Germany

I spent almost two weeks in Germany – one week with Sarah and Chris and three days in Munich and two in Cologne. However, I was sick during the week with my friends. Nasal congestion, fatigue, and a brief fever. Being sick on a three-month trip was bound to happen. I’m sad that it happened when it did, but I’m grateful. I was in a safe space to sleep the cold away and Sarah served delicious food. And cocktails. That girl can make killer cocktails. Swabian Apple, glug, gin & tonics (but with club soda). So thank you, Chris and Sarah, for having me. Also, sorry for being sick the whole time. Next time will be better!

While Sarah’s meals reminded me of home and filled my need for American food, Munich brought me back to Germany. Of course, beer! When I arrived at my AirBnb in Munich, I walked to Haidhauser Augustiner. This bar was busy on a Saturday, of course. I ordered a big beer. The server must have not been older than 19. He looked at me funny. The older lady next to me chuckled.

The server showed me a big glass like they have at Oktoberfest, “This one?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah!” I replied, but slightly confused if that was the wrong answer.

“We only use these for Oktoberfest. Just get this size beer,” the wise lady said.

“Deal! Ein…how do you say regular sized….beer bitte.”

Well I had me a few beers and ordered some schnitzel. And those were all yummy. I loved the flavors of mushroom, the rosti (kind of a hashbrown), and the grilled pork. I ended up sitting with a man named Thomas. He could have been my grandfather. We chatted about Lord of the Rings, Freddie Mercury, and traveling. Thomas said one thing that struck me as I left: don’t rely on others. You have to see the world through your eyes. Experience it yourself.

I think that is the best way to sum up my reason for visiting Europe. I can listen to others talk about it and try to envision it, but it takes being here to understand. Europe can fit inside the US. I won’t deny there’s tons of culture and history in the US, but I feel so much more over here. Every city and every town has been different and offered new cuisines and new experiences. Aside from Munich and Cologne, which were bombed profusely in WWII, there are structures that date to the 14th and 15th Century, not to mention Roman ruins from the BCs. The history here extends further back and gives Europe an ancient feeling. It’s beautiful.

I’ll have to come back sometime. There’s still so much to see. I’d like to see Poland, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Baltic states, Denmark, Norway…everywhere! But I appreciate Thomas for summarizing what life is about. We can’t rely on others to live life for us; we must experience it for ourselves.

Well, the next day I visited Dachau and walked back to my AirBnb. I strolled through the Christmas markets and even chatted with Dalton and Sam. But I stopped at Augustiner-Keller, a brewery founded in 1328. See what I mean about history and culture?! And you know what I saw? Two old guys wearing those classic German caps with the feather. And they were drinking those big beers that the lady told me not to.

Something I enjoyed watching was the staff pouring beers. One thing you’ll learn about Europe and Germany in particular: they love the head on their beer. I looked it up and the head serves at least two purposes. First, the head is a way of showing the quality of a beer. Two, the head protects the beer from coming into contact with the air and influencing the flavor.

I also learned about cup design. American glasses are wide-mouthed and don’t allow for much head formation. We like our beer filled to the brim. Our cups are the measure for a beer pour, which doesn’t allow for much head. Europeans use a narrow-mouthed glass and promote head growth with agitation too. Their glasses are large to allow for head. Beer science is interesting.

I had Augustiner Schmankerlplatte: suckling pig (whatever that means), duck knuckle, sausage, sauerkraut, and a potato dumpling. This sampling was perfect to taste a little bit of everything. I especially enjoyed the pig for its flavor and tenderness. The sauerkraut was perfect. Not too sour or bitter. Perfect!

Allow me to go back in time. Before I had lunch, I visited the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau was one of the first camps set up by the Nazis and it served as a training camp for many future camp commandants of places like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Dachau was not a killing camp, but over 40,000 people died there. It served as the foundation for several sub-camps, all of which provided labor for the German war machine. Many prisoners worked at munition factories. Dachau was used as a camp by the US Army after the war and much of it is used by the local police today. You can only visit where prisoners were held, which is a small piece of what the whole camp was.

The main structure to walk through is the maintenance building. It’s a museum now, telling the story of the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. And it highlights the function of Dachau, its subsidiary camps, and the layout of the camp. Like I said, the camp served other purposes following the wall, so layers of paint and plaster covered everything until the memorial was created in 1965. The paint and plaster were removed to reveal barren concrete with signs like “Smoking Forbidden.”

The showers were the most impactful for me. I felt pain inside and learned of the beatings and torture committed in that room. Prisoners were hung in there, but not always until death. I tried to take a few photos to highlight the size of the room and its power. I could picture frail prisoners and their ruthless guards. It was disgusting.

It seems like a lot of places are closed during my trip. One of them was the crematorium at Dachau. As I said, this was not a death camp. The Nazis wanted the prisoners to be used for labor. But they still needed a way to handle the flow of dead bodies. Later on, a second crematorium was added, named “Barracks X.”

The rest of the camp is fairly open, including the camp road and the foundations for other barracks buildings. There are memorials and religious buildings built on the site as well. For such a dark journey, it was the brightest of days. The wind did bite like a guard dog, but the sun was kind to my face.

Back at Haidhauser Augustiner, I had been told to get a currywurst. I wasn’t a big fan of it or the spices on the fries. It tasted like a hot dog with odd spicy ketchup. I’d much prefer regular ketchup. Nothing against Germany! I enjoyed other wursts, such as the weisswurst and a cheese wurst. But the currywurst was not my flavor.

I can’t even say I spent time in Cologne. I was quite tired here, perhaps from all the beer I drank at Haidhauser Augustiner, but unlikely. The most I did in Cologne was visit the local supermarket several times for meals. I spent my one day in Cologne sleeping, watching Ozarks, and playing Hearts of Iron. Oh, and the AirBnb host had a guy working on the door. So it was a semi-relaxing day before I left for Amsterdam.

My time in Germany has been brief and stunted by a cold. So I’m sorry, Germany, that I couldn’t give you the attention you deserve. Your beer is enjoyable and your food is delicious. I also didn’t meet anyone rude. So that’s a plus! I would like to come back and see more of what you have to offer. And maybe I’ll know more German than “Wo ist die Toilette?”