Munich, Germany - Week 3
Hello Family and Friends,
On our train ride into Munich from Paris our whole train was stopped by the German border patrol. Even though we are traveling within the European Union they can do random checks between countries. There was a young man sitting in the seat beside us and he got kicked off of the train because he didn’t have any physical form of ID. The random check caused us to miss our connecting train. We had a two-hour delay at the connecting train station, but we were able to make the best of it. It was a beautiful day and we explored the area a little bit.
The thing that struck me the most was the number of bikes. Surrounding the train station there were three different bike parking areas. All of them were completely full. We would come to learn that biking is a common mode of transportation in Germany. When we reached Munich, there were bike lanes everywhere. We actually had to look out for bikes like we would look out for cars when crossing the street.
Once we reached Munich it was raining, but our hotel was within walking distance from the train station. Upon reaching our hotel we were informed that the air conditioning was not turned on unless the temperature outside was above 22C (72F). Brett doesn’t care what the temperature is outside he needs it to be no higher than 70F inside when sleeping. The hotel said it was a rule/law and they couldn’t turn on the air conditioning even though they had the ability. I heard multiple guest complaining that their rooms were too hot and even ran into housekeeping bringing fans to various rooms. Needless to say we switched to another hotel that for some reason didn’t have that same rule. Over all this hotel was much better. They had a gym, which was a priority to Sarah and Ian. We also had lounge access which is always a nice amenity. However, we were further away from the town center. It became a little bit of a joke that we passed by our old hotel on our way into town. But sleep was more important than proximity.
Our first two days were rainy but we made the best of it. We visited a glockenspiel in the middle of town. This clock is noteworthy because three times a day it goes off and life size dolls dance about.
On our third rainy day, we rented a car and drove about two hours outside of Munich to Schwangau in order to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle is the inspiration for both Cinderella’s and Sleeping Beauty’s castle. On our drive out of town we exeperience the “autobahn”. The thing I learned about the “autobahn is that it is German for “highway”. But there is a section of it where there is no speed limit. They do recommend that you go 130km/hr (80mph), but you can go as fast as you and your car can handle.
King Ludwig II built the Neuschwanstein Castle in a time when castles were not really necessary. He was the king of Bavaria who lost all his power post WWII when it was swallowed up by Germany. The story is that he was an avid reader and missed the time when kings were powerful. He built three castles of which Neuschwanstein was one of them. Ludwig even put a false cave/dungeon in the castle so he could complete his read fantasies. It’s actually quite a sad story. He died before the castle was completed and many of it’s valuables had to be sold to cover his debts. In fact, there is no throne in the throne room because he didn’t have enough money. It kind sounds like a Disney fairy tell, the original, grim ones: Once upon a time, there was a lonely king who dreamed of historic days of glory and died before he could recreate his dream world, The End.
I really enjoyed visiting the castle. It’s located within a forest. It’s in a beautiful space.
When we finally had a non-rainy day we visited the BMW museum. Only on Saturdays do they have tours in English. BMW started off as a company that built airplane engines. However they had to pivot after WWI because Germany wasn’t allowed to build anything that could be used for war and Germany's army was the largest buyer of their engines.
After visiting the BMW museum, we went across the street to BMW Welt. Here we were able to get in the cars and on the motorcycles. Atlas was living his best life!
Atlas would wait his turn to get into the car that he wanted to drive. At one point Brett had to make sure that the car wouldn’t actually drive off because Atlas was touching all the buttons and even reaching for the gas pedal.
Since our first two days were rained out and our hotel room is super comfortable we extended our time in Munich for two days. On our extended two days we had beautiful weather. We rode bikes through the English Gardens which are twice the size of central park.
At one point Cece and I got separated from the boys as we were navigating back to the bike store. Brett was making a joke about taking a wrong turn and I took him seriously. He says he didn’t think I could hear him from the back of the pack. I told him this is why I don’t listen to him, because he plays too much. The route that Cece and I took was so peaceful and quiet. It was sooooo nice!
The following day, Brett was pretty sore. We haven’t ridden bikes since Santiago, Chile. It was a free day and I decided to run some errands like sending off some post cards. Also, Atlas and I will drive each other crazy if we sit in the hotel all day. In addition to the post office we also went to two different parks. At one of the parks there was what looked like a daycare group. There were 3 adults all talking Spanish to each other. However, the kids were speaking to each other in what sounded like German. But when the adults spoke to the children, they also spoke to the children in Spanish. I thought there must be some mix Spanish/German school close. That same day I went to a hair care appointment. The beautician ask me where I was from and I told her the USA. She told me she only spoke a little English. I was like that’s okay I have a phone that has a translation app and I can read body language fairly well. She then tells me that she is from Brazil, but has lived in Germany for over twenty years. I ask her if she also speaks Spanish and she says she does. We were then able to converse in Spanish. These interactions are inspiring because they confirm to me that I should keep speaking to Atlas in Spanish. As we’re traveling through different countries, there are times when I feel Spanish will not be a very useful second language if we don’t move to a Spanish speaking country or return to the USA. But then things like this happen where in Germany I meet a lady from Brazil and I’m from the USA but we can communicate because we both speak Spanish.
Speaking of Atlas, I now officially have a three-year-old.
A little about Atlas at 3 years old: Atlas has no idea how to walk. He only knows how to run full speed or jog in place. When he does manage to walk, it's more of a repetitive stomp. He loves cars, buses, trains, airplanes, boats, and bikes. He loves to look out the window when traveling. On the plane ride from USA to Canada he suckered Sarah and Ian into letting him have the window seat even though he is the smallest person. When he asks to watch tv he will ask for “Bluey”, but wants to watch “Paw Patrol”. As of now “Paw Patrol” is his favorite show. He now recognizes Mario, from our time in South Korea and he also recognizes Spiderman. He is getting to that developmental stage where he wants me to watch him do silly things such as jumping on the couch, shaking his hair or just roaring. He wants to sing “Wheels on the Bus” at full volume thanks to “Coco Melon”. He continues to get called a “she” even though I dress him in very sterotypical “boy” colors. I will literally not put him in pastels. But he’s tall and skinny and has a head full of beautiful curly hair. I cut my hair so I wouldn’t have to bother with styling it, but now I just spend time styling Atlas hair. He continues to be a very picky eater, but his palate has expanded to include eating whole apples thanks to daycare in Australia. He also usually eats strawberries, blueberries, banana, white rice, curry sauce, french-fries, hamburger with nothing on it, peanuts and bread of all types. I quantify with usually because sometimes Atlas won’t eat anything. But that boy does like peanut butter so I will claim him as mine. He continues to struggle with pronunciation in both English and Spanish, but speaks a mix of both. He also says “Sumi” to servers when trying to get their attention as a shortened form of the Japanese word “sumimasen” for “excuse me”. Atlas has been to 35 states and 14 countries and counting. We are attempting to potty train, but failing miserably. I can’t give the little guy too much grief when the concept of a schedule is waking up in different hotel rooms and time zones. He loves to push his luggage on travel days and is an expert at pushing all the buttons on the elevator.
Atlas being on a motorcycle reminded me of Nathaniel’s first experience on a motorcycle.
Now you guys know I can’t end this blog without talking about the food. Germany is about their beer, pork, potatoes and sauerkraut and I’m here for all of it. Ian really enjoyed the beer. He said it went down so much smoother than American beer. I’m not a huge fan of beer, but German restaurants have something called a “Raddler” which is a beer mixed with 7-up or Sprite and this was a pleasant drink. Cece got tired of pork and potatoes and started ordering more burgers. I on the other hand ate sauerkraut the way Germans intend for you to eat it, as a complete side not a topping. Also, many restaurants had these bread dumplings as a side and they were so satisfying. Besides breakfast and one dinner, we had German style food for every meal. I only had Schnitzel once and it was not my way to eat pork. As for their desserts, we had a chocolate cake that had a weird jam that none of us were fond of. Even the chocolate cake at the hotel lounge was very dry. However, we ordered these apple pieces that were deep fried and rolled in sugar and cinnamon: delicious. I mean how do you make apples better? You deep fry them, roll them in sugar and top it with vanilla ice cream.
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