Nachdem eine Reise durch Deutschland...WE'RE BACK!!!!

Family,

We’re back!!!!! And a good evening to you from across the Pond. I hope that everyone is doing well and having a FANTASTIC Labor Day weekend. Today found us back at home after 11 days on the road in the continent, and I have to tell you – WHAT AN AMAZING TIME WE HAD.

Okay, I figure the best way to do this without the entire readership getting bored and running off is to break it into chunks, so today we’ll cover the Munich leg of the trip. And so, without further ado:

First off, Rice – you were 100% spot on – Bavaria is pretty much my vision of Heaven. Perfect weather, friendly people, great food, and FANTASTIC BEER. For those of you have visited (or lived there before in the case of the Shogun) Bavaria, I’m sure you’ll agree. For those of you that don’t know, here are some of the key points:

1. There are 6 breweries in Munich – yes, that is DEADLY.

2. Food in Munich is exactly what you think of when you think of Germany – 47 different kinds of sausages and a meatloaf that is…well, a huge hunk of meat in the shape of a loaf of bread (leberkase….ummmmmm…).

3. There are beer gardens EVERYWHERE, and you just belly up to a table and start chatting with the cats beside and in front of you (and don’t worry, they all speak English).

4. The Glockenspiel “performance” is like ten minutes long. By the time it’s over, your neck is BROKEN from looking up.

Okay, let’s start with (a messy) day one. We caught a 4:45 taxi for the airport, and we were on the ground in Munich by 10. After checking into the hotel, we followed brother Riegel’s advice and hit the Viktualenmarkt, which is basically their open food market. After some leberkase with sweet mustard and bratwurst (and beer, of course), we wandered to one of the most famous (and touristy) spots in Munich – the Hofbrau Haus. There we jammed with the band and hung out with our new local friend Edmund, who proudly told us that “the Smithsonian in DC has nothing on the Deutches Museum.” Well, I’ll tell you one damn thing the Deutches Museum has that the Smithsonian doesn’t – an EIGHTEEN EURO PRICE TAG. Thanks, but I’ll stick to the dinosaur bones I can see for free.

After 2 liters of Hof brau (3 so far for the day), we went to the Englischer Gardens and the Chinese Tower, which is apparently the second largest park in the world. There, we walked through the naked meadow (that’s right – as in NO CLOTHES), where I saw some images I won’t be able to carve from my memory even with a cranial saw. The key point to note here – THERE ARE NO FEMALE SUPERMODELS IN THE NAKED MEADOW – ONLY A TON OF DUDES WHO LOVE THE FACT THAT THEY CAN BE NAKED WITHOUT BEING THROWN IN JAIL WHERE OTHER PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY LIKE TO SEE THEM NAKED. Let’s just say I thought about stripping down myself because I knew the “spare tire” would NOT have been the least attractive feature there.

At the Chinese Tower, I went to get MORE BEER and came back to find this dude hitting on Jenny. When I sat down (thereby confirming she WASN’T LYING ABOUT HAVING A HUSBAND), the dude didn’t go away but preceded to talk to us for another 20 minutes. Classic. The Germans claim to be very tolerant – good thing I was as well.

By the time we’d left the gardens, we’d had 5 liters of beer. That’s right – picture a 2 liter Diet Coke, and fill it with strong beer. We’d had two and a half of those when we decided to walk home in a new city without a map. The result? We showed up BACK AT OUR TABLE AN HOUR LATER and had to take a cab home. As we neared our hotel, the cabbie said, “I know a great brewery where you can get good food and beer.” Five minutes later, we were at the Augustiner Brau, where we had another liter of beer and more sausage. Yeah, we slept pretty good that night…

The next day found us up early (believe it or not) and out to BMW World. This place was great – I got to drive a simulator 4 wheel drive in snow in the Bavarian Alps, sit on some of the motor cycles, and see tons of really, really expensive cars.
It was “delivery day,” where folks from the states fly over to Munich and pick up their cars. They then have 14 days to drive around Europe, at which point they leave their cars at the nearest airport, fly home, and then have the car shipped to them. Yeah, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

After that, we toured the Olympic Village, site of the 1972 Summer Games. The Highlights included walking onto the pitch where the 1974 World Cup was played and seeing the pool where Mark Spitz won 7 Gold Medals (now a public pool for 3 Euros a day). It was a really¸ really neat tour.

Throw in a crepe and a visit to the Olympic tower to view the city, and you have a recipe for success. We hit the Lowenbrau Brewery that night and then had dinner under the Glockenspiel in Marianplatz. All in all, another GREAT day.

The next day saw the two extremes of German history. We started at Dachau. I think Brother Riegel summed it up best when he said “A sobering memorial to some of the darkest days of humanity’s history.” Not much else to add to that – I’m really glad I went, and I hope to never go back.

What followed, however, will definitely be a repeat at some point in our lives. On the Shogun’s suggestion, JT and I hopped a train with the locals and found our way to Rosenheim, Germany, site of “Herbstfest” and the second biggest beer fest in Deutschland. Gang, this was AWESOME – talk about a truly hilarious time. First we hit up the Auer Brau tent, where Jenny made some new friends. And Sean & Ray, you’ll be happy to know that the old Macguyver looking dude thinks that Obama is a “great man who will fix all.” I’m not sure what “all” entails, but he was too happy for me to harsh his mellow. However, I did get his address to ask about your respective fences and lawns. I’ll let you know when I get a response...

After the Auer Brau tent, we rolled over to the Flotzinger Brau tent, where we found a much younger (and rowdier) crowd. These cats knew how to party, and they knew the words to EVERY song that the massive band played. I will say that, at one point, they played Sweet Caroline, and I was clearly the ONLY CAT IN THE JOINT that had ever heard it. Carolina people (both North and South) – it was a disappointment to be the only person in a tent of 5 thousand saying “Bum-Bum-Bum-Good times never seems so good-SO GOOD-SO GOOD-SO GOOD!” But such is life…

The next day was back into the city, where we saw the Glockenspiel go, went up the Frauenkirche, went into Peterkirche (kirche=church), ate at the Viktualenmarkt again, hit the garden again (even more naked dudes this time – I will never recover), saw the surfers on the Isa River (you have to see it to believe it), hit the Hofbrau Haus, and finally had dinner at the Lowenbrau Keller before rolling home to pack and sleep.

I’ll give you the next 4 days (and maybe even the rest of the trip) tomorrow, but I figure you’ve had enough for tonight.

So that’s DEFINITELY all the news that’s fit to print. Chat tomorrow! It’s great to be home! Bring on the payroll implementation (and new job for muffin puffin)!

Love,

Sam and Jenny