Munich - Day 1 -
We are awakened by the lights in the flight attendant's area turning on. They are beginning to prepare our coffee for the morning. We are about an hour and a half from landing. I want to try to sleep a little longer but I can't. Jim is also starting to wake. Slowly I see people waking up, stretching, moving about..
Breakfast is served. Not enough coffee though! I talk to the lady across the aisle form me and find out they are headed to Greece. She and her husband and another couple are on a mission trip.
People are beginning to open their window shades and let the light in. It's about 7:30 am and we are down to about 30 minutes prior to landing. Jim and I are looking out the window at the beautiful farms and all the green landscape. Stunning!
We have a very nice landing. I love nice landings. As we depart the plane, we laugh at the disaster that is left for the flight attendants to clean. They try so hard to collect trash prior to landing but people just end up leaving so much behind.
We get to the customs line. It seems all of the customs officials are very young. And they are very friendly. We begin talking to a couple in front of us. As we continue to talk to them we find they are ski instructors in North Carolina. Wonderful people who gave us their business card and told us to visit. As they go through customs, the customs agent asked the man "are you traveling with her?" , pointing at his wife. He laughs and responds, "yes.... Unless you would like her". It was quite funny to all of us, except the customs agent. He just didn't get it. :-)
Jim and I make it through customs with no problem and head to Avis to get our rental car. Quite an experience after hardly any sleep. But we managed. We ended up with some SUV type of Opal. Don't really know what it is, but I like it. We made sure the GPS was set on English and off we
We get to Munich and within a 1/4 mile of our hotel but can't seem to find it. The hotel is in the midst of Old Town, which is all pedestrian. We finally make it and are extremely happy with our choice. Hotel Bauer Bock. Very friendly, very nice and the location cannot be beat.
It's too early to check in so we drop off our luggage and head out on foot. First thing we see outside is a Hefeweisen truck. Appropriate. We walk around an open air market for a bit but realize we are hungry. We find the closest outdoor restaurant that is close to our hotel and find a table. I am so thankful we chose this place. The wait staff were wonderful and very helpful with conversation. They are dressed in traditional Bavarian dress. Awesome. Love the lederhosen! We are trying very hard to speak as much German as possible, however.........
Anyway, the food is amazing. Later we find out it is one of the best Bavarian restaurants in the area. And, I find out how much I really like Riesling. And Jim, well, he just likes beer.
We are finally able to check into our room.... And take a nap. Much needed. We woke up still a little groggy but ready to head out again. We go to check out the Marienplatz (and the Glockenspiel)... Wait for it, the Hoffbrauhaus. Beer, beer and more beer for Jim. And the pretzels were the size of a small dog. As we leave, there is a traditional German band playing inside. People are so funny... They are taking selfies of themselves with the band in the background. As we leave, there is a musician outside that is actually yodeling. My first yodeling experience.
As we walk back to the hotel we decide to have "one more" as a nitecap. We stop right outside our hotel where there are 3 outdoor cafes. Oh my gosh! The atmosphere sitting outside, people watching, looking up at our window in our hotel, just enjoying life!
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Gute Nacht!
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