4th of July in Munich + WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS!

The 4th of July is probably my favorite Holiday of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas (God Bless you, Jesus) but there is something about the 4th. Obviously Germans don't celebrate this Holiday but that didn't make it feel any less special! We did a trip to Munich and celebrated like we normally would with beer, food, soccer, lakes, summer weather, and fireworks! Okay, the fireworks were for the German team winning the quarterfinals but I will get to that later.

Munich is about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Baumholder. It is the farthest place we have been so far and the only place in Bavaria we have traveled to. The drive was super easy until we got into the city. There were a ton of people, lots of cars, and itsy bitsy streets. This is why I made Taylor drive. We stayed at Litty's Hotel located right by the City Center and the train station. It was clean and nice for a one night stay. The bathroom was in the hall shared by three other rooms but it wasn't an issue.

After we checked into the hotel we set off into the city to explore. We didn't really have a plan (shocking!) except to see as much as we could before the 6pm Germany/France Quarterfinal game! We saw some cool buildings and churches (clearly we have to go back at some point and do a more educated tour) and ate lunch at Nurnberg Bratwurst Gloeckl. You can never go wrong with a brat. We sat outside and ordered food while they gave us a bunch of bread and pretzels to go with our beer. Taylor dug right in and was down to the last pretzel before realizing you pay for every piece you eat. Oh well!

After lunch we found the Hofbrauhaus. They serve food there but mostly people go there to grab a liter of beer because of the history it holds. The Hofbrauhaus was a big beer hall where the Nazi Party held functions and declared policies.

By this time it was getting close to game time! We were hoping to find a big public viewing of the game but nobody could point us in the right direction. We finally asked a pedicab driver if he knew where a big viewing was and he said there was one by the lake (in the Englisch Garten) and he could take us there for 25 Euro. We thought that was an insane price but we hopped on anyway. Worth every Euro! We were able to see a ton including a river where people surf and the Chinese Tower.

We got dropped off at the viewing where it was 20 minutes till game time so it was already packed. We walked around trying to find a seat but nobody would let us sit with them. They wouldn't even scoot over a little so we could cram in. We found a seat in the very back but the tents were coving our view of the screen. Obviously it wasn't going to clear anytime soon so we found another pedicab and went back into town. He dropped us off at a bar where they were showing the game outside. Still no seats but at least we could stand to the side and see!

Well, you all know the rest from here so I don't think I need to describe how much fun we had! The entire World Cup experience while living in Germany was something we will never forget!

For fun, here are more pictures of us celebrating with our friends during the World Cup! These were all taken at the Celtic Knot, right here in Baumholder! After Germany won, the streets were filled with cheering and chanting, sparklers, and people driving around honking in their cars yelling and singing! Why can't it be the World cup every year?!