Monday in Munich

I'm having computer problems and all my Monday pictures are currently inaccessible to me. I think I'll be able to get them, eventually, but not at the moment. Specifically Windows Vista has stopped recognizing my SDHC PCMCIA card adapter and until I either get another adapter, or use a Windows XP computer I can't get the pictures off the card. I'm getting ready to heave the whole mess of electronics out the window...

Anyway, Monday was a very relaxed day in Munich. Most of us slept in a little (considering all the drinking we'd done the day before that makes perfect sense). I ended up heading to Marienplatz in Munich for some shopping & lunch, and then met the band when they came to Karlsplatz for an afternoon performance in the platz. (Marienplatz and Karlsplatz are the anchors of a traffic-free pedestrian only shopping zone; sort of what Santana Row wants to look like...I think I'll refer to it from now on as Ersatzplatz). Anyway, the Chico Bavarians did a kick-ass performance; I was hanging back & talking to some of the onlookers -- everybody was shocked to discover the Bavarians were actually from California (in truth, there is one member of the band who comes from Munich and is actually Bavarian. But just one).

After the concert, I ended up at the Augustiner with Bob & Andrew, where we had a bit to eat and a bit to drink. This was followed by more shopping and dinner at the Hofbrau Haus, an apparently venerable (400 year old) Bavarian dining hall with a genuine German entertainment program, including 'clap dancing' (NO, not 'lap dancing') and some wood chopping & sawing. The hall is enormous and entirely filled with tourists, almost all from outside of Germany. I know this because at one point in the show they march flags of various countries across the stage in accompaniment to some patriotically appropriate music, and each flag drew enthusiastic applause from a different part of the audience. We were sitting between a table full of Australians and one of Japanese...everybody seemed to get boisterous as the evening wore on, but the South Africans were in a real party mood!

After the dinner we wandered about Munich a bit more, had some ice cream, and then took the u-bahn back to the hotel.

The weather was beautiful, as opposed to today's rain (but more about that later). It was also Andrew's last day with the group, he needs to head back to school (SDSU), and his brother Steve split off from us to visit some US friends in Germany for a few days -- we'll see him again on Thursday.

Our visit to Munich is over now, and I'm sad to see it end. It's a beautiful city and we had a great time. All told I probably drank about...7 liters of beer? 8? Yikes.

Photos will come when I can get them, meanwhile y'all be good.