Munich - 21 March (Sat)

We slept in a little bit, but of course the boys were up early. We let them eat earlier than the rest of us. Marc and Marcus showed up around 9:30 for breakfast, so we all ate together. Gabi rides horses every Saturday, so we didn't get to see her. We were able to pack our things and left around 11:00. Marc joked that he was ready, but he was destined to forget something one day soon! (foreshadowing) We had really enjoyed getting to know Mary, Charley, Marcus and Gabi. They were such interesting people to talk to about everyday things and they were very generous. We would love to see them again in the future! We've only started to explore the upper Franken region.

Marc had rented a small car, but they gave him a free upgrade to a nice Jetta. Munich was only about a 2 hour drive from Buchbrunn. The weather was clear and beautiful. Marc told us about the area as we drove. We drove past Erlangen (world-famous Triathlon location), Nürnberg, Ingolstadt (Audi's largest location) and Hallertau (world famous for growing Hops). It was a nice, fast ride.

In Munich, we drove past Allianz Arena, which is where Bayern-Muenchen (NY Yankees of German Soccer) play their games. It is an incredible stadium - possibly the most beautiful until they built the birds nest in Bejing.






We had to drop off the car at the main train station. Due to construction and general complexity of the large city, it was hard to find the place to drop off the car. Then, we remembered that we should put gas in the car, so we had to find gas quickly. Penny and Finn used the bathroom in the stinkiest gas station bathroom in all of Germany. At the train station, Marc had to file the paperwork for his car and then found out he had left his cell phone in the car, so had to run back for it (luckily he runs really fast!).

We took the U-bahn (underground subway) to the Schwabing area of Munich, which is not far from the city center and is a very hot place to live. Marc and Lena travel most of the week right now with their jobs. Their apartment is about 40 square meters (~420 square feet). We decided to put down our things, eat a snack and rest for a minute before heading back downtown. Penny and Marc went around the corner to a market to get some sandwiches for everyone. They were back in 5 minutes.

You can see how big Munich is from this picture in the direction of Schwabing.....



After this quick rest, we got back onto the train to go downtown to the famous pedestrian zone - Marienplatz. This long street has several very old and very famous landmarks. The most defining for the Munich skyline is the Frauenkirche.






I had forgotten about the Glockenspiel (musical clock) that chimes on the hour. We arrived there at almost exactly 5:00 and there were tons of tourists waiting to snap some pictures.





We passed through the Pedestrian areas on our way to the Viktualienmarkt. This famous market is filled with little booths selling all sorts of foods and gifts. You could really easily eat lunch or dinner here just buying things from the vendors. It was close to the end of the day here though, so we got a beer and did some people watching. The whole area was filled with people since it was Saturday afternoon.






On our way back, we stopped by a bookstore to warm up and to get some books for the kids. We found coloring books, colored pencils and markers. Penny also found some English books that Marc had recommended. I started to realize that it was going to be very hard to decide on which German books I would buy. I wanted all of them. Here's what Hugendubel looked like on the inside.....



We walked through the Pedestrian area a little longer and then headed back to Marc's apartment. We had already picked out a place that we wanted to eat that evening - only a stone's throw from his apartment. Marc stopped by to make a reservation for us and then we went back home to warm up and rest for a minute.

Our reservation at Wasserman's was for around 7:30 - a little late for the boys. It was a nice place that had advertised some regional specialties and also had a special on starkbier (e.g Bock and Doppelbock). It is currently Starkbierzeit (strong beer time). This time, during Lent, when people are fasting more often, is a time when you need a heavier beer to fortify yourself. Unfortunately, Wasserman was completely sold out of the Starkbier, so we stayed with our regular Hefeweizen. The food was great again - very basic, but traditional.

The boys fell asleep in the pub. We stayed a little longer - one extra round of beers and then I piggy-backed Keane back to the apartment. They fell asleep very easily. We stayed up a bit longer. Marc's back had been bothering him and he tried to insist that he sleep on the floor. We insisted that the boys would be better on the floor. Penny and I slept in Marc's bed. Marc slept on the fold-out couch. We all slept very soundly after a very fun-filled day of exploring.