After we left Bourges, we spent an evening in Strasubourg, a wonderful little French city in the heart of the Alsace region. We had a great hotel right near the cathedral and shared pigs knuckle and traditional Alsacian pizza (lardons, onions and cream).

The next day, we took a train to Munich. Preston has a friend that has been stationed in Neuremburg and we were lucky that he had some time off to hang out with us and show us around.

Jeff took us to the English Gardens which is an enormous park that puts Central Park to shame. It's absolutely enormous and an ice cold river runs through it. At one end of the park, some genius decided that if a bridge and some dam sort of thing were built, people could actually surf the river in the park. There were probably 20 surfers of all ages, and they were very good. One right after another, they dropped into the river and surfed the consistent wave until they could no longer hold their balance, dropping into the water and floating swiftly downstream, only to climb out and do it again. The banks of the river were packed with people watching. It was one of the coolest things I've seen and my photos do not do it justice.

Another surfer. Tons of people lined. The banks to watch this.

That night, we were all craving Indian and found a fantastic place near our hotel. After dinner, we went to the Hofbräuhaus and had a beer the size of my head.

I was asleep pretty much right after this beer.

The next day, Jeff drove us out to Dachau. There are absolutely no words that could describe the feeling that this former concentration camp evokes. (Interesting fact: Germans call Dachau a "war memorial".) There, we saw barracks, walked through the museum and a few memorials before seeing the gas chambers and cremation rooms. It was a terrible place and no amount of history education could prepare us for the experience. I did not take photos of Dachau.

Later, after a late (and awesome) German lunch in the town of Dachau, Jeff dropped us off and we said our goodbyes. It was a wonderful few days, and I discovered that I really love German food. The beers are good, but I'm all set after one (beer isn't my favorite, particularly when it's as hot as it was those 2 days). Next stop, Turkey!