Eventually, my train hit Schongau (NOT Schwangau), Germany. And there, my hosts—the Hauser family—picked me up in their French-made car. Go figure. Hans-Peter, a wonderful man who I met while in Medjugorje—who had opened up his home to me as soon as he heard that I was coming to Germany (“give us a call before you depart, and you can stay with us!”)—who did this after only speaking to me for a few moments—took us to his home in Altenstatt, Germany. There, we saw the town church—the original church built 800 years ago, with the original 800-year-old paintings and 800-year-old crucifix.

Back at his house, we met again his wife, Lucia, and their children: Johannes (who at 12, speaks English well) and Katharina (who is 9 and incredibly beautiful). They forcibly sat us down for dinner and fed us ‘till we could eat no more. We talked until late and went to bed. In the morning, Steve and I headed to Munich (pictured below) after a loooong night’s rest. We were tired.

In Munich, Steve and I just explored. We toured a few amazing churches, hit the touristy Marienplatz (the commercial center and walking-area of Munich), and even threw the Frisbee around in a local park after a lunch of standard German fare… which included some AMAZING beer. (It really is better out here). In fact, there is a rule in Bavaria—a rule which Bavaria went to the highest court in Germany over—and that is that for a drink to be properly defined as “beer,” it can only be made with four ingredients: “water, barley, hops, and malt.” Budweiser, because it has rice, is not even considered beer. And if you can find it in Bavaria, people will be wondering who snuck it in—and will be developing ways to sneak it out. Pretty awesome. So, yeah, beer in Bavaria is FAAAANtastic!