Up til now

Last night we crashed into bed around 11:00 for the night, or so we thought.

I was so uncomfortable sleeping in the bed.  I think the mattress pad was made of rubber because I constantly woke up several times each night boiling hot and drenched in sweat.  Then after I cooled off I was wide awake.  By this time it was 1:00, 1:15, 1:25, 1:45, nuts!  I got up, turned on the Slingbox and watched Mean Girls on TBS.  Around 2:00 who joins me on the couch?  Matt.  We watched Slingbox TV until about 4:00 and went back to bed.

We had big plans for Monday - take the U-Bahn out to Dachau to tour the city and the Concentration Camp then get our rental car and drive to Regensburg to visit my friend from school, Ann and her family.  Well, an 11:25 wake up really puts a damper on the day.  We missed breakfast and still had to shower.  We had to scratch Dachau from our to-do list.

We have a rental car from this point on in our vacation.  In order to pick it up we had to take the U-Bahn back to the Munich airport.  Matt loves a good visit to an airport so this provided about 30 minutes of fun for him.  I have a much different view of the Munich airport after this visit.  When we arrived last Wednesday I found the airport to be very industrial and cold.  Now seeing it more in the daylight and having a chance to explore, it's quite a lovely airport.  It has an outdoor Beer Garden (shocking) and a variety of shops and even a grocery store. 

Getting to our car was no problem; Matt was excited to drive an Audi Q5.  The only thing we could not figure out was how to start the darn thing.  The key did not have a metal piece to stick into the ignition; the whole key fob went into the ignition spot.  The thing was there was no button to push and the key fob did not turn.  We felt like stupid Americans at this point.  Pushing random buttons and switches Matt finally tapped the brake and saw a message on the dash that said push the key in while holding the brake.  Success!

After entering Ann's address we were on our way to Regensburg!  Ann and her family are in Regensburg on a two-year plan with her husband's company. They live approximately 90 minutes outside Munich, so we decided a visit was in order. The drive was lovely, and Matt loved the high and sometimes non-existent speed limits.  One thing Ann brought to our attention before our drive was to check out the crops growing along the side of the road; they were hops!  A lot of hops. 

She asked me to bring a few items from the US that she was missing: vanilla extract, Tootsie Pops, and Cinnamon Altoids. I was shocked that vanilla extract was not an item available in German markets. Ann and Jim have friends that live on the military base nearby so she does get some of her contraband items from their commissary.

The town of Regensburg is a city that sustained minimal damage during the war.  The cathedral (Dom) and bridge are quite beautiful sites.  Ann, Jim and the girls showed us all the highlights of their town.  It was clear to see that they are proud of thier town.  The sky was beautiful, and Ann mentioned that it rained all morning so this was a lovely change.  As we were walking we noticed that they sky was getting very dark.  It was just about time for dinner so we ducked under several  awnings and made it, slightly damp, into a Bavarian restaurant.  After dinner we saw that the sun was shining so another walk through town was in order.  Jim stopped us at a Gelato shop to top off dinner.  Wouldn't you know it, they sky got very black, very fast.  We were not really anywhere near their apartment, so we had two choices go it in the rain or stand under an awning for who knows how long.  We chose to go it in the rain.  Maybe not the smartest idea since the rain brought thunder and lightning, but we all survived.  Albeit very wet.  Ann tossed our shirts into the dryer while we talked some more.  About five minutes after we got back to their apartment the sun came out and gave us a double rainbow.  I suppose the walk in the rain was worth it. 

Once our shirts were dry, it was time to leave my friend for our drive back to Munich.  Even with a late wake up we had a very busy day.  Tomorrow is going to be another good one!

And it did!

After a night of extremely restless sleep and a better breakfast we grabbed our umbrellas for a day in Munich.  The radar indicated that the rain was stopping soon so we had high hopes. 

Instead of taking the S-Bahn to Marienplatz we walked the few blocks through the Sendlinger Tor gate to this crazy pedestrian zone.  Since it was raining yesterday we did not get a good feel for this area and the late morning was a good time to do it.  We saw the glockenspiel (although too late for the supposedly over-rated show), Viktualienmarkt (open air food stalls/grocery), Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church).  Peterskirche was conducting Mass so we could not tour at that time, and Matt was not feeling well so touring the Viktualienmarkt was not a great idea. 

The Glockenspiel @ Marienplatz

We walked to the Residenz Museum which is the Royal house of the Wittlesbach family.  The furniture and art in this museum are impacted by bombing during WWII.  Much of the house was destroyed but rebuilt.  Many of the informational signs indicated the use for the different rooms and that the furniture in those rooms was from a different location or the artwork was a reproduction or simply a description of what was formerly there. 

Us in the Antiquarium @ The Residenz

After touring the Residenz we bought a few pretzels and walked around for a bit.  We saw the Hofbrauhaus but did not go in.  The area is across the walkway from the Hard Rock Cafe so it was crazy busy and we weren't in the mood to navigate the dos and don'ts of the Hofbrauhaus.

In addition to our umbrella purchase yesterday we had to purchase a travel clock today.  Would you believe that our hotel room does not have a clock?  Really?  Really.  I wake up several times a night and always have to check the time, but for the last two nights I've been driven crazy not knowing the time at all.  Ten Euros later and I'm a happy girl.

Since the rain let up, and don't say it too loud, the sun came out, we decided to spend some time walking around the English Garden.  This is an expansive bit of land at the north end of Munich that has many walking paths and Beer Gardens.  It is quite easy to get lost, but you really don't care because it's a great place to be. 

One thing to know about the English Garden is that nude sunbathing is allowed in some areas.  I did not anticipate this today since it was not really that sunny, but there was one....

Hey Ugly Naked Guy

Then we saw Augustus Gloop

"No, Augustus!  You will spoil the whole chocolate river."

Our evening ended with a walk to a quieter neighborhood for dinner.  The book we used to find out about this restaurant stated that it took Visa & Master Card, but when we went to settle our bill they guy said they don't take them.  Oh well, Matt didn't mind a jaunt down the street to the ATM. 

*Renee - we are gathering brochures as we can to help replenish your dad's stock from 1972. :)

Rain, rain go away

Friday was almost a bust for us.  The rain was quite heavy and since we really had no clue where we were geographically in relation to anything else, we were hesitant to venture out.  After breakfast, which was an adventure for our taste buds, we returned to our room to make a plan.

We decided to brave it out in the rain instead of wasting a day watching four channels.  The first stop was the S-Bahn station to travel to the Marienplatz.  Marienplatz seems to be the jumping off point for many of the Munich attractions we want to see.  After arriving at the Marienplatz we had to purchase umbrellas.  Bringing our own was a fleeting thought before leaving home, but it never went much further than that.  Then we walked a few blocks in different directions to two of the three churches near Marienplatz: Michaelskirche and Frauenkirche.  When visiting these two churches we were slightly unsure if we were doing it right.  By that I mean our only other experience is visiting Westminster Abbey and St. James Cathedral in London.  At those two places you have to queue up to pay admission and it is clear where to go.  At Michaelskirche and Frauenkirche you just walk in the front door as if you are attending services and look around.  At least that's what we did whether it was right or wrong.  We probably toured the churches a little faster than normal since all of the descriptions were in German.

After touring the two churches we walked back through Marienplatz to the S-Bahn station.  The rain and wind made for unhappy sight seeing.  We grabbed a bite from one of the food stalls in the station and went back to our hotel for the night.  While the thought of four English-speaking channels may not entice you for the evening, we had a secret weapon.  Matt remembered to load the Slingbox onto our netbook.  What's a Slingbox you ask?  It's an amazing device that hooks up to your television and allows you to watch it where ever you have an internet connection.  So we caught a little of the early morning news at lunchtime and spent the evening watching Chicago TV.  However, we did enjoy watching Brett Michaels Behind the Music where the interviews were in English and the narration was in German. 

We decided to call it a night at 9:30.  Not that I get much sleep, the bed and pillow are terrible.

It was a long strange journey (part 2)

We decided that we have too much of a technology need to rely on the computer in the hotel lobby.  Matt found a T-Mobile Hot Spot subscription that should keep us connected in all the cities we visit.  Thank goodness because I need to see my babies via Skype!

Here's a longer run down of Day 1 of our travels.....

We started out with a taxi ride at 5PM to O'Hare.  We cleared security with no problems and grabbed a bite to eat before heading to the gate.  We were happy to see that our plane was already at the gate. 

The first 777

A family of three from Britain sat behind us and we dubbed the boy as G's doppleganger.  We could see him doing all the silly things that this boy did when he gets to be 3 years old.  The accent helped the cute factor exponentially.

After a while Matt noticed that our 8:15 flight had been delayed until 9:30.  Then the plane that was waiting so patiently at the gate was pulled away.  I suppose that was the reason for the delay.  While waiting we had a lengthy conversation with the British family.  They had just spend almost two weeks in Chicago and visiting friends in Iowa.  The dad remarked that he'd love to move to Chicago.  I interjected that we'd love to move to London and had a great house in the suburbs.  He smiled and added that their "detached" house was only 25 minutes outside of London.  As our conversation continued we found that his wife was a teacher of kids with behavior disorders.  The more and more we talked it seemed that this family was the perfect match for a potential house swap :)  I would bet the conversation would have gone that direction as they come to Chicago each year.  However, the flight attendants made an announcement that the flight was oversold and those that volunteered would receive $800 per seat, overnight hotel accommodations, and choice of flights for the next day.  We seriously considered it, but knowing that we had to go further on to Munich it just didn't make sense.  However, our British family took them up on it and we had to part ways.  Oh what could have been.....

Once we finally boarded the plane we thought we were on our way.  How wrong we were.  The pilot said that the ground crew was still loading luggage and needed about 15 more minutes.  We speculated that the delay was to look for the luggage of the people who took the bump.  After 15 minutes the pilot told us they needed an additional 20.  It was at this time we were introduced to Curmudgeon Alan and his Oblivious June.  Alan had nothing nice to say about anything.  Every time the pilot made an announcement about a delay he would state some expletive "under his breath" that all could hear.  Matt loved when the flight attendant's announcement thanked us for flying American Airlines and Alan says, "Yeah, right."  I will say Alan has been added to our inside joke vernacular for ever.  All in all we had a two hour delay leaving Chicago.  That had an impact on our connecting flight from London to Munich.  American easily rebooked us on a flight for later in the day.   

I think the pilot forgot how to get to Heathrow

We figured out tickets and stops for the S-Bahn rail to get into Munich from the airport.  The only damper on the afternoon was that it was lightly raining in Munich and a bit cold.  We did not pack umbrellas so I put up my hood and off we went, but where we weren't sure.  Matt had to get his bearings to figure out the compass directions.  A short walk through some neighborhoods got us to our hotel by about 6:30.  Thankfully the front desk employee spoke English because after almost 24 hours of travel I was not in the mood to do charades. 

Our room in Munich is comfortable, but slightly stuck in the early 80s.  We've got a TV that has over 150 channels of foreign speaking channels.  We've found Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC news, and MTV that speak English.  I have wanted to catch up on my music videos, so I suppose now is the time.  Our anniversary was yesterday (10 years, wahoo!), but we were too pooped to celebrate.  We got some take away pasta from the restaurant next door. 

Happy Anniversary!

One common amenity of German hotels is free breakfast.  That sits well with me as it's the best meal of the day.  We had to figure a few things out for ourselves this morning, but overall I think we did a great job.  The chocolate pastry was delicious and the yogurt is my very, very favorite.  We know for tomorrow that the kitchen can make scrambled eggs and omelets, too. 

The weather today continues to be rainy but it's much colder today.  For now we are chilling in our hotel room watching MTV and still trying to get used to the time zone.  The unfortunate thing for today is that all the things we want to see are outside so we are making a contingency plan.  There are a few national museums that could keep us occupied for a few hours.  More later!

It was a long strange journey

Let me start out by stating that I claim no responsibility for my spelling on these posts.  The German keyboard is slightly different than the one I am used to.  For example the y and z keys swap places.  Then there are two extra keys to accommodate the ö and ä.

Well almost 24 hours of travel and we finally arrived in Munich.  Our flight from Chicago took off two hours late which made us miss our connection in London.  We finally made it to our hotel around 7 last night.  We grabbed dinner at the Italian restaurant next door as most everything was closed.  There was some confusion with Prosecco, but in the end we get our pasta to go.

I tend to be quite self conscious and my lack of language is taking a toll on me.  I know the customary casual greetings, but when spoken to entirely in German I feel bad shaking my head at the person.  I don't want to be the stupid American.

Our hotel in Munich is comfortable, but the stack of newspapers for a pillow was difficult to sleep upon.  We played "Guess the food" at breakfast this morning.  I'm not sure what the "egg" dish was but would have spit it out had I been at home :)

The weather today is rainy and cold, so we will look to find an indoor activity.  Maybe a museum?