Munich and dodgy Heathrow hotel, Days 7-10 (Brazilians make party) part 2

Hi all,

We're back to continue our story where it left off - in Munich following a night at the Hofbrauhaus. We woke up the next morning feeling strangely OK considering that a) we had been at a beer hall the night before and b) the curtains in our hostel were extremely dodgy and therefore we were woken up by the sun streaming in our windows at 5am! Has to be in part due to the good old German Purity Laws! Anyway, we decided to go on a mission to find an Australian flag which was much harder than it sounded as every other Aussie within a 20km radius had the same idea. After about 2 hours we got extremely lucky and found what I'm convinced were the last Aussie flags in Munich! We also caught up with a girl Patrick met in Hong Kong who commented that you couldn't really tell the difference between the Aussies and Brazillians due to the green and gold, except for the fact that the Brazillians were "making party" in the streets (I'm assuming this is a reference to the ever-present Samba music).

Seeing as we didn't have tickets to the game and were unlikely to get them for less than about 1000 euros, we decided to head to Fanfest, which was an organised event with a massive screen at the 1972 Olympics site. We met a couple from Sydney and decided to share a group train ticket with them. On the way out there the train ride was crazy - Brazillians and Aussies all singing at the top of their lungs. The great thing was, everyone got along so well, it was brilliant! We were chatting to a Brazillian girl on the train who told us that she had sold her ticket to the match. Wouldn't say for exactly how much, but she did comment that she made enough money to extend her holiday by 20 days!

Now, the match itself obviously sucked, but the experience of being in Germany at Fanfest with about 30000 people was fantastic. There was this rather jolly-looking Brazillian guy in front of us who had snuck in some strong Brazillian spirit concealed under his clothes which he was drinking through a pipe and offering to everyone! I wasn't game but Patrick had a sip and proceeded to cough and splutter everywhere :-)

After the match we were planning to head out with the people from Sydney but were so buggered that we just had dinner and a quiet beer at the beer hall across from the hostel and called it an early night!

The following day we did a walking tour of Munich which was fantastic - they showed us this great outdoor beer garden where you can get really cheap beer and great German food! They also talked a bit about the history of Munich which was really interesting - it's strange to look at it today, with people from all over the world coming together for a great time and realise that it was actually here that the Nazi movement begun. Makes you realise how lucky we are that things have turned out the way they have.

We decided to head out on an organised pub crawl that night - Munich being the beer capital of the world, there are heaps of these operating. For 10 euros, we got free transport, a 1/2 litre stein, free pizza and free shots whilst walking between pubs! Had a great time and met heaps of people - many were drunk Aussies, but we also had a number of Americans and Canadians (note to self - don't call Canadians Americans!). Again no hangover the next morning due to German Purity Laws!

I'd better be off as this post is quite long but we'll soon post about our adventures in London - home of the world's trashiest newspapers, disgusting pollution, disposable barbeques (oh the pain of it!) and one of the only places in the world where a wardrobe is prime real estate and can sleep 2-3 people!

Megan