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. 

Germany Day 7 - Krun to Munich

This morning we woke up early to clean up our ferienwohnung (vacation house) and pack for our trip to Munich. I am so thankful for James. We work well together and have a good rhythm. He has certain things he takes care of, I have certain things I take care of, but both of us know almost without speaking when we need to jump in and help the other. The cleaning and packing went smoothly and we were able to get out of the house exactly at 10am. James had packed the car so perfectly that even though we were all jammed in, none of us needed to have luggage on our laps. 

 

Luggage tettris

For breakfast we went to the little cafe James and I had been to the day before. I'd loved the chocolate croissants and cinnamon things, but I was thrilled to discover that everything in the place was equally as delicious. Christian got a ham and cheese in a pretzel baguette that was divine. There was only one of them but he was kind enough to share it with me. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and the best I'd ever had. 

 

The breakfast cafe

 

Enjoying breakfast

Even after a leisurely breakfast, we still had time to kill before we could check into our hotel. So we decided to take the private toll road to the town of Bad Tolz. This was the one lane road our navigation had tried to take us down on our way to Herrenchiemsee, but today we had the time to actually enjoy it. The road was very curvy and incredibly narrow, maybe a one and a half lane road. Everytime we came across a car going the other way, one of us needed to pull over. Thankfully it wasn't a particularly busy road.  

 

The forest road

A covered bridge

The Isar

Cloudy mountains

The road followed the Isar river, the river that runs through Munich. It is a beautiful and broad river that has carved its way through the valley floor. There are wide swaths of dirt and gravel on either side as well as sandbars (or gravelbars?). It reminds me very much of the Saco river up in Conway, NH. It's a cloudy and periodically rainy day today and the clouds are covering the mountains. It is a haunting look. 

 

The Isar

The Isar spreading out

The forest in clouds

I love these clouded mountains

At one point the river opened up to a deep turquoise lake. We pulled over for pictures and found a swimming area with a raft out in the water. There were three motorcyclists enjoying the lake and if it hadn't been so very cold I would have gone swimming too. It was stunning. 

 

James takes a picture

The tempting raft

 

Emerald Lake

Eventually we found ourselves in Bad Tolz, a charming but hilariously named little town on the river. The shopping district was on a steep hill and the street was lined with beautifully painted stores. These shops were more normal rather than particularly touristy like the shops in Mittenwald. We did get some very expensive and fancy gelato and while we were enjoying it we met a woman and her son who were vacationing from the Netherlands. We chatted for a bit and I think she was trying out her English. Occasionally she'd ask her son for help with a word.   

 

Camille waits for gelato

The view from the gelato restaurant

Bavarian clothing

Walking around Bad Tolz

One of the many painted buildings

The last bit of the drive to Munich went slowly because we hit a bit of traffic and construction. James says that Germans are a lot nicer now than he remembers. Every time someone lets us merge or pulls over on the one lane roads he is pleasantly surprised. And aside from those few notable exceptions, all the Germans we've talked to have been very kind too. The woman at the Krun information booth was particularly friendly. Hopefully we'll have good experiences in Munich as well. 

Christian amuses himself on the drive

Our hotel is a Holiday Inn but it used to be called the Forum and it is where James and his family used to stay during his childhood. We have two family rooms and Christian is sharing one with Camille while Jon and Will are on the couch in our room. Like the car, these "family" rooms seem to be designed by someone who doesn't actually have or travel with a family. The couch pulls into a rather nice bed, but there is no door between it and the bedroom. Instead there is a large open archway between the rooms so that one of the people in the bedroom are in full view of the rest of the hotel room. I'm making James sleep on that side. The other ridiculous thing is that there is only one main light switch. The light switch next to the bed turns off all the lights in the hotel room, including the power to the desk where we were trying to charge our phones and laptops. Like the car it feels like this room is designed to be only comfortable for one person, despite ostensibly being able to accommodate more.  

 

We were all very tired but we still needed to find some dinner. So instead of availing ourselves of the many nearby restaurants, we decided to walk 20 minutes into town to go to the Hofbrauhaus. This was completely my fault because I didn't want to miss it. We'd been here the last two times we were in Germany, once the year we got married and once with the boys, and James and his family have been coming here his entire life.   

 

The back of the Hofbrauhaus

The Hofbrauhaus is a very famous tavern in Munich. The seating was in the German beer hall style, open seating at large tables. You seat yourself and usually sit with strangers wherever you can find an open seat on a bench. The tables are crammed in together and the noise from hundreds of conversations was rather overwhelming. There is also a live German band which plays loud Bavarian tavern music every 5 to 10 minutes. 

 

 

The band 

The band

The place was packed when we came in. I found out later that the Hofbrauhaus can seat 1,300 people and that does not surprise me. There were certainly more than 500 people on the first floor alone. We wandered for a while, which was difficult with the wheelchair, but didn't have to wait too long before we found a recently vacated table with enough seats. There were two young women sitting on the other end and during the evening Camille struck up a conversation with them. When she found out they were graduate students she tried to set them up with Will, and one of the girls did want to talk, but he wasn't interested.  

 

Pictures can't capture the constant noise

The Hofbrauhaus is a place you go for the atmosphere and the beer. It is not a place for fast service. But it was impossible to fault the staff for that because they were clearly working incredibly hard trying to serve so many people. Waiters and waitresses would go by with their arms full of large mugs of beer, or with trays piled so high with food it seems incredible anyone could lift them. Someone did drop a glass, not one of the big mugs, and it shattered near us. Will noticed that they missed some pieces when they swept it up so he got down on the floor and picked them up. He's a good man.  

Grandma and Christian

Raise a glass

Trying the maß of beer

Camille enjoys her maß

They serve their house beer in a maß or mass (sounds like mahs) which is a 1 liter glass mug. We ordered three different house beers to try and share with the table. Christian was very excited and completely forgot that he'd sworn off alcohol. Jon doesn't seem to like beer very much and we discovered tonight that it makes James sick. So it was mostly Will, Camille, and Christian who enjoyed the maß. The food wasn't fancy but it was good. I loved my roasted chicken but Will said his food all tasted like sausage. 

I tried the beer

I do not like the beer

 

Christian enjoys the maß he is sharing with James

Decorations in the Hofbrauhaus

 

Will enjoys his food

It was after 10:30 by the time we made it back to our hotel and we were all very tired. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring but hopefully we'll have a chance to rest. 

Goodnight!

Germany Day 6 - Mittenwald

My hopes for the end of jet lag were dashed last night. I went to bed early but not only failed to go to sleep, but continually woke up every time I drifted off. One difficulty we have here is that the Germans have no A/C. This actually wouldn't be a problem because it does cool down at night, but they also have no screens and no fans. When we open the window to let in the cool air, it also lets in the bugs. The heavy curtains help keep the bugs out, but also significantly impede the airflow. So we are left in a room that is too warm for the one heavy blanket that is provided (they have no top sheets!) and too cool to sleep without any blanket, which means I wake up multiple times to either put on or take off the comforter. Screens and a small fan could solve this problem so easily!

 

Jonny Lennon

Last night Jon had a fire in his little wood stove. It was beautiful and because I also tend towards unreasonable anxiety, I did check on it multiple times in the night when I woke up. It was of course completely safe but good luck telling my brain. Anyway, despite the lack of sleep James and I had decided to get up early so we could spend some time together. It can be hard getting time to talk alone and it is so necessary for us! Our marriage is built on our conversations. 

 

James ran to the store to grab his mom some breakfast, and then we headed off. The original hope was to drive to a high meadow but we left too late and couldn't be gone that long. Instead we went into Garmish, failed to find parking for a waterfall, and ended up at a cafe where we had the best chocolate croissant and an amazing cinnamon thing that just melted in your mouth. We went on to Grainau and managed to spend a few minutes at Eibsee before it was time to head home. Despite the lack of time outside, we were completely refreshed by the two hours we had alone. Life is changing fast but we have determined to do what is in front of us and trust God with the many things that are out of our control. 

 

Eibsee

Once home we did our best to collect everyone so we could head out. Before we left the cat came back. Christian gave him some milk which he drank and then just left. Christian cried out in shock, "he's just using me!" 

 

We went to lunch at an Italian restaurant we'd been to 13 years ago on our last trip here. On that trip Jon had stolen my gnocchi and this time I was determined to have my own plate! It's funny what memories stick in your head, for some reason this is one. He didn't really steal it of course, I gave it to him because I love him. But it is something I've teased him about for years. He does have good taste in food. 

 

The restaurant is Osteria da Fabio in the heart of the walking district in Mittenwald. Jon and I both ordered the gnocchi this time and the food did not disappoint. Everyone's meal was delicious. Jon could finally eat! Although he was a little mad. He complained to James, "You knew this was here? It is15 minutes away! You knew this was here the whole time and we ate here on the last day?!?" It made me smile. And not only was the food delicious, the waitress, who could only speak German, was incredibly kind and patient. Jon is right, with great food and service so close we should have been eating here every day!

 

Jon stealing my food again!

Christian eats James' food after finishing his own.

Enjoying dinner

Christian's dinner (Christian's pic)

Then it was time for a little window shopping before heading home early. Tonight is our last night in Krun and we need to clean the vacation house and pack so we can leave early for Munich tomorrow. 

Will and Jon

The shopping district

 

Tiny car!

The flowers of Mittenwald

The church in Mittenwald

Jumping over a fountain

Speaking of cleaning, the German waste system is famously fastidious and irritating. I can confirm that this is true. James has handled most of it and I confess there have been times where I've just left trash lying around because I didn't know where to put it. The time James has put into sorting, organizing and deciphering the system is impressive. He's also been responsible for the bottles. There is a recycling machine which accepts them and James says it is like an ancient god. Sometimes it will deem your sacrifice acceptable and sometimes, for no discernible reason, it will reject it.  

 

Mountain clouds

It's dark now and we need to get up early. I'm hoping to get in a last bath tonight in the beautiful tub they have here. And I'm looking forward to Munich where I expect to have more time to relax and possibly catch up on my sleep before the flight home. 

Good night!