Germany Day 8 - Shopping in Munich

Good morning!

 

We did not get enough sleep last night and I am starting to worry that I'm going to come back from this vacation utterly exhausted. Having only one master switch in the room is continuing to prove to be massively annoying. Jon wanted to charge his phone this morning but in order to do so he had to turn on all the lights which include two very bright ones directly over the bed. 

 

Boys in bed

Since sleeping in was out of the question, I joined James, Christian, and Camille for breakfast. The hotel has quite a spread, a full and fancy breakfast buffet. Of course there was lots of bread, sausages, and cheese. And a cook making fresh over easy eggs for anyone who asked. The orange and grapefruit juice was freshly squeezed and there was a comb of honey available for the bread. We ate our fill and then James and Christian left us to go to a car show, but I'll let him tell you about that. 

 

Today Christian and I split the party and decided to go to a car show 45 min south of Munich.  The trip did not start out great, I paid the ticket to get out of the garage, got to the gate and it would not let me through, then I had to back all the way up with cars behind me, parked again, went back to the machine and found that in fact my ticket was paid.  I got back in the car and when we got back to the gate it was open, I still don't know what happened.  After that adventure we were off, going through the city traffic then flying down the autobahn at nearly 130 MPH, our rental car was very fast.  Soon we made it to the Tegernsee auto show, it was not very large, maybe 100 cars in attendance but the cars were amazing, almost everything you would want to see and never thought you would see in real life, from pre-war Bentleys and Alfas to newer Lamborghinis Koenigsegges  and Ferraris. 

 

 

Christian was amazed looking around but what he really wanted to do was stand at the entrance to hear the cars come and go, hoping some would rev there engines for him. I think the most important car for him was a new Countach and for me maybe the pre-war Alfa race cars, it was something I did not think I would ever see in person.  Eventually we got lunch and waited at the entrance a bit longer hoping for something special.  Christian noted that is was like fishing, sometimes you see a lot right away and sometime you wait for an hr and nothing comes by. At around 2 pm we headed home for shopping in the city.  

 

After they had left, Camille and I convinced the older boys to join us on a shopping excursion. Really I just wanted them to help with the wheelchair for a bit, and because it would be good for them to get out of the room. Will and Jon walked us almost all the way down to the shopping district before setting off on their own. Since they'd skipped breakfast they were hungry but didn't want any of the German food we passed. Finally they found McDonald's and enjoyed some familiar food. I think I've gotten better as I've gotten older, either with expanding my pallet or with just knowing how to find food I like. But I still very much appreciate how difficult it is to have nothing but unfamiliar foods available. It can be very stressful, especially over long periods of time. 

 

Headless accordion player

After they left us the boys wandered and window shopped. They walked pretty far but failed to get any pictures. They did find an anime restaurant that they want to eat at tomorrow. Apparently it has lots of full size anime characters. They also found a good Boba restaurant and Jon was able to get a necklace.

 

Anime restaurant

In the meantime, Camille and I did some shopping. The wheelchair has been invaluable here because there is a lot of walking. The first thing we came to was the Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz. The Glockenspiel is a carousel like display that happens every day at specified times. We arrived just in time for the twelve o'clock show. After the church bells stopped ringing the Glockenspiel started up with its music. Soon the figures at the top began to turn, showing a scene depicting a wedding procession and a jousting tournament. When that had finished the dancing men below began to move. This scene depicts a time after a severe plague when barrel makers ventured out into the city and danced to raise the spirits of the population. 

 

Marienplatz

Rathaus (townhall)

Glockenspiel

                                                                                Joust

 

                                                                    Dancers

 After the Glockenspiel had ended, Camille and I set off for some shopping. We went to a large department store in search of some square German feather pillows, and visited a few small souvenir shops as well. By this point we were starting to get hungry so we stopped at one of the many restaurants and had a light lunch. I had a Bavarian appetizer of beef tartar, bacon, a pretzel, and cream cheese made from Camembert. The cream cheese was an utter delight. For drinks I ordered my usual coke and when the waiter brought our drinks over he said "here is the sparkling water, and here is your dark beer". I panicked for a moment and when we saw my face he laughed. "A joke, it is only a coke". I laughed too, he really had me!   

 

Church tower

The walk back felt a little long. We were both tired and it was threatening to rain. We felt a few drops but thankfully it didn't start fully raining. The streets here are not particularly wheelchair friendly. There are lots of cobblestones but the biggest difficulty is that at every crosswalk there is a lip from the sidewalk to the road. Even where they have tried to lower it is it not flat and we need to tip the wheelchair back to get the front wheels over. Will and Jon had made it home before us and even James and Christian got back to the hotel before we did. James came down and met us and helped push the wheelchair up the steep hill to our hotel. I'm so thankful for him!

 

Monk on a building

The rest of the day has been pleasant but unexciting. I had a nice nap, James got me and the boys kabobs for dinner and then took his mom to a restaurant so they could eat some pig knuckle. Jon and I were happy to skip that one. :-) Then tonight James and I took a long walk in the rain. We found a small cafe where we had some cake and Italian hot chocolate (which has seemingly no sugar at all) and we talked about the trip and our growing family. 

 

Munich at night

We have a lot of upcoming changes: adoption, marriage, a grandbaby, and Will's leaving. This is a year of change and it has been really nice to have this bit of time together before it all happens. Will and Jon have been particularly great on this trip, good company and good men. Neither of them has over indulged, despite the opportunity. And we've been able to have good conversations with them. This is the year too where they both step into adulthood in big ways. I am proud of the men they are becoming.