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I arrived yesterday morning at 6:30 AM in Munich. I went straight to the hotel I had marked (for a reason that I don't recall) in my guidebook. It turns out that it is a greally good place, with very friendly staff. When I arrived, there was not a bed available yet, as check-out was not for another three hours. So, I dropped my bags and wanderred around the streets for a while. When I got back to the hotel there was a bed waiting for me, so I went up and dropped my stuff. I had been planning on going out to the palace or some such, but I ended up just taking a shower and going to bed until 3:30.
I woke up and started hurrying to get to the meeting point for Mike's Bike Tours. If you're ever in Munich or Amsterdam, be sure to go in this tour, it's always a lot of fun. We went riding around the city for a while, learning about the history of Munich, he difference between Corintian, Doric, and Ionic collums, etc. Then we went down to the river, and about 15 out of the 23 people sripped down to our underpants and went for a swim. Not just a lazy dip, mind you, but rather a trip down a river with a very strong current while navigating around bridges and underwater obstacles. At one point, we all reached up and grabbed hold of a bridge, and tried our best to hang on. What a rush!! After that and a short walk back to our clothes (dripping wet and half naked) we went over to one of the many beer gardens. We sat and had lunch and/or beer, according to one's wants. The beers are normally served in 1-liter glasses, so we were all a bit tipsy by the time we left. So far I have tried the dark Dunkeles, and their wheat beer, Weissbier. Both are excellent. I think I will be a bit spoiled on American beer by the time I get home. After the tour, most of us went out to the Hofrau House, a world-famous beer garden. We stayed there until they kicked us out at midnight, and then found another pub where we stayed until about three in the morning.
Needless to say, I didn't get up very early this morning. I have managed to go through the Residenze, where the Kings of Bavaria lived from the 1500's until 1918. They also have the treasury on display there, and I went through that. It's uite spectacular, especially the statuette of St. George and the dragon and some of the jewelry.
After that, it was lunch and Internet. I am planning on catching a train to Venice tomorrow morning, and from there to Rome, but I need to make a reservation in Rome first.
Hasta!
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