9-11-19 - Cookoo clocks, beer gardens & river surfing
/Day 85. Leanne Here.
Big sauce day in Munich. A Big Sauce day is a day that John (et al when appropriate) plans with and for us all in a city. So far his copious planning and intense research of our destinations have saved us thousands of dollars and saved us countless hours and grief. We are blessed. We happily turn over planning to him as he’s great at balancing the education/history with fun, religion, physical activity, nature with even unique experiences each day.
Today John has about 12 stops planned which will require nearly military precision. He warns me that today I can’t saunter in museums looking at every painting that catches my eye .... else we might miss something critical and get off schedule.
The funniest thing is that he’s secretly assigned Justin to keep an eye on me and keeping me closer to the group’s pace. They nickname me Master Sluggie.
We start off looking at two incredible churches, then off for an observation point. We lift to top of New Town Hall to catch a glimpse of how expansive Munich is with its beautiful red rooftops. We return down the lift with perfect timing to catch the famed 11amGlockenspiel show at Marienplatz. A quick stop into churches 3 and 4 goes well too.
All this punctuality has meant, John informs us, we have earned a sit down lunch! We sit outside at a Biergarten that offers a very tasty beer with lemonade. Apparently this concoction attracts wasps something fierce because we get swarmed at our peaceful Biergarten lunch we had respectfully earned. Go figure.
Quick stop at markets in the square before we uber to European Patent office to see the buildings contemporary architecture. Then it’s off to Deutsches Museum which is one of the world’s top museums devoted to science and technology. It could warrant a full day of exploration on its own. John allotted a full two hours and encourages us to go in groups to focus on our top interests. It’s easy to get through, especially if you don’t read German, as only maybe 15 percent of the signage is digestible. But it’s still Uber impressive and quite educational nonetheless.
After this museum, John gives the other teens an opt-out option for the rest of the day. It’s now 4 pm and they have all drank in their fair share of culture, history, science, religion and physical education already.
Half the group stays on the plan to see the Eisbach (a river point where locals surf an endless wave) and then we head to Alte Pinakothek (another world class museum) with Old Masters, Van Goghs, Degas, Goya, etc. Actually, we have scored as the Impressionists are not normally here at Alte Pinakothek. Their normal home (Neue Pinakothek) is being renovated so we get two for the price of one. Score.
By now, I suspect you are hopelessly bored of our Munich day and wishing for Kyles return! We normally have some daily travel mishap to report to you that derails our clan ever so slightly without breaking our overall world travelling spirit. But with the sun shining and John in charge and me on task, all seems to go smoothly today.
Don’t worry something will happen tomorrow!
By now it’s 540 pm and we can’t make John’s last potential stop - Asamkirche. He knew it was a long shot. For the last few weeks, Johns been trying to squeeze in as many places of worship as possible each day until one of us pullls a muscle genuflecting. But hitting that fifth one in one day continues to allude him - even on a full Big Sauce day like today. Asamkirche church closed 20 minutes ago I unfortunately had to inform him.
John also hoped to hit one more Munich-famous restaurant in town but the crew really needs to study. Time has flown by this week and I really wanted to see Elif my old roommate one more time too. Three of the teens have live lessons online tonight and are a bit stressed over their online assignment load. We opt to have the teens stay in while Kyle and I go see our friends Elif and Otto again at their house.
Over an amazing homemade pasta Bolognese (a home cooked meal is a huge treat!), Kyle and I had much fun catching up with them over parenting, music, friends, great wine, and the Bavarian economy. We invited them to California and really hope they take us up on the offer.
We enter the “cozy” Airbnb for our final nights stay around midnight. Yes!!! We quietly tiptoe as I’m not about to awake the beast upstairs who despises living above this Airbnb. Kyle and I still haven’t seen this man who tried to intimidate and terrorize our kids in what can only be labeled a “hostile Airbnb environment”. Given we leave in the morning, we are confident we have cautiously avoided another international incident.
