Closing Ceremonies Posted on January 27th, 2013 by

Well… Today was our final full day in Europe, and as Gustavus suggests, we made our lives count. The day started out with us meeting our tour guide for the day Heidi. While Heidi was not the most fleet of foot she was sweet and knowledgable. She reminded many of us of our own dear sweet grandmothers.

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Heidi was able to take us around Munich and show us some of the most important sites in the city. The first one that we stopped at was the Schloss Nymphenburg. This was a Palace that used to house German royalty. Today the Duke of Germany lives on these premises. We tried to knock on his door, but apparently he wasn’t home… Anyways, these buildings were built starting in 1664 to celebrate the birth of a new son of the royal family.

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Next on the agenda was visiting the Olympic Park from the 1972 Olympic Games. A defining feature of the park was the Olympic tower which stands 900 ft high. We also were able to see the Olympic aquatic center and the soccer field. However, we were unable to enter any of the buildings. This was a very great site, you could almost feel the excitement that would have been there during the actual games. Although these stadiums may be old, they are still great venues for sporting events.

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While this site is beautiful we must also discuss what happened at the 1972 games. As many of you know these Olympic Games are called the Terrorist Games because during them 9 Israeli Olympians were taken Hostage as well as shot two members of the Israeli team. The police of the area worked hard to safe the lives of these 9 Olympians. However, they were unable and ultimately all 9 ended up losing there lives to the Palestinian terrorists. The park does a very good job at commemorating the lives that were lost. There are many memorials in both the Olympic park and the Olympic Village. During the trip we were able to learn about the violence in these games from Ben and Jake. It was very interesting to see how what they told us about in their lesson come to life from actually visiting the area where these terrible events occurred.

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Next, we went to visit the BMW museum. I’m sorry to tell you that none of you will be receiving a new car from you children/friends/acquaintances/enemies… But, nonetheless we had a very interesting time here looking at what our Gustavus Education will one day help us achieve. Too bad I am an elementary education major…

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Finally, we had our final lunch here in Europe. We all went to the Hofbrauhaus. While there our whole class ordered large apple juices and boy were they tasty. This old brewery/restaurant was able to really give us a good idea of the bavarian culture of lower Germany. We were able to try their delicious food and beer… uh… I mean apple juice. It was a great time to sit around with our classmates and reminisce about all of the good times we have had on this trip. The Hofbrauhaus is possibly the most famous beer hall in the world. It has a polka band that plays good old classics like the new Nicki Minage album. Just kidding, that music is terrible. Sadly, no one in our class was brave enough to get out on the dance floor and show off our polka skills. This beer hall serves 2,600 gallons a day of beer to their many patrons. We did our part to help.

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Our final day was quite the doozie. I think I can speak for us all to say that we are sad to be leaving Europe after all of the fun we have had here. However, it will be nice to get to relax and prepare for getting straight A’s next semester. Well Europe… See ya later! Chou! Danka!

Love Jack and Mark

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One Comment

  1. Kay King says:

    It’s been so much fun to experience your trip vicariously through this blog! I’ll have to find a new blog to check frequently during the day, waiting patiently for an update! You’ve obviously made memories that will last a lifetime (and likely others that, for one reason or another, didn’t quite make the cut for publishing here)! Thanks for letting those of us at home tag along!