München

Went on a free walking tour this morning - started off at marienplatz where there is a big gothic church with a glockenspiel that we watched. We went to other churches and royal buildings. We stopped off at a market which was lovely with a big beer garden - we were staving so we got some fruit from a little stall and Edward got pooped on by a bird! It was bright green hahaha. Luckily one of the busabout people that we had been hanging out with (Lewis from new Zealand) had some tissues so he got most of it off. Most of the tour group (and the tour guide) got bottles of beer and were carrying them around and drinking them. The tour guide was really good - funny Irish guy, told us lots of awesome stuff but have forgotten most of the names of the places already!

Went to the most famous beer hall - the houfbrau, which had a lot of amusing history - there were channels in the floor under the tables so the men could pee without having to stop drinking! They also had a 'vomitourium' in there - so basically a big vat in the men's room you could spew in if you'd had too much beer!

We went down the road where hitler had once marched - when they were met by police 20 people were shot and hitler dislocated his shoulder - after his bodyguard dived on him and got shot 11 times (and lived!!).

There used to be a plaque on the wall to honor the 20 who died, and SS guards would guard it at all times. You would have to salute it if you walked past it - and there were so many people who didn't want to salute it, there became a shortcut down an alley which became to be known as 'dodgers alley' - eventually the SS figured out what people were doing and if you did it more than once you were sent to a concentration camp.

The tour ended there and was free - but you were expected to tip, so we gave him 20 for the two of us as it was pretty good. Went off to have some lunch in the market beer garden we had been through before with busabout people (Lewis, Kirsty from Sydney and Rachel from America). Had two pork rolls which were yummy, and chatted to an Irish and American guy who lived in Germany. We then set off for the English gardens which were really pretty and huge. There was a nudist bit in one spot. We all had a nap on the grass in the sun for about an hour which was lovely.

We then went to the Chinese beer garden in the centre (it had a slightly chinesey looking building) and they all had beer and I had a orange juice. After sitting there for a bit we had dinner there too - pork schnitzel with these roast potatoes which would have been awesome but they were soooo salty.

Started walking back and came across the river in the garden that we had heard about - where you can surf! From under a bridge comes two streams of really fast water, and because of a dip in the water creates this wave that people were surfing on - it was crazy! Edward was of course very intrigued so I videoed quite a bit of it. So funny to think you can surf in a town with no coast!

Walked back and all had some yummy crepes and then fell into bed with exhaustion.