery personnel.