Sunday in Munich, continued

Just a few notes of thoughts as we have been traveling. One thing Leo noted today was that for the last several days as we have been driving in the country, he has smelled a manure smell. It wasn't a strong disgusting smell, in fact very earthy. He said he's sure that that is what the farmers here use to fertilize their crops - unlike back at home where they spray chemicals. Just an interesting comment.

Also another note, I have commented 2 times to local people here...one to a waitress and I told her the food was really good and the other was the fraulein that took care of the breakfast this morning...and I thanked her. Here's the interesting part...they looked sort of shocked and just stared. Afterwards I think I figured it out. In Germany when you say "das schmeckt" it means that it tastes good...but literally it means "it tastes". The phrase "das schmeckt gut" does not exist. So the gist of this is that here it is assumed that if you cook or put food out that, of course, it's going to taste good. I repeat....it is assumed...and it's no surprise that all their food is good (if you don't believe me, go to a conditorei!!)

Ok...back to today. So tonight we are staying in Erding...a town a bit NE of Munich. We did this to stay out of the traffic of Munich and to be able to take the S bahn into Munich so we wouldn't be driving after a trip to the Hofbrauhaus. Matt & Andy...we were wondering if this was the town where you stayed...and if so..if you might have stayed at the hotel where we are called Kastanienhof??? Here's a picture of the bed in our room:



We checked in early today (around 2:00) and took the S bahn into Munich (it's like an above ground subway, but it goes underground when it gets to Munich). The ride took about 50 minutes. We got off in Marienplatz, the center of the city where the famous glockenspiel is (that's a tall, ornate towered building with a clock and when it strikes the hour...well only certain hours of the day...then the little figures in the tower, twirl and dance around. One of those hours was 5:00 and so we had an hour to burn so what else could we do but sit in a cafe and have a beer while waiting. All the tables were full of people who were waiting for the chimes to begin, but by some miracle, someone got up from the prime spot on the corner closest to the glockenspiel and we then got their table...it was the best location of all! Here's Leo at the cafe with the glockenspiel in the background:




Here's a detail of the wonderful bubbles in the beer. Matt, this one's for you:



Here's Leo watching as the glockenspiel was in action:




Actually, before sitting down with the beer, I took another same place photo like yesterday's at Rothenburg. (Another one, Marilyn)
Here's the photo of the print:




And here's what I took today:





Not bad...but they are cleaning up one of the church towers on the left...so it's covered in scaffolding...oh well...I'm still pleased with the likeness.

So after the glockenspiel went off, we immediately wound through the streets and arrived at the Hofbrauhaus. We each ordered a huge liter stein of German beer. Prost!




Oh yeah...we got the best table in the house...right across from the oom-pah-pah band! Here's a detail of the ceiling...note the pretzel in the middle (actually on the top of the photo)




Another detail:




Here's Leo studying the menu: His learning the German language was spent entirely of looking at German menus online. So here he is putting his skills to the test:



And would you look at the size of that mug!! (oh...not Leo's face....the beer stein!)



Delia, Andy, and Darcy, the band didn't play the chicken dance like at Blob's, but they did play some great Bavarian music...including I don't know how many rounds of "Ein prosit"...where everyone hoists their liter stein and sways it back and forth, clinking your stein with everyone else at your table and then taking a drink. At each of these times, I was very thankful for having a successful rotator cuff repair and surgery that enabled me to lift high that heavy stein!

We did finish those huge steins, believe it or not:



Empty!!

And here's a photo of an old Bavarian guy, dressed in the traditional lederhosen, who's hoisted a few steins in his lifetime! He was awesome!



Now that's a lot of flair!!

We walked back to Marienplatz and down to the U bahn or S bahn station and took it back to Erding.

Today is a miracle...we stayed away from the conditoreis!!

When we got back, Leo went to bed and I went down to the sauna here at the hotel and sweated off some of that liter of beer. Holy Smokes...that sauna was really hot...it felt like about 150 degrees.There was a dry one and a steam one. I only lasted about 10 or 12 minutes in each.

Tomorrow we head farther south in Bavaria.

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Location:Munich