Munich

What a difference a day makes. Between it warming up a bit, the sun shining in a faultless blue sky, enjoying a much better tour and meeting some people on the tour, Munich glows!

The day dawned bright and clear, and after a light breakfast I headed over to the Marienplatz, with the idea of doing a half-day tour to Dachau, which is only outside of Munich. Unfortunately, the tour takes about 4 ½ - 5 hours, so that would make it difficult to make the train to the airport. What to do? The viewing platform at the top of the townhall tower beckoned, and on a clear day like this the view should be spectacular. It didn’t disappoint. Munich at your feet and the Alps lining the southern horizon. Also, the Glockenspiel is right above the viewing platform, and the bells, although louder, are much clearer and the music more melodious. Maybe the tour-guides should take a visit up there.

On descending, I saw one of the tour groups heading out from the Marienplatz, and asked to join them. It was a straight-forward walking tour of the city, like I tried to do yesterday, but this was with another comany. It turned out to be wonderful. The guide was well informed, didn’t try to be the comedian, and took us all over the city. The group was congenial, and I met some guys from Seattle (we later had lunch together) and a couple from Texas, the woman of which came originally from New Brunswick (her accent belied her roots, though; she had more drawl than Bush!).

Surfers are not only to be found in California, but also in central Munich. Who knew? A part of the river goes through a narrow channel, and a barrier makes a strong crest in the fast-moving water. There were about a dozen guys in wet-suits taking turns jumping into the river on their boards and riding the crest. They rode the crest back and forth across the width of the river (only about 30 feet), but stayed on the top of the crest. As soon as one fell over and floated down past the crest, another guy threw his board in and landed right on top of it, on the crest. Quite the scene, and not what you’d expect in Bavaria in October!

We finished the tour near the Viktualenmarkt, and three of us – Travis, John, and I headed over to the Hofbrauhaus, for lunch. They are on stop-over on the way to India for their third long vacation in that part of the world. John commented that tourists either love India or hate it; there’s almost no middle ground! Some day!Beer is only available in litre mugs, and we each had ‘typical’ Bavarian fare. An older couple a the end of our table joined our conversation and told us a bit about living in Munich. Seems most sensible Munichers stay away from Oktoberfest. Some millions of people come here over the two weeks. They had spent the day ‘in town’ and were having lunch before heading home.

Apparently I had committed a bit of a faux-pas by trying to eat my Oktoberfest cookie – the big heart-shaped gingerbread cookie at the hotel. Purely decorative! People walk all over Munich with these on strings around their necks during Oktoberfest, but don’t eat them. And with good reason. The woman beside us congratulated me on having such good teeth, as many a tooth has been broken on them!

I’m at Munich airport, and waiting for the flight to be called. All looks well, and it should be a good, though long flight. We leave at 6:10 p.m on Sunday and arrive in Capetown at 5:30 a.m. on Monday.