Germany - Munich and Bad Dürkheim

From Austria to Germany. First stop, Munich. Once again, a beautiful drive with views of the snow-covered Alps. First stop in Germany was Munich. It's a pretty big city and very clean - the toilets in the bathrooms self- cleaned themselves! We walked through town down a very wealthy street called Maximilianeum, with all the expensive stores. We ended up in Marienplatz, a central square in the city of Munich, which has been the city's main square since 1158. In the middle of that square is a Rathaus-Glockensiel, a large mechanical clock famous for its life-size characters, spinning around the inside of the clock twice daily depicting scenes from Munich's history. First is the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine in 1568, followed by the story of the Schäfflestanz, also known as the coopers' dance. Music was played and it was quite a spectacle, lasting about 15 minutes. After that, we had free time and Paul and I decided to have lunch and beer at the famous Hofbräuhaus Münich. Ben, our tour director, explained that before WWII, this was a meeting place for Nazis. The place now is a huge restaurant, serving pints or half pints of their original better. Paul got a half pint of the dark beer, and I got the half pint of the light beer - both delicious! We also ordered a Bavarian pretzel (which was cold and honestly not that great), a plate of wieners with potato salad and sauerkraut, and for dessert, we ordered Kasiershmarrn, a type of super thick pancake, cut up into chunks, served with apple sauce. It was so good and we were so full after that meal. After that, we walked around the town and got some souvenirs, including a traditional beer stein and some FC Bayern (Munich's soccer team) keepsakes. After that, we headed back to the hotel. There was a lot of traffic due to an accident, so that pushed off our timing by about an hour. At the hotel, there was an included buffet dinner, which I heard was great (Paul went down to eat), but I was exhausted and got right into bed. Tomorrow is the last day of our trip. We are ready to come home.Read more