It was decided that we would all be okay with not going to Dachau. So we spent the morning at the Englischer Gartens, Europe's biggest "Central Park." It is three miles from end to end. The weather was sunny and gorgeous. At the entrance to the park, there is a bridge where water shoots out into waves. And local surfers love it. We watched three ride the waves for a while. I wonder how city river surfing compares to ocean waves. Todd and I gave Deb and Allen a quick lesson on how to ride the U-Bahn (subway) and we split up to stroll through the park. We wandered over to the Chinese bier garten (named because of the giant pagoda nearby). Have I mentioned that Germans will put a bier garten anywhere? There were stalls selling a great variety of food. We grabbed some fries and schnitzel and sat at a table to soak up the sun for our farmer's tan. Excellent way to pass time. We had to return to reality, so we walked on the G-rated side paths of the park. I had assumed that naked sunbathers would be sparse in April. But the weather was exceptionally nice that day. Deb and Allen walked on some of the central paths of the park, so if you want naked stories, ask them.
The Viktualien Markt was the meeting spot for lunch. It is another bier garten surrounded by booths of food and crafts. There was an awesome hand dryer in the bathroom. I go all the way to Germany and one of the best memories is the hand dryer? It was a Dyson where you move your hands in and out and they are dry in seconds. As long as we are talking about bathrooms, Germany's were much cleaner than Italy's. Maybe because there was a cleaning person standing outside the doors with a plate for donations. My apologies, ladies, for only have 5 euro-cents. Anyway, we spent a couple of hours sitting in the sun, talking to the natives and practicing our German. It gets easier after a drink or two. We met a young couple who enjoyed rubbing in how much vacation Europeans get. And then we met a guy who enjoyed hanging out with his ex-in-laws. They like him better than their daughter.
We tried messing around with phone cards for a while then went to the Letzen Abendmeal mass for Grundonnerstag at St. Peter's Church. It was packed, and Todd and I got seats behind a column. It was hard following along in a different language when we couldn't see anything in a mass slightly different from normal. There was a beautiful choir singing a mass by some famous composer. Deb had wanted to go to Salzburg to hear a concert, this was the 1st of 2 we gave her in Munich. I can understand why Protestantism started in Germany. Every church had pews specially built to hurt your back. :-)
We returned to the Augustiner Bierhalle for dinner. I ate chicken! That is quite a feat in the land of pork. We strolled down the Kaufingerstrasse pedestrian mall on our way back to the hotel. There was a crowd of people singing "Yellow Submarine" so we walked over to see what was going on. There was a man, his guitar, witty banter and fun sing-along songs. We stayed for about 10 of his "last songs" and sang along. Todd threw some change into his guitar case, and the man stopped the show, picked up a 50 bill and gave it to Todd. He said "Americans need money more than I do." We were nice and gave it back. :-( Now whenever I hear church bells, I will think of him pointing to the sky and saying "Heavy Metal." It was a really fun way to end the evening and our time in Munich.
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