Innsbruck, Austria & Munich, Germany!

Happy Belated 4th of July!

I know that not all Americans celebrate the 4th of July, but I proudly do. I truly love my country and am proud of the accomplishments and progress we have made. America is not perfect, but what country is?

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe weekend.

There were no fireworks for us on the 4th, but we still had a great time. We headed to Innsbruck, Austria and Munich, Germany with some friends for the weekend.

Innsbruck is beautiful and very scenic. We stayed at the Hilton which was very nice and we had a great view of the Olympic Ski Jump.

We did a little sightseeing, picture taking and eating in Innsbruck. We were here only one night, but that was plenty of time to see the city and enjoy what it had to offer.

The next day we set off for Munich and stopped off at Dachau along the way. Dachau was the first concentration camp here in Germany.

Being at Dachau was very sad, and I honestly couldn't bring myself to see all of it. It was weird to stand in rooms where people were murdered and treated so badly. I didn't take to many photos here (it didn't feel right), but please feel free to Google Dachau if you are interested in learning more.

One positive thing about our trip to Dachau that made me smile and feel even more proud, was the liberation of the camp by the U.S

After Dachau, we continued with our drive to Munich. Munich is my FAVORITE city in the world, because this is where I truly fell in love with my Husband. We met in Turkei (Turkey) but we had only been dating there and we weren't so serious.

In 2006 I flew home to California to spend the holidays with my family. My original itenerary had me staying in California through New Years and returning shortly after, but I found myself missing AJ so much, I couldn't stand it.

Anyway, to make a long story short - I changed my plans at the last minute and flew to Munich to spend New Years with my baby. I departed LAX on December 30th 2006 and arrived at Munich on December 31. AJ met me at the Airport and we had just enough time to drop off my bags in the room and make it to the fairgrounds where they were having this huge celebration.

I just knew from that moment on that he was "the one" and that I couldn't see myself living a life without him.

Okay, so back to the trip. We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton which is outside of the city, but close to the U-Bahn (train/subway station). The trip in to town was about a 5 minute ride on the U3. Our friends really wanted to go to the Hofbräuhaus, so this was our first stop at Munich - actually it was our only stop (we spent a long time here).

The Hofbräuhaus is a brewery in Munich with a bit of history. The Hofbräuhaus in Munich was one of the beer halls used by the Nazi Party to declare policies and hold functions.

Today it is a tourist attraction and well known for great beer. It seemed a bit cynical to come here after visiting Dachau, but I tried my best not to look at it like that and just enjoy our time in Munich.

If the name sounds familiar it may be that you've seen a version of the Hofbräuhaus in Las Vegas.

We ran into some interesting people here, this guy here was getting married in one week and was celebrating with his buddies. He was from France, and he went around offering people cheese, bread and wine and asking for donations for his wedding. We gave him 2 Euro, because well, it was comical...

Look at him!!!!!

AJ and I spent the rest of our time touring the city and enjoying each other.

Overall, this was a great trip... I'm not sure where we'll be headed next, but I'm hoping it's Switzerland or Prague!