From Roselle to Rome : Munich and Lich

After Salzburg, we arrived in Munich. And there is a lot to see in Munich, but we truthfully didn't get to a whole lot. When we arrived, we got lost for the first and only time during our trip. So we took a quick 30 minute train detour to see a nice lake, but if that was the worst thing that happened during our week, we know that it was a good week. The Lord was definitely helping us out throughout the week, and again, the only response is gratitude. After finding our hotel, we went back into town and visited the Cathedral. While it was mostly bombed out in the war, it is still one of the biggest things to see in Munich. And inside, it was rather disappointing because it was whitewashed and rather modern. One of the most important things we have as Catholics is our churches, because God dwells in our Church. We don't just go there to pray and read the Bible. HE IS THERE. In the Eucharist. And that is why we need nice churches, because it is the house of God. Anyways, I can rant on that for a while, but I won't. The church, even though it was not very visually pleasing, was the former cathedral of one Cardinal Ratzinger, AKA Pope Emeritus Benedict! So that was pretty neat. After the cathedral, we went to the Hofbrauhaus to meet our good friend Sebastian for dinner. Sebastian, a German seminarian I met kind of randomly here in Rome, is an awesome guy and we ended spending 4 hours at the famous beer house, just hanging out with him. The beer here comes in liters, which is a lot of beer for one sitting. Sebastian, because he is German, had 2, which blew my mind. I stuck with one and was quite content. The next day, we went to an absolutely beautiful church for Mass and they had an impromptu Eucharistic procession after Mass. So that was pretty neat. But again, because it was Mass, no inside pictures for you. And after Munich, it was on to Lich!

Main platz in Munich

The two towers of the Cathedral

That is a liter of beer! With Sebastian and Peter!

After Munich, we hopped on the train, and after several transfers, made our way to Giessen, where my cousins would pick us up and drive us to Lich. Lich is a small town in Germany where my Grandma, my dad's mom, was born and raised. I still have family over there, so I was very much looking forward to visiting them. My last time there was in 4th grade, so while the memories aren't the brightest, they are still there, and it was great to be back. My cousins really took care of us and I could not be more grateful. They were incredible hosts and really showed us a good time. It was awesome to be with them, especially with my Aunt Marie. I know her the best of them all, so being able to spend some time with her was great. She hasn't been in the best health recently, so it was good to be able to just sit and chat with her a bit. My grandma is heading to Lich in a couple weeks, so she was very excited to talk about that. With my cousins, one of the highlights was seeing the church in Wetzlar, the town next to Lich. It was beautiful and some amazing art inside. I loved the Pieta, which was at least 700 years old. That was just incredible. It was kind of strange that the church was shared between the Catholics and Protestants, but there was still quite a bit of Catholic art, so it still made for a beautiful church. We also climbed to the top of a very historic clock tower in Lich, which was cool. While the pigeons inside kind of freaked me out, it was a lot of fun. We were forced to wear hard hats and hair nets, which I thought was rather unnecessary That is, of course, until I bashed my head on a beam coming down. Thank God for helmets, or else I would have been concussed. And one of the best things about Lich was Licher, the hometown beer. Licher is brewed right downtown and my cousins drink it like it's water. And now that I was there and not a 4th grader, I was able to enjoy some Licher. And even though I may be genetically pre-disposed to it, I loved Licher. It was just super good. My cousin Philip collects the bottle caps and turns them in for prizes, so we got quite a bit of Licher gear from him. It was just great. Being able to be with my family was awesome, and like I said, I could not thank them enough for their generosity. But on Saturday morning, we left Lich and took the train to Cologne and Xanten!