Nick's Visit

So yea I went to Salzburg, see last blog. I think I just chilled between that. Went to this thing called Uni-Fest which was a great time. It was a massive club on an island in Munich, to which the students of the Munich Universities were invited, which comes to like 100,000 people. I have no idea how many people were actually there, but it was a ton. Definitely a night to remember.

Nick Gilbert came to visit me from May 20-27 (I think?) It was his first time in Europe, so that was exciting. The 20th was a Wednesday. That night we had to go to a JYM event that some JYMers had organized. Basically, since our program is through Wayne State University in Detroit, they thought it would be a good idea to get some Detroit artists (no one famous) to come to Munich and do stuff. The general consensus among JYMers is that this was not a good idea, and was a general waste of time. I personally don't care for artists or Detroit, but there was free beer, so we will call it a wash.

Thursday night we had to go to another one of these events, which included alright music and terrible poetry readings. For me the highlight was when one of the poets said "I'm gonna read a couple of poems, and then if the crowd wants I'll read 'We want our city back' after that" Two people out of the crowd of 50 went "Whoop" and she said "Ok, I will, by popular demand"

Since when is 2 people by popular demand? Imagine all the things that would go wrong with in the world if 2 people always meant "popular demand."

So I don't care for artists or Detroit, and this event didn't feature free beer, so we will not call that one a wash.

Sorry Nick.

If I remember correctly Nick and I went to the aircraft museum here in Munich Thursday during the day. It was't interesting. They didn't have any particularly fascinating/abnormal aircraft.

Friday was a good day. We went to Stuttgart, which you may remember from earlier blogs is the home of Porsche and Mercedes. Nick wanted to see them, and I have no problem with going back there because it was really cool and who hates looking at nice cars?

Me with the Porsche 918 Spyder. Fastest production car around the Nürburgring

License plate of the 918. Stuttgart, Nürburgring, 918

Written on the back of the 918. 6:57 lap time

Nick outside Mercedes

Inside Mercedes

This could have been useful in Maine this winter I hear

Nick with the 300 sl

Nick with the 918

Saturday we took a trip out to Obersalzburg and Berchtesgaden, Germany. If you are enthusiast (I hate that word) of World War II, then you will probably recognize these names as the old stomping grounds of Nazi big wigs. It is tucked away in the Alps, about 5 minutes from Austria and features some breathtaking views (so I hear). I wouldn't know because when we were there it was snowing and cloudy, on the 23 of May. Good times.

So we went out there to visit Hitler's Eagle's Nest, which a 50th birthday present to Hitler and features a gold elevator through the center of the mountain to arrive into the house.

Entry to the elevator tunnel

Built 1938

Tunnel with the elevator

The door to the elevator. No photos were allowed inside but it was all gold 

We couldn't get a tour of the house because we arrived too late, so we did not get to see much, with exception of a few rooms, one of which is now a restaurant, which we ate at. There is also some history about the building and the area.

The restaurant

Fireplace in the restaurant

Eaglesnest. 1834 Meters

A picture of the eagles nest. You can see how cloudy it was, so we didn't get the famous views the area is famous for, which was unfortunate. I plan to go back.

Nearby is a center that talks all about Obersalzburg and the Eagles Nest. A lot of top Nazis had houses here, including Hermann Göring. If you have seen Band of Brothers, you probably remember Winters seizing the house and letting Nixon go raid the wine cellar. Although the weather was bad, it was still really cool to be able to see. There is a huge underground bunker network underneath this center, which connects a bunch of the Nazi buildings and some of the houses. It was really cool to see and be able to walk through.

Bunker

Bunker

I don't know if this is original or not

Bunker

Bunker

Machine gun holes guarding a staircase

The receiving end of the machine guns

On Sunday we took a trip to Dachau and took a look there. Afterwards we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. 

Monday we went to the Olympic Stadium, BMW World, and BMW Museum. Those are always cool to see. For dinner we went to Hofbrähaus and went back to Hard Rock for their delicious brownie sundae for dessert. 

Tuesday we got a plant tour of BMW, which was wicked cool. It lasted 2 hours and you walk through the factory and get to see them put together the car. Everything from metal stamping to interior installation, paint, and engine installation. It was really cool and an amazing operation. The robots they have in there are incredible. It was so cool to see. We went to Hard Rock for dinner because that place is amazing and if you say otherwise you're just a liar.

Wednesday he had to hop back on the plane. It was a really good time and it is always nice to see people from back home.