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| Marienplatz - the Rathouse and the famous Glockenspiel |
This is the first day of our 7 week tour of Bavaria, Spain, Portugal, Provence, and Italy.
We arrived at the Munich airport around 10:30 AM. Naturally I hadn't slept on the plane, in spite of buying Premium Economy for the bargain price of an extra $710. That got us a few extra inches of leg room, and it is worth every penny! For an extra $1500 we could have had a bed!
After an € 80 taxi ride we got to the Hotel Leonardo. Little did I know that it is not centrally located. We arrived at 12:30 and were told we couldn't check in until 3:00. I begged to get in earlier, but the desk clerk said no. There is absolutely nothing of interest in this neighborhood, so we were soon back at the hotel. It's 1:15. There is this big circular seating area in the lobby, and I could stretch out and sleep there. At 1:30 the desk clerk ran over to me and told me our room was ready! I guess someone sleeping in the lobby looked bad for the hotel, and miraculously they found me a room! Good tip for future reference.
I collapsed on the bed and slept until 8:15. It was light out but pouring down rain and I literally didn't know if it was AM or PM. My iPhone said 8 PM but I wasn't sure it automatically changed to Central European time. For all I knew it was 8:00 in Colorado! It finally got dark around 9 so I figured it out and went back to bed.
We awakened to the birds singing, loudly, at 5:30 AM. We had breakfast in the hotel for - wait for it- for €26 EACH! It was a good buffet and there is nothing around that serves breakfast (Germans don't eat a big breakfast). The bread was outstanding, as is bread all over Europe. Why can't they make good bread like this in the States?
It quit raining so around 10 we headed to the Deutches Museum (Bob's idea). A 3 block walk and 2 stops on the tram, then another 3 or 4 blocks to walk to get to the museum. I was tired when we got there, and it's a man's museum. All about Power, electric, Marine engines, etc. I didn't care for it, although it is a very highly rated museum, if you like that stuff. Bob was here in 1964 and spent an entire day here, mostly in the aerospace exhibits. This time it wasn't there. They moved it to another facility miles away.
After a reasonably priced lunch of bratwurst and sauerkraut, we left the museum and headed to the Munich Residenz by bus. This was the palace of the Wittelsbach family (Mad King Ludwig). It was already past 3 and they were having trouble with the ticket machine, so we blew it of for today and went a few blocks to the Royal Gardens. Trip Advisor said this was not to be missed, but here it is:
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| The only flowers in the garden |
What a disappointment!
According to my iPhone, I walked 4.6 miles and climbed 4 flights of stairs (one was out of the underground because the escalator wasn't working. If you have ever been in a subway, you know how far down it is from the street. It was daunting. But it was early in the day and I had no problem. If it had been at the end of the day we'd probably still be there!
So ends my first day in Munich. The forecast for the rest of the week is rain. And thunderstorms. On Thursday we are taking a day trip to Salzburg. We were there in 2002 and I want to go back. In retrospect I wish I could have booked a day trip to Hitler's Berchtesgaden and the Eagles Nest, but it only runs two days week and we missed the first and won't be here for the second.
Tomorrow we have nothing planned beyond a walking tour of the Third Reich places where Hitler got his start. His brown shirts silenced all opposition. They would protest in the streets against the Weimar government, and crash political meetings and beat people up. It sounds exactly like what the Left is doing in our country. It's called Fascism.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's report.
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