16.06.2017 – 18.06.2017

For the past nine months or so I have been taking intensive German language classes. It has been extremely difficult but it is also a lot of fun. Parker is also learning German, just not as intensive of classes. One of the greatest challenges to learning High German (Hoch-Deutsch) in Switzerland, is that they don’t speak it here. Yup. The Swiss speak various dialects of Swiss German (Schweizer-Deutsch). Interestingly, these dialects vary from region to region. The Züri-Deutsch spoken in Zürich is different from Bern-Deutsch spoken in Bern. To make all of this even more complicated, Swiss German is not a written language. So all of the German you see written throughout Switzerland is in Hoch Deutsch. Confused yet? It is frustrating to not be able to listen, speak with, and understand the people I am around in Zürich.

We seriously love Munich. It is one of our very favourite cities we have visited. Parker and I were there two years ago and have been jonesing to return. We decided to take the quick 4 hour, 12 euro bus ride up to the city for the weekend. Parker and I decided this “academic excursion” would be beneficial as it would allow us to practice speaking with people there. It was incredibly fun and cool to be able to understand people walking down the street! We made friends in the biergarten to chat with, spoke with the various waiters and shopkeepers we encountered — all in German! IT WAS AWESOME.

To make it an even more interesting trip, we discovered it was the 858th anniversary of the founding of Munich. There were events all across the city to celebrate! It was a great trip and we are already trying to figure out when we can return.

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The Stats: 
29,804 Steps
2 FlixBuses
2 Buses
2 Trams
5 Metro Rides