A Day in Munich With Anne!

Sat. Jan. 12, 2013

Woke up to our first German snow!  4 weeks here and this is our first.

Our back patio

Anne wanted to show us around Munich, but parking is hard in such a big city.  So she said we should take the train!  Karen helped us purchase a Bayern Ticket online for the day.  (Bayern means Bavaria, the ticket is good on all of the public transportation around Bavaria for the whole day!)  It was only $34 for all 4 of us.

Brad got us some fresh pretzels, rolls and some Krapfen (donuts) and we left at about 8:40 am. We found the train station we were looking for and made it on time!!

Lea was actually awake and excited!

Here it comes!  My first real train ride.

We had a good time and the ride to Munich is only about 40 minutes.

Anne met us at the train station!  Good thing because it's complicated to get around!

Waiting for the tram to take us to our first stop

It was great to see our Anne again!  Lea couldn't stop telling her, "You're pretty!"  Anne suggested we visit a place where she used to live because of great city views.  It is a home for college girls.  So they have apartments for a very good price in an expensive city.  It is run by nuns, very safe.

She had to ring for the nun to come out and ask if we could come in.

Up on the roof is a huge rooftop patio.  It was so cool and beautiful!!!

Darn fuzzy shadow in my camera!!  Look at that view!

Lea loved it out there

Another view

Pretty :)

Love

Beauty

Nice view over here

This was so great!  I can guarantee you there is no "official" Munich tour that will go here!  It was a special thing for us.

Next we went through Marienplatz which is the city center.  There is a market there...so cool!  And of course lots of cool buildings.

The top of a stall

There is a big, fun holiday over here called Karnival which is like Mardi Gras.  People dress up and celebrate.  It is the reason for all the great Krapfen donuts!  There was a celebration going on in the city square that we watched for a few minutes.  The old buildings never cease to amaze me!

Rathaus (City Hall)

Rathaus with a crowd gathering

The Glockenspiel, it actually was working for us!

The Rathaus courtyard

Some dude

Wanna know a secret?

Tickle!

We went inside the Rathaus to see an exhibit they had.  It was really boring and (of course) all in German.  It was about something to do with living in Germany but I really don't know what.  But it warmed us up so we stayed a bit!

Lainie listening to a German thing about some German thing.

These 2 are of the Karnival show

Just another view

We started getting hungry for lunch and while we didn't eat here, these looked so awesome.  And German.

I am not a fan of sandwiches at home.  But over here, this stuff is soooo good!

We walked to the university area for lunch because Anne said it's much cheaper.  Some sights along the way:

This is a pavilion where Hitler himself stood and made some speeches.  I had knots in my stomach.  Sobering.

Found a window full of Barbies!  It was a cool display, Lea loved it!

By the way, did I mention how COLD it was?  We have been enjoying warm weather for a month.  Today was really cold, with even colder wind.  Lea was unhappy at a few points as she was colder since she was in her stroller.  We stayed warmer with all the walking!

A good restaurant, although I was NOT gonna eat a hedgehog.

Anne's lunch...a common German dish.  Potato wedges with an herbed quark sauce and salad.  I think we ate more of her fries than she did!

Brad, Lainie and I all had homemade Kaesespaetzle!  (A German mac and cheese)  It was so so so so good!

Lea had a bacon cheeseburger, LOL!  So both girls had cheese!  Lainie ordered hers with half the amount of cheese.  Still tasty!  Those are roasted onions on top.

As we walk throughout German cities, it is common to see outdoor seating still open.  Even today when it was cold and snowy.  Many have blankets for you to use!

Oh this was fascinating!  Outside of an Apotheke (druggist) was a vending machine with drug store items!  Since everything is closed on Sunday, this could come in handy!

We wanted to do something inside for awhile to get out of the cold.  Anne took us to the museum district.  We all agreed on the Alte Pinakothek.  This is an art museum full of old art.  They had audio tours available, too.  It was really cool!

I can't begin to explain this one by Bosch.  A fragment of "The Last Judgement"
The audio narrator called it both "frightening and fascinating."  Agreed.  I looked at this one longer than any other.  I was disgusted, scared, and captivated.  Google it for a better view.

This next painting brought tears to my eyes...the first known painting by Leonardo Da Vinci.  OMGosh.  Those are his actual brushstrokes.  I am humbled in it's presence.

The Madonna of the Carnation

I got yelled at for being too close to take this picture.  So enjoy it!!

We decided to go see Anne's apartment which was all Lea wanted to do the whole day!  It was a bit of a hike for those of us not used to big cities and public transportation!  We took a subway.  It was cool that the transportation within the city was all a part of our Bayern ticket.

Walking to the subway

Got bikes?

Anne's apartment was really cool, as a 22 year old's apartment should be!!  She apologized that it was messy which cracked me up because the girl lived in our (messy) house for 3 weeks!!  Hers wasn't even messy :)  We ate some Krapfen (what's new?) and had some coffee.  Anne's apartment has 2 bedrooms but no living area, so her and her roommate made a dining area out of a storage closet!  It was adorable.

It was getting late so it was time to go.  Since we are the worst kind of Americans/Canadians and don't know how to use public transportation very well, especially in a foreign country, Anne took us all the way back to the main train station.

Aw :)

We had a few minutes before our train, so Anne asked one of the Deutsche Bahn (train company) employees about our upcoming trip to Paris.  We are trying to find a deal on a train there.  The lady was so rude!  Lainie accidentally moved the monitor, which is on a swivel thing anyway and supposed to move and she yelled at her in German!  "Be careful!  That cost a lot of money!!" and some more stuff I couldn't understand.  I guess even Germany has mean people, we just haven't met too many!!

We took the train back to our station and drove home.  Lea napped on the train.  We were all worn out!!

In the midst of this amazing fun day, we were still thinking of loved ones back home celebrating the life of my friend Alaina.  I wish I could have attended the funeral.  But I know one thing for sure.  Her death is a reminder that life can throw curve balls at you.  Live life to the fullest!  What good would it do to sit home and cry?  We were given this incredible opportunity and have to take advantage of it all.