The Czech Republic and Germany

Im in Heidleberg, Germany at the moment. Its a beautiful university town where one in five of the residents are uni students. Its built around a large river in the middle of a valley and surrounded by forest. Like the Swiss, the Germans are almost fanatical about their environment and their natural surroundings and the recycling system and the beauty of the country reflects it.

Anyway a few days ago we left Austria for the Czech Republic and Prague. On the way to Prague, we stopped off at a small town for lunch, which had a castle, some brown bears, really nice and cheap food and was the set of the majority of the movie 'Hostel'. After lunch we continued to the capital: Prague.
Prague is a really nice city and there are very few indications of its historically recent bad past. As with all the cities we've been to, we took a tour around the city and were shown the main sights by our tour manager, Kierra Lee. We saw the Basilica where 'Good King Wenceslas' (from the carol of the same name) lies, over the Charles Bridge, which took a pact with the devil to finish and onto the large astrological clock which, aside from Wenceslas Square is one of the main centers of Prague. In our free time, one of the guys, Dave and I went and had a look at the Communism museum which told not only the history of Communism in the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia but Communism in general. We spent quite a long time in there reading all about the rise and fall of communism in that part of the world and I learned a massive amount about that time in history. We then walked up Wenceslas Square and saw the memorial to two Czech students who burned themselves to death in protest of the Communist Movement in Czechoslovakia. It wasnt all depressing however because later on that day we went on a cruise of the river with a massive included lunch (there were crepes, mmmm) and a commentary by one of the local guides. That night we went out and saw the Praguian night life at its best... Or at least at its best, on a wednesday night, at a small underground club where we had to leave before midnight to catch the last train home. Even so it was a good night with cheap beer for 35 Czech Crowns (€1 = 25 Crowns, you do the math) and dancing and of course, Absinth (its like shotting listerene).

The next day we left Prague and headed into Germany to Munich, two days before the start of Oktoberfest. On the way we stopped at one of the main Nazi Concentration Camps, Dachau. We were given time to look around at our own pace and see all we wanted to. It was a pretty chilling experience, the conditions and the torture prisoners were subjected to on a day to day basis were horrific and to actually be in the place where it happened multiplied the experience. I didnt have time to see the gas chambers or incinerators but even so, it packs quite a punch walking around the parade ground. Every German student, as part of their studies has to go visit a concentration camp and they are taught to always question their government, to ensure nothing like it ever happens in Germany again.
From the concentration camp we headed into Munich, the camp site was crazy! Barring the jamboree I dont think Ive ever seen so many tents together in one spot and never as crammed in as they were. There were drunk people EVERYWHERE and even at 6am in the morning there were still people making noice. During Oktoberfest, that campsite at least is a place that doesnt sleep.
I feel like Im starting to sound repetitive but Munich is a great city. There is a beautiful park, walking distance from the citys center which spans 1000 acres. Designed by an English man, its a great park where you can swim and even surf (yes surfing) in the river or have a beer at the biggest beer garden in Europe. We were shown the park and many other things on a bike tour with a crazy and very funny irish guy named Steve.
In the evening we went to a traditional beer hall to have a Pork Knuckle and a Stein for dinner. A few of the group during the day had bought the traditional German dress and wore if with full enthusiasm for the dinner. The pork knuckle was great but so big that with the accompanying full litre of beer, I couldnt finish it. I did however had 2 full steins and enjoyed a night of enthusiastic Prosting, tradition German music, traditional German dance (as well as the chicken dance) and lots of beer.
We left Munich the next day, on the first day of Oktoberfest but even though we missed the majority of it we still picked up the astmosphere and it convinced me that if you do want to come to Oktoberfest DONT stay at a campsite, stay in a hostel at least or better yet a hotel. There were a lot of fights (not any from our group but in general) and it kinda seemed like it could be a pretty dangerous place to stay.

We're in Heidelberg until tomorrow when we leave Germany and head to our last :( stop, Amsterdam!