It's Thursday night here and I find it hard to believe that we've already been on the trip for 10 days, but we've done so much in the time we've been here, I realize it can't have been less than that either.

Germany was a wonderful beginning to the trip.  Munich has so much history, WWII and otherwise, that it was very strange to try to take it all in while also taking in being in Europe for the first time in general.  What I found most fascinating was how the Germans have found a delicate balance between recognizing the dark history of WWII while still moving forward.  For instance, we went to what is now the Munich University of Music and the Arts, which is housed in one of the buildings that formerly housed the Nazi Party, and we were able to see what was Hitler's office, which is now used for music classes and houses a Steinway Grand Piano.  In America, I'm so used to our historical sites either being destroyed or extremely roped off, this mixture of old and new seemed so strange, yet a very healthy way of moving forward; I found it quite fascinating, but very foreign.

I wish we'd had more time in Germany, but we sadly left after only a few days and headed to Austria.  This disappointment, however, quickly eased, as Austria was also very interesting and culturally, it really is largely an extension of Germany. We spent a few days looking around a bit of Innsbruck, though the second day was very rainy, which hindered exploration. Then we headed to Steinach, where we were planning to hike the Brenner Pass fleeing Nazis such as Mengele took to escape to Italy, but we weren't allowed to go up the Austrian side because of snow.  Instead, the day of the hike, we went just barely to the Italian side of the border, found the trail head, and hiked up until we were just on the Austrian side of the border, then hiked back down.  The hike was only an hour/hour and a half up, but it was a good 1300 vertical feet of almost all switchbacks through near rain, so we were all exhausted by the time we were done.  However, we were greeted by a nice open meadow and a wonderful view at the top, which made it very worth it.  It was a fun experience to do a hike like that, but like being in Hitler's office, it was very eerie to think that fleeing Nazis had walked the same path some 70 years ago.

Since then, and for the rest of the trip we will be in Italy, which has thus far been awesome to see and, compared to my expectations, surprisingly diverse, but that is something for another time.  Until then, I hope everyone reading this is doing well; I know we'll continue thoroughly enjoying ourselves here.

-Bret