Munich March 18th

I enjoyed my continental breakfast in a mostly empty breakfast room, around 9am. There were 5 women replenishing the buffet, a couple couples on vacation. Where were the craft people, that supposedly filled the hotel?

The wait staff were also 20 something females, like the front desk staff. I wondered if they were 'models' too? I wondered why the youngest one wore such little fabric. I wondered why the two older gentlemen, kept asking her to pour their coffee. I wondered why the yogurt tasted so good. I wonder why?

First stop, die Glockenspiel, a 'must see' according to the books.









It is a cute little show. A must see, sure it is. Teenagers might pshaw it, but it is cute. Remember to wait for the cuckoo. In between the two chimes, I hunted for geocaches. Once again the easy one was hard and the hard ones were easy. After the second botched filming of the show, I did some window shopping. I found myself at Dallmayr, a delicatessen.

You don't buy heros or subs or hoagies here. Cheeses, meats and fine delectables. I had been enjoying the breakfasts on my vacation, especially the croissants with fruit preserves. I found the correct area and figured out which of Dallmayrs preserves were (looked to be ???) the best and I looked for a unique fruit. I knew that I was almost out of Nagoonberry jam, from my Alaska stop, last summer and a new jar of something different was needed. All I found were the normal berrys, no black forest berry or a limited rhineland variety. If you want a certain cheese or coffee bean or caviar this is where you should find it.

This is a window shoppers paradise. Shop after shop after shop... I wanted to get to Hofbrauhaus before it got crazy. Too late it was already open. Beer, glorious beer. I squeezed in at the end of a table - just about the only open seat I saw. I ordered a dunkle - it was browner than the regular. To make ordering easy there is no size choices, just how many do you want. Start by ordering only one. They come in liter size only. I grab a pretzel as she came by. It helped get that mug down. I was thirsty, but I didn't want to be drunkenly stumbling the streets of olde Munich at noon.

I was there for about a half hour. This place must be out of control at midnite. There were a lot of tourists. I wonder if many Japanese pictures of them holding preztels make it on the internet? Yes, they do!

Once the oompah band started their shenanigans, I guzzled down the rest and made my way out, via the gift shop. That's right, The German version of a Hard Rock is a Hofbrauhaus. I remember buying a t-shirt and a couple trinkets. I mailed home a bunch of stuff from Munich about three weeks ago and if this was the fastest way, I think I just discovered that the Germans aren't really that efficient after all.

Back to drunk in Munich, at high noon:
After a few minutes my head cleared - a second mug and I would have been stuck there all afternoon. I wandered in an out of various beerhalls, seeing what everyone was eating. I stopped at a couple more beer halls, Ayinger and an Augustiner. A fun day in sunny Munich. Full of wursts and brau.

Road Trip to Salzburg is next.











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