Munich

Unfortunately, on Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat :-(

However, we headed out for Munich, in Germany, after breakfast.

When we arrived we went straight to Mass . . . at the Cathedral where Pope Benedict used to be Bishop!!!! It was pretty exciting! Once Mass finished we had a quick tour of the Cathedral in which we saw Pope Benedict's coat of arms as Bishop above his Papal coat of arms!

In the entryway to the Cathedral is a footprint. Legend has it that the devil bribed the architect of the Cathedral to build the Cathedral without windows because windows let in the light of Christ. Without windows the devil could turn the church into a church for himself. However, the architect built the Church with stained glass windows which you can't really see from the outside. So when the Cathedral was finished the devil walked in the front door to claim it as his own and he saw the stained glass windows, which not only let in the light but also showed beautiful pictures of Christ and the saints. So the devil stamped his foot in fury leaving the footprint.

We then went on a tour of (a.k.a. mad dash around) Munich. My favorite place in the city, and Pope Benedict's favorite place in the city, was Marianplatz. This was basically a town square with a large pillar in the center on top of which is a beautiful statue of Our Lady. On the front of the pillar is inscribed "Johannes Paul II 19/11/1980." The reason it has this date is because on the day the Pope was shot pretty much everyone in Munich gathered in Marianplatz to pray for him. Pretty much the entire city was gathered in Marianplatz, including Bishop Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict). The Holy Father later attributed his recovery to the intercession of Our Lady.

On the side of the pillar is inscribed "Benedikt XVI 9/9/2005." When Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope the people of Munich gathered in Marianplatz to celebrate.

After our tour Amy and I headed to the open air market to get lunch. I ate my first German sausage and sauerkraute. And they were delicious!

We then headed to a cafe cuz I was freezing, not feeling well, and in desperate need of a hot chocolate.

After our hot chocolate (heisse chocolate) Amy wanted to check out the Hoffbrauhause. The Hoffbrauhause is basically a famous restaurant/beer hall. So we headed off so Amy could take her pictures of the place and of course we went in entirely the wrong direction. So we headed back in the other direction . . . and ended up going too far that way. So we finally found the place and I insisted on going inside cuz I was freezing, ill, and my feet hurt. So we stood in the gift shop for about 5 minutes then went back to Marianplatz where we found a little cafe and bought some mini pizza type things for dinner. We then ate dinner outside while waiting for the giant glockenspiel (cool clock with dancing people, think Pinocchio) to strike the hour and start dancing. Unfortunately, it didn't go off.

So we headed to the Residence which is basically a palace. But it too was closed. So we wandered around for awhile then went to a Starbuck's and Sarah purchased a caramel brownie which we divided into thirds and which was quite delicious. We then headed for the buses and went back to the hostel in Salzburg.