Un Arequero en Europa

Today, before heading to the Lowenbräu brewery with the Couch Surfing group, I spent three minutes of my time in a Flashmob Freeze. This is a typical urban event where a group of people stay still while the pedestrians walk amazed through them.

Monasteries in Germany were not only the religious centre of many regions but also a commercial one. In the case of Andechs, the monks earned a living by brewing a special sort of beer. In those days it was dangerous to drink water from the rivers. So most of the population and even children used to drink beer, which was produced using boiled water, as a way to avoid illnesses.

I'm a member of Couch Surfing and I decided to try my first post. I wanted to do the one hour walk to the monastery, watch the landscape and enjoy a couple of beers at the monastery. Four people joined in and we started a series of visits to breweries in Munich and nearby.

I usually don't check the weather forecast before heading to a city because in Germany it doesn't rain heavily and even with snow you can always walk around a place. But there are things you have to we aware of.
Before taking the train to Passau, a small town near Austria full of students, I was told that the center of the city was flooded and that I won't be able to see the castle. I decided to go on because I wanted to see how this type of natural disasters are managed in Germany.
Surprisingly only a couple of blocks were under water and I could reach the castle taking another route. I even had time to walk to the monastery through pilgrimage stairs. From the nearby hills you have some beautiful views of the town and the affluence of the rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz.
If you are spending a weekend in Munich and you have a free day, you could visit Passau. But I wouldn't recommend you to stay longer than one day as there isn't much to see. Just in the case you want to see some famous cabaretists, you may spend the night there.

A local legend from Salzburg tells that Adolf Hitler being a child played near the river in front of the door of a yellow house. Suddenly he felt into the water and the owner of it, hearing his crying, save him. Locals argue that if he had drown many other lives would have been saved. This doesn't take into account that right wing extremist political parties emerged in the Weimar Republic as an answer to the chaotic social and economical situation.
This city is the right place to learn about the life of the famous compositor. But it isn't the only reason to visit it: the marvelous view of the city from one of the hills is a tourist attraction on itself. The fortification is also worth a visit because it was so secure that it was never taken by force. Only once, it surrendered without fighting to Napoleon's army.