Germany

I recieved my first e-mail of tour prep notes including our journey through Germany. My first day in Germany we'll go throught the city of Munich (Munchen). Apparently it's like Salt Lake City, it too became known to the world when it hosted the Olympic Games. We'll be able to see the Olympic stadium. We'll also see the headquarters for a large German auto manufacturer. I'm pretty excited for that :D crazy german cars. A car my size!! Some facts i was provided with about Germany... It's just smaller in size than the state of Montana. 82 million people-- most living in urban areas. 40 percent of the country is forested. Th country was re-unified in 1990 following hte tearin down of the Berlin Wall. And it's now a member of the EU.

We'll also be going to Dachau Concentration Camp and museum. I am so excited to be able to go there. I know it's such a horrible part of history but i can imagine how moving it must be to see it. http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/ (click english version...unless you read german :)

Our final destination in Germany will be the city of Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. This full name states that it's above the Tauber river, because apparently there are other Rothenburgs... confussing! But it's essentially a rebuilt Medieval city of the 16th century. There's a walk on the wall which encloses the city, and evening walk of the wall and the Nightwatchman tour.

So this is Germany for me next year. I'm so excited. They gave us ideas to prepare for the trip..one was to follow the Tour de France...that's where i'll be next summer!