Jenna and I arrived in Munich today after a short flight and healthy breakfast of barbeque potato chips. We were sitting in the terminal in the Paris airport, waiting for our flight to leave, when we thought it would be a good chance to learn some German phrases. We were in the middle of memorizing “Ich bin vegeterier” (I am a vegetarian) when a girl asked where we were from. After learning we were American, she kindly explained she grew up in Munich and would like to help us with our phrases and tell us of some good places to visit during our stay.

Haha, we stand out like sore thumbs. Although people have stopped staring at me because I’m blonde, I still seem to be radiating strong American/touristy vibes (maybe it’s the potato chips?). This sweet, German girl even helped us get our Munich metro passes and get off at the right stop for our hotel, which thank god, was right above our stop (we didn’t even exit the metro to enter the hotel).

I can already feel how rude the French are now that I have the Germans to compare them to. Everyone we have met here goes out of their way to speak English and act friendly versus the French who pretend they have never heard English to avoid speaking to us Americans.

After checking into our hotel (we are staying at the Hilton Muchen City), we headed to Houfbrahaus, the most famous beer house in Munich. We were super excited until we read in Jenna’s tourguide book that the place has become overrun with American and Japanese tourists. We looked around and sure enough there were hoards of Asians and tourists (presumably Americans) posing for pictures with their giant beers and pretzels… haha, nice.

We later walked around Marienplatz, saw Frauenkirche (a church), and found a restaurant out of our guidebook for dinner. This restaurant had a much more local feel and offered authentic foods and much cheaper prices. Jenna got 6 sausages with sauerkraut on the side while I got four-cheese spatzle with a side salad. They served the dinner with soft pretzels and mustard. I will never eat macaroni and cheese (spatzle with cheese is essentially that) without mustard again! Oh, and we are officially weird for ordering more water than beer. As a matter of fact, we could only spot one other table in the entire room that got water as well.

Now we’re super tired and enjoying our own beds with fluffy pillows and comforters. What a luxury after cramming in our apartment this past week! Can’t wait to continue our adventures tomorrow.

Oh and did I mention, some boys at Hofbrahaus asked to borrow a pen after staring at us for about an hour (awkward…). They used the pen to write their numbers on a coaster before chucking it on our table and running out of the restaurant. Just what I look for in a guy, not haha.

And we have finally found an English channel on our tv, so we are concluding our night with the British version of Biggest Loser. “Beautiful night.” –Jenna

Auf Wiedersehen! xoxo.

-T