We follow the Rhine on our way to Bavaria and its capital, Munich (Hansie Heaven). Our orientation tour includes the Marienplatz, with the famous Glockenspiel. Tonight, experience a typical Bavarian beer hall.
This morning I got up at 6:15, after 7 heavenly hours of sleep. So far this hotel has been pretty good. It reminds me a bit of the bed and breakfasts in New England, just bigger. My feelings would soon change... The shower was cold, not just not warm, but COLD, and the shower head had a life of its own. It may have been the worst shower I've ever had in my life. The breakfast was ok, bland cereal and good tea.
Off we went to a presentation on steins; interesting and brief, just the way I like these demonstrations. I went across the street and bought teddy bears for Max and Luke, my nephews. While waiting to get on the bus I found out what happened to all the hot water, Simon took a shower at 5am and used all the hot water! grrrrrrrr. So that's how I met Simon, but he's so lovable that I got over it. Ok, I might never get over it, but I can forgive him. After finally getting on the bus, I had to run off so I could see the worlds largest coo coo clock come to life, I think it made some noise and little dancers went around in a circle a couple times. Thank god I didn't miss that!
At 8:30 we headed out for Munich. Our first stop was around 11:30 for lunch it was a bit nerve racking as I had to try and order German food in Germany. I think I ended up getting Chicken, but I'm not positive. Then I had to pay to use the bathroom, but at least this one cleaned itself, the toilet seat spun around and had a cleaning thing in the back, pretty cool. At least I got a clean toilet for 50 euro cents.
We finally got to the Holiday Inn in Munich around 3:30 and had 45 minutes to get ready to head into the city. I got to see Munich's Olympic Stadium, it had a cool web design. The Holiday Inn was sooooo nice, I wanted to stay there all night, but in the end I did decide to go out. The hotel was clean, we had a balcony, and a menu for what type of pillow we wanted, I opted to stick with the one on the bed. The funny thing was that other people mentioned that when they walked into their rooms, they felt the same way, lets just stay here tonight. But everyone went out.
Off we went on the Metro to Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel, or Glock Rock as Hans called it. Lets just say this was a step up from the worlds largest coo coo clock, but not a big step. After that the group was off to the Hofbrauhaus. After getting seats I went off with Nicola, Laurie, Monica, and Mel for a little shopping. I bought myself some sandals and some of the other girls got shirts. Then a couple of us broke off to head back for dinner and beer. I had some yummy goulash and a Rodun (half beer and half lemonade). I chatted a bit with Ryan for the first time, and got a good laugh at everyone getting drunk. Most people seemed to have between 2 and 4 liters of beer. I think it was sheer luck that got some people home that night. 
At 10:00 Hans and Reuben rounded us up to go back to the hotel. Thankfully Reuben took us to the metro, a couple of us got on the wrong train and he had to save us. Who knows where we would have ended up. We got to be the loud obnoxious group in the train station. Some guy looked so mad at us, his face was bright red and he was holding his ears. On the train there was some poor guy surrounded by us who looked very unhappy. Kamala started talking to him in German, eventually he moved over and made a seat for her. Then he told her that he could speak English, he he.
Back at the hotel I had a nice little chat with Reuben about skiing and snowboarding. At his home in Austria he can sometimes ski or board from the mountain right to his door. How nice is that! After finding out he's a bit nutty on skies and boards I got to check my email. Who wouldn't want to get an email from Munich??? While emailing I found Michael's (Canada) camera on the table and rescued it. I got to bed at 12:30.
