Bowers Blog: Monday July 5, 2010

MUNICH! We were up early and showered. Matthias made breakfast sandwiche to take on our drive. The kids had all been up late, so they were dragging. We left around 8:30. Sections of the audubon were slower, but we traveled the majority of the time at 110 to 115 mph! It was about a four hour drive. The Adidas and Puma headquarters were on the way. It was the first time I had ever seen fields of hops plants, for making beer. In Bavaria, the fields exist, like vineyards do in Napa Valley.

Hops...the starting point for beer

In Bavaria, you see these fields for miles and miles!

Upon arriving in Munich, we walked through the Aldstadt, or old town. It was blocks and blocks of streets closed to traffic. There were tons of people and alot of bikes. In Munich, they have traffic lights especially for bikes. We walked to the starting point for a bus tour of the city. Matthias didn't know where it was, but the world is his friend, so he asks. The tour took a little over an hour.

Not sure if they were Tibeten, but their music had an odd quality sound.

Lots of walking and no traffic to worry about.

Are they listening to the Chinese or Russian version of the tour?

Frick -n- Frack

Something tells me they've been on this tour befoer? Nice hat Matthias!

The tour was great, with headsets translating the tour guide into a bunch of languages. Of course, Josh and Brandon were listening in Chinese and Russian alot of the time. Like they understood any of it! The scenes in Munich are really quite breathtaking and interesting. Julie and I have ageed, we could come back and spend an entire week, just in the city of Munich.

One of the city gates.

Lots of old buildings

City hall, I believe. It had a clock that performed on the
hour, like a Coo-Coo clock. Only this thing was massive.

Another portion of city hall

An art museum, I think. (I should have created
this blog upon our return!)

This is a "public viewing" venue set up for watching Germany's
soccer team in the World Cup.

I think this was the Nazi headquarters

A small portion of a giant open air market.

A little toy, with Dubai license plates. Somehow, I think I should
have been allowed to drive it, since my gas purchases over the years
have surely paid for the thing!

It's the size of a love seat, with a whole lot of little horseys!

We then stayed on the tour, until we reached the stop closest to the park, where the English Garden is. It was still a long walk through what I believe is the largest city park in the world.

They had a boom box providing background music and were singing opera.
It was really very good.

Turning around from the opera singers, this
was your view.

The English Garden is a gigantic beer garden, with open picnic style seating, trees, a self-serve eatery and beer. Lots of beer in 1.5 litre mugs. Oom pa pa oom pa pa comes to mind! This was a nice cool break for lunch, on another hot day. The weather wasn't actually too hot. It was in the 80's today and really near perfect. At home, my sister Sheryl, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said it was in the mid 90's, with 84% humidity. For those of you NOT from Ohio, yes, you can have 84% humidity and it not be raining! When we arrived at this huge beer garden, it had a Chinese tower. Why in an English Garden? Not sure, but it was cool. Our lunch consisted of the largest soft pretzel I've ever seen; a white sausage, with sweet mustard; a type of brie and onions; and, of course, a cold beer. It was all really good.

This lady had eatten some of her pretzel already and look at the
size of it, compared to her hand!

One note, the taxis in Munich are Mercedes Benz. I mean, what else WOULD they be?! Sorry, I'm another annoying American tourist that just couldn't stop taking pictures. Especially of taxis that are luxury cars at home!

Our next stop took us to the Haufbruhaus, like the one in Cincinnati, Ohio. Of course, this one was the model for the one in Ohio. I hear from our friends, the Demi's, in Pittsburgh, they too have a Haufbruhaus. Sounds like a road trip! We stopped here for another beer. The kids were really tired, a result of them being up late...AGAIN! So, we headed off to our next stop.

The original burned down a number of years ago. So, this is a fairly
new building.

Hard to make out, but look at the suspenders on the man, with his chin
resting on his hand. Also, look at the far left man, with his back to you...he's
wearing the little green hat. These are authentic Bavarians and are wearing
"laterhausen". (I know I butchered the spelling of that word!)

Our next stop was the Olympic Stadium. Unfortunately, it was later in the day and we were all very tired, from a full day of walking and site seeing. So, we drove around it and I took a picture, but we didn't go on the tour. Oh well, next trip!

Matthias was really tired by now and since he was our chauffer, we drove to our hotel, which was about 30 miles southwest of Munich. The hotel was really cool, with rooms for us and the kids, in the suite. Everyone used the bathroom and we met the Bodes in the parking lot to walk to dinner. The Bodes were in a separate building. The hotel is an old style Bavarian inn. The lady at the reception area was exactly what you would expect...Bavarian dress...blondish hair...an ample boosom! We walked several hundred meters, up the hill, to a monastary. This village is called Andechs. The monestary goes by the same name. We ate on one of its patios, overlooking the valley and had our first glimpse of the Alps, in the distance. There was a storm to the south, so it was cloudy, but we could still faintly see them. Dinner was incredibly good! Matthias had heard of this place and was looking forward to dinner. He ordered pig's knuckle for me. It came with dumplings and a brown beer sauce. Julie had some type of pork and little noodle type things that were awesome. It was a great evening...the food...the company...the scenery! It rained for a while, on our walk back, but not alot. It was our first nights sleep in a room that wasn't hot! Nice cool weather. Love it.