Ed and Annette's Excellent European Adventure: What the heck...its freezing

Saturday we took the train from Salzburg to Munich; again beautiful countryside. We arrived in just 1.5 hours to the beautiful and extremely large Munich train station. As we got off the train we heard a roar of the crowd; I said it sounds like a soccer (European football) cheer. It only took us a few more steps before we realized that the trains from all over were bring in Bayner Munich football fans who were all headed to the stadium to watch their team play in the championship. We headed over to the food court for lunch as we watched the hundreds of enthusiastic fans arriving.

We went to the train ticket area to get our reservations for a future trip and were helped by a young woman from Northern California working the counter. She said she came for vacation and decided to stay for a while. She was super helpful and she was so happy to chat with some fellow golden state residents.

Like every other town the public transportation is great! We took a tram and got a quick view of the city. We got off one stop too yearly so it was more of a trek to our hotel than it needed to be. It is VERY cold and slightly raining...not comfortable at all. We decided to go to the laundry to wash all our clothes in a machine. So while Bill and I washed the girls went shopping. With clean clothes in hand we went back to the hotel then out in the nasty cold for a great Thai dinner. (We haven't gotten the hang of German food yet.)

Sunday morning in the Artic, I mean Munich, we got up and decided to find a bakery for breakfast before heading out to the sights. Did I say it is VERY cold? Six or seven celsius (it even sounds cold). Into the Underground a couple stops and we are in the center of the historical district. We arrived at the Odeonsplatz which was pretty empty however there was evidence (beer bottles) of football fans partying last night (its near the stadium). A quick peek into a church where service was in progress, then over to the museum and a park. We left this area and headed to the center of town. As were were walking we saw a great beer garden that we made a mental note to return for lunch. Fortunately we arrived at the New Town Hall precisely at 11:00 just in time to see the famous 1908 Glockenspiel clock tower striking. The extravagant display recreates a royal wedding from the 16th century. The duke and his bride watch jousting and dancing. The 8-10 minute production was great fun to watch. Directly following we found a McCafe to get something hot to drink and warm a bit.

It is still amazing to us that every store is closed on Sundays. This is really nice for family time but difficult for tourists trying to "shop" and get out of the cold. We found a museum on the history of Munich which was interesting in parts and just plain weird in parts. With stomachs growling we realized it was already 2:00 p.m. so time to go back to the beer garden for "linner" (lunch-dinner). We tried again to enjoy a traditional meal. Bill, who has been the most courageous, ordered meatloaf. It was some kind of pressed meat cut molded into a loaf and sliced. He decided not to ask what it was made from - good call. Beth's meat and cheese platter had some nasty head cheese that remained on her plate. The pretzels were good but they charged us 15 euro for the two baskets. We forgot that you don't touch the bread on the table if you don't want to pay for it!!!

Full from lunch?! We headed into the Frauenkirche - a Gothic-style church built in the late 1400's. Too cold to do anything else we headed back to the hotel; I went to the gym and sauna to get some exercise and to warm up. So far Munich has been hard to enjoy. We will try again tomorrow; we hope for a little warmer weather.