Munich: three days between drinks and memories

At 10 in the morning, a little worse for wear but happy, we arrive in Munich. About an hour to get our bearings in the city, find a decent hotel, and we're ready to start wandering around. To get back to the center we use the metro. Fresh snow on the ground, but the sun is out and it's not freezing. In the central square tons of people, too many tourists, too many Italians. We wander between the Town Hall, the main churches, then it's time to sit down. Wurstel, potatoes and beer before going back out. It's snowing hard now, and after a bit of shopping it's time to go back where it's warm. Another liter of beer at the Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer hall in the world, famous also for having been the cradle of Nazism. A huge racket, everyone a bit tipsy, impossible not to make friends at these big long tables. At eight we go out for a stop at the restaurant, then at 11 to bed.

We're exhausted.

On Saturday morning, fresh and rested, after showers and hearty breakfasts, we set off for Dachau, the concentration camp about 20 km from the center of Munich. We spend half a day there: the famous "Arbeit macht frei" tops the entrance. And then the snow, the barracks, the latrines, the wooden bunks, the ovens: all as it should be, as one imagines it, all terrible now as then. In the afternoon, after leaving Dachau, we go back to the city. We stop at the Olympic stadium, then the center. First a slice of cake with a cappuccino to warm up, then the Residenz and the theater before throwing ourselves back into the chaos of the HB. Beer by the liter, pork, singing with the Schalke 04 fans who were mocking the Bayer fans. Night falls at the HB, and when we leave we're so happy that we decide to walk back to the hotel, through the snow and the freezing cold, avoiding the metro.

We sleep in the morning, to shake off the tiredness and the beer. And only around 11 do we point the car south. Destination the Bavarian Alps and Neuschwanstein Castle. The white one, the one with the turrets, the fairy-tale one, the Disney one. It takes almost three hours to find it, perched in the mountains amid meters of snow. But the sun is out, it feels great, and even there the ice-cold beer, even though we're literally sitting in the snow, goes down a treat. The visit to the castle takes a couple of hours, then we have to set off again. It starts getting dark, and more than 600 km await us to get back to Italy. We get home very late, with the prospect of an early wake-up because Monday morning it's back to the office. But we come back with a lighter heart, because we had a truly wonderful time.