In FAITH We Go: Ich liebe dich München (I love you, Munich)

Well, we are in Munich! And this is how Part 2 of our world travels started:

The night before we were supposed to leave, we received a notification that our flight schedule had been changed. We'd been receiving a lot of these from CheapoAir, who we booked through, but this time, it was a major change. I was super annoyed because it meant we had to leave more than 5 hours earlier than we were planning on and our route even changed. I call CheapoAir and they flat out told me that they had cancelled our flights....umm...what?? Not even wanting to deal with this company that decided to cancel our flights less than 24 hours before we were supposed to leave, I hung up and called the airlines directly and after running around in circles with them for a while, we were back on track to go. (BTW, not using CheapoAir again). I have to be honest, given that Matt and I had gotten into an argument a few hours before this phone call, I was not feeling great vibes about the trip at this moment. But we begin our journey from Sacramento to Dallas to London to Munich nonetheless. So, remember how my sinuses got all jacked up in Ecuador and I had throat/head issues? OH yeah, apparently I am still not recovered from this because my head felt as if it were going to explode the entire time. While in flight, the right side of my face went sort of numb yet was still throbbing, with such intense pressure that I was literally in tears..... 22 hours later, we arrive in Munich's airport. (Minor detail which amused me is that in their spotless bathrooms, they had toilet seat disinfectant spray instead of covers and the kind of towels that just feed in and get cleaned/reused. I appreciated the eco-friendliness of this!!) Anyway, we go to baggage claim and get Matt's bag, get our carry on that they checked......no sign of my bag. AWESOME. Again, I get waves of nervousness about the continued bad juju so far. Is God trying to tell us something??! Haha. After waiting patiently for the little German lady at the airport to pay attention to me, I learned that my bag didn't make it on the flight but that they'd deliver it to our apartment in a few hours after it arrived on the next flight.....okay. And they did, so after all of that drama, we ended up with all of our stuff in an adorable apartment in Munich. Phew!! First thing we did was walk down the street to a market to buy fresh fruit and veggies as well as some eggs to prepare for our breakfasts, perfect!

The next day we felt it would be wise to utilize the free tour recommended to us to get our bearings in the city and learn a bit more about the history and culture. We went through SANDEMANs New Europe free tour given by a hilarious English speaking local, and we LOVED it! We will definitely try to do these tours throughout Europe because it was fascinating, hilarious and so informative. We met up with the group in the city center, Marienplatz, and walked around for 3 hours. WWII history is of course everywhere, and some renovation of the city is still actually going on given that almost all of Munich was bombed and destroyed during the war. What is pretty cool is that they took very special care to rebuild the city exactly as it was before it's destruction. When the people during the war accepted that their city was going to be ruined, they took pictures of everything and protected all of the blueprints so that when it came time, they could recreate their city. Which explains why so many of the buildings are so spotless and brand new looking, but with such beautiful, old day architecture. And the love for beer here is truly remarkable. It is literally a right to drink it (like, on the job, you legally can have a liter of beer) and beer is woven into almost every history story- drunken soldiers, monks, historically significant brewhouses...etc. Of course Munich is also the birthplace of the National Socialist Party, or better know as the Nazi party, so it was pretty crazy to walk some of the streets where truly life changing events occurred. Such as, a street that we walked down where Hitler had marched with a troop of Nazis, intending to overthrow the local government. They were unsuccessful in this, but during the riot, Hitler's bodyguard tripped and fell on top of Hitler, and in the process was shot 5 times. Not one of the bullets went through his body, so he literally saved Hitler's life, and died in the process. Can you imagine how different our world history would have been if this hadn't happened? Anyway, last tidbit that I found really fascinating was that it is illegal to do the Nazi salute in Germany, and even as a tourist if you are caught doing it, you pay a fine of over 2,500 Euro, are immediately sent on a plane at your own expense back home, and you AND your family are put on a list of people not allowed in Germany or Austria for 10 years!! Anyway, there is so much more to this city than I am going to write about, but in short, Matt and I both agree that it is one of the best cities that we've ever been to in the world.

The Christmas spirit is so alive here, with Christmas markets everywhere, and so many people, not just tourists at all, but locals, attending them. Adorable traditional vendors selling handmade wooden ornaments and decor, German sweets, yummy hot mulled Gluhwein (wine). Tons of Christmas trees, lights, and LOVE!! Such places truly bring a strong sense of nostalgia, and you can't help but feel pure happiness. For example, seeing the old school train sets reminded us both of our childhoods, and we found ourselves standing in our layers of clothes, sipping Gluhwein, admiring the twinkling lights and swapping stories of growing up. Priceless!!

**Recommendations so far: lunch from Cotidiano was super fresh and tasty, great service and reasonable prices; beer from an Augustiner Brau- super traditional and popular with locals; Marienplatz Christmas market**