Munchen

We arrived in Munich last night within an hour of each other. I got to fly on the new Airbus A380! It is much quieter and the business class is great. I even slept. One of my kids asked why I call this the "Peripatetic Traveler" First, because I like the way it sounds. Second, Peripatic means "a person who walks from place to place". We do a LOT of walking on our trips. And today was no different.

We walked the short distance to Marianplatz, which is the busiest square in Munich. After breakfast we explored the Victualienmarkt which makes the LA Farmer's Market look small. Then back to Marianplatz to see the Glockenspiel at 11:00.

We then to the Metro to Dachau and took a walking tour of the camp. Dachau was the first Concentration camp, which we did not know, and was a model for others to follow. We also learned that there were over 2500 camps, many of them owned by private industry to employ those in the camps. Apparently many large companies were told that they had to employ these people. The alternative for them was not good. Unfortunately, most of them were not Schindlers.

After a very emotional 3 hours, we headed back to the city to the Englischer Garden and enjoyed a beer at the Seehaus Beergarden with a huge crowd watching Argentina beat Nigeria in the World Cup. It felt like being at a Cubs game. We then walked all the way back to the hotel (an hour walk). Later that evening, we witnessed the same mania in the last 10 minutes of the US-Britain match at the 500 year old Haufbrauhaus, with the crowd chanting USA, USA. It didn't matter that it had started to rain. (it was the outdoor area of the beer garden). They hate the British team here and were thrilled that the US tied the game.
Last night, we watched Germany beat the overmatched Australian team in the much more civilized, and drier, atmosphere of Joel's partner's home.

We spent most of the day yesterday on a bus tour to Mad King Ludwig's castles. More on that later.
Auf wiedersein (?)