the last dance... munich

Our continental entry point and leaving point. Funny that, as we left Europe from Munich previously, and we each have 2001 Munich passport stamps -- the passport check guy laughed a bit when stamping.


We arrived late at night (train was 1:30 late) and rose up from the underground platform to see the town hall and the glockenspiel, there right before us!










I was so proud of myself. Bruce was complaining that he hadn't climbed a tower this whole trip, that there wasn't one in any of the cities we visited. Well... I did a bit of research to find that there WAS one in St. Peter's Church, a stone's throw from our hotel in Munich! :) I'm climbing the narrow passageway here...













From the top of the tower...













Town Hall, again

















Other half of town hall













This is part of where the '72 olympics were held. Not that you'd know... it's kind of an odd area. There's a tower with an elevator where you can pay to get a view, there are a few little kids' rides, there's an indoor pool in one of these buildings, beer and sausage stands, and vendors selling everything from CDs to underwear (yes!) to t-shirts with German slogans...







BMW headquarters -- note it looks like four cylinders of an engine!
















The Hofbrauhaus -- claims it's the largest beer hall in the world. This was our first of two trips there...











Isar River, not too far from the Deutsches Museum, where we spent a good deal of our last day (weather had been very rainy)












And our last dinner was back at the Hofbrauhaus... my "little" half-liter of beer looks so tiny next to Bruce's full liter!












Traditional band...
















The Hofbrauhaus is full of communal 8-person tables, and without a doubt, most of the tables end up being international (with the common language of BEER!). Luckily, all at our table spoke passable English, so we were able to chat! The three on the left are Romanian, the couple n the middle is Armenian (and the guy is an MBA student at a university there!) and... then, there's me.







The next morning, after 2 months of being away from home, lugging bags, exchanging currency and dividing by various numbers, learning "thank you" in all sorts of languages, and drinking some of the best beer money can buy... we were ready to take off. Dorothy was right... there's no place like home.