Tuesday June 1st, 2004

I awoke to birds singing at 4:30am. Happy to roll over and go back to sleep. Slept with the balcony doors and windows open ... once again no screens and no bugs! We met Gary downstairs for breakfast ... a buffet style setup ... included with the room. Like a B&B, I guess. The breads are wonderful and Tom and I are enjoying them ... SBD is out the window while we vacation. At least they are whole grains and no preservatives!! Yum ... 3 minute eggs on the buffet ... memories of my childhood at Nana's. I hate making them myself, but when someone else does it ... yeah!

Gary is off to Munich Airport today to meet two Westpoint Cadets flying in for an exchange program. He will meet them and help them get a rental car and bring them back to our hotel. Meanwhile, Tom and I went out walking around Erding again ... we just wandered and looked at the old buildings and little shops and stopped in the outdoor cafe's for beers. We are drinking lots of beer and not much water. You have to buy water here, I'm not sure what is wrong with the tap water, if anything.

Gary returned after lunch and he, Tom and I took the train into Munich. We walked and walked and I finally had to stop and buy a pair of socks to put on under my sandals ... I guess I hadn't broken them in as well as I had thought before we left for our trip. Blisters were forming on the inside of my foot where the sole met the edge of the sandal. I ended up stopping in a Foot Locker, of all places, and buying a pair of Michael Jordan socks as they we the thickest! But after that purchase and a couple of beers, I felt much better!!

We drank those beers while waiting for the Glockenspiel to put on its show. That is the big clock in Munich square that has the mechanical pagaent played out when it chimes the hour. These days ... it only actually puts on the show a couple of times a day .... luckily, we got a good seat at an outdoor cafe that served beer! The Glockenspiel plays out the story of the Prince marrying a common woman from town. She wanted the townsfolk to be involved in the celebration and that was the beginning of Octoberfest. It runs for about 10 minutes ... and isn't over until the rooster crows!

We walked from there to The Hofbrauhaus and had a few more beers there and listened to the polka band playing American music ... go figure. On the way back from the Haufbrauhaus we encountered a classical quartet playing under a bridge which supplied them with natural accoustics. They played Pachabel's Canon in D and I just stood there listening with tears flowing down my face. It was amazingly beautiful. Tom got it all on video ... I hope it has the same effect on video. Gary also shed a few tears while listening. It was so moving.

We then moved on to anonther BierHaus for dinner. The food was wonderful ... and more beer! I am very fond of Pommes Fritz ... french fries! Forbidden on SBD ... so I ate them whenever I could in Europe!!

Train back to Erding and Gary took pity on me and called a cab to take us back to the hotel. I wasted no time climbing into bed! Tom noticed a car in the parking lot with its lights on ... he mentioned he hoped it didn't belong to the cadets ...