Munich, Germany

Me, Johannes, and Jens catching up
Main gates into Dachau concentration camp "work will set you free"
Us, Dennis, and the girls studying in France
Close up of Glockenspiel
Dana in front of the Glockenspiel
We left Paris on the 26th in the afternoon and arrived in Munich by 10pm. We were supposed to stop in Stuttgart first but plans changed, so we found ourselves in Munich and finding a hostel. In Germany just about everything is closed on Sunday; so we walked around the city and took in a modern art museum for one euro each! On monday we did a free walking tour for the first time. Our guide Ricky is from Canada, he is studying German history in Munich so he was quite informative and funny. We met another canadian couple on the walking tour and exchanged traveling tips as we walked. That night we stayed with Dennis, (couch surfing host) and his two friends who are studying in France. The next day we went and visited Dachau concentration camp. It was quite amazing to see the buildings, the living conditions the prisoners endured, and to hear and read all of the information. We watched a 20 minute video of old footage from the start to the end of the camp. It was a lot fo take in, but we were both happy we did. We were supposed to leave Stuttgart after we got back from Dachau, but our plans fell through again. So Dennis very graciously let us stay two more nights. We all went out for German food that night, and stayed in and made supper the next. We took a day trip to Augsburg the next day, but it rained the whole time. We just walked around until we were pretty wet and then got back on the train and returned to Munich. On New Years eve we said goodbye to our new friends and finally headed to Stuttgart to meet some of Steve's friends from bible school in Sweden. (Not before missing the first train there!) It was a great time catching up and sharing a few memories. We said goodbye after a few hours in starbucks and caught our two trains that took us to Vienna, Austria. We got off the metro 3 minutes before midnight and were greated with fireworks going off in every direction. There was a haze of smoke because of all the fireworks. A group of people we were standing by even gave us some champaigne to toast to the new year! We walked a few blocks after inhaling enough smoke and found our next exchange place!