München, Deutschland

Joey sweet-talked a boy
into giving him a lift.

Well, our time in Legoland is done, but we're not finished with vacation just yet.  Since Dennis's birthday is imminent, we decided to make a stop just for him.

We visited Munich, Dennis and I, a dozen years ago, when he had just graduated from college.  My memories of the city are pretty hazy, probably because we spent most of the visit at the famous Hofbräuhaus beer hall, making friends with other backpackers and, ultimately, missing our train because we were having a little too much fun.  We spent a night in a train station and emerged from the experience infinitely more responsible. All the same, it was a great night, and we decided to revisit the scene of the crime.

But first, we had some business to attend to: namely, the excellent putt-putt course at our hotel that had been tempting us for the last two days.  Ella has clearly inherited my and Dennis's competitive streak (which is a definitely a mixed blessing) and she would not stand the thought of losing, not to anyone, not to Daddy, and particularly not to a 5-year-old.  So our morning's fun was turned into a pointed lesson in sportsmanship.

Hole #3 was putt-putt billiards

But Joey and Alex puttered, oblivious.  Every time Joey finally tapped the ball in the hole, he dropped his club, threw his arms up, and yelled "I win!" Ella was unconvinced that this was an acceptable approach to what clearly should have been a cut-throat miniature golf game. (It was pirate-themed, after all.) But we eventually got her to settle down and have a little fun...eventually.

Our suitcases clearly weren't developed for gravel, but we
made it the mile-long walk to the bus stop.

Unfortunately, because our hotel is a little remote from the park, and because the bus stop was at the front entrance, we had a long walk out of Legoland.  I feel like I've posted more than an acceptable number of pictures of our kids, walking down long roads, dragging their little suitcases.  But it makes me proud to see them being so helpful.

Our bus and train rides were over two hours total; when we landed in the heart of Bavaria, we were immediately noticed with a cluster of men in Lederhosen. Things were working out very well, indeed.

But before we could join the fun, we had a hotel to find. We'd chosen one fairly close to the train station: our spunky kids only had to lug the suitcases a few blocks, this time. But it was a few blocks on the wrong side of the tracks, it turned out, with our hotel surrounded by the pawn shops, army surplus stores, and Gentlemen's Clubs.  Yes, we're broadening the childrens' horizons.

Just across the street from our hotel.  Maybe "Boobs" sounds exotic in German?

"O is for Octopus."  I gave them a free pass.

But the hotel itself fine enough, so we dropped off our bags and headed back out to the more family-friendly center of Munich, stopping briefly enough in our sketchy neighborhood to discover that, in addition to Girls!Girls!Girls!, there was also excellent gelato.

"F" is also for "Fountain." I love
this one.

We had a good time on our walk to Marionplatz.  Ella's balance had been completely restored, and Dennis had the kids playing a game of Alphabet I-Spy as we walked.  He told the kids they could use words in English or German, and didn't I just bust with pride when Ella pointed to a bicycle: "F is for Fahrrad!"

This being summer, the streets were full and festive: we passed by at least a dozen buskers and other street performers.  Alex is currently hatching plans to make his fortune as a living statue.  Ella has long asserted that it is positively immoral to pass by a street musician without giving them money.  "If you enjoy their music even a little bit, it's like stealing if you don't give them money." I really love the performers, too, so I was happy to have her and Alex help me get rid of some of my heavy change.

These two, my favorites, were playing Bach's Toccata
and Fugue in D minor.  You know, the Dracula song!

Waiting for 5:00.

We timed our trip so that we'd get to see the 5:00 chiming of the Rathaus Glockenspiel.  As much as the kids enjoy the tiny Glockenspiel in Zürich, I was convinced that this enormous clock would make a big impression on the kids.  (Although my own main impression of it, from twelve years ago, was clutching my purse to my chest, convinced that the rumored pick-pocketers were out to get me.)

Ohh, ohh! It's started!

Alex, too, seems to be rapt

The giant clock, built in 1908, has life-sized figures that jerkily re-enact the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V (whose has my everlasting gratitude for founding the Hofbräuhaus), including a folk dance and a joust between the knights of Bavaria and Lothringen.  I absolutely loved how the large crowd, who gathered to watch the bells, gave a big en-masse "Ohhh!" when the Lothringen knight was knocked off his horse. They were as emotionally involved with large wooden dolls as it was possible to be.

I thought that the kids were enjoying themselves--they kept their eyes on the clock and asked questions--but after the show was over, Ella told me, "I don't know, mom.  This was a pretty far way to come, just to see a cuckoo clock." Um, well, yes. Point taken.

But we didn't come here just for the clock.  There was also the pig knuckle and giant stein of beer!

The Hofbräuhaus is certainly Munich's most popular tourist attraction.  Founded in 1589, beer hall is pure fun, swarming with tours and tourists. But locals also come, dressed in their lederhosen, and one wall is lined with lockers where they store their personal mugs.

Our evening's entertainment

Zum Wohl, Dennis!

Und Prost, Joey!

After only slight hesitation, deciding the risk of noise was worth the probable enjoyment of the kids, we grabbed a table right in front of the band stand.  Dennis ordered the meal he realized he'd been lusting after for twelve years, a pork knuckle, which is considerably more delicious than it sounds. And the children had traditional Bavarian spaghetti with butter and the largest steins of apple juice you've ever seen. They couldn't believe their own good fortune. And they received more than one alarmed from the neighboring tables.

Unfortunately, our stay had to be short: bedtime is early for our crew. So while there was no proclamations of life-long friendship with people whose faces I wouldn't be able to remember the next morning, we did, at least, get to chat with a father and son visiting from Wisconsin, who admitted they felt right at home in Bavaria. And Dennis regretted, not for the first time, not having gone to Madison for graduate school.

Since our train out of Munich would be leaving at 7:15 tomorrow, we took in as much as the city as we could on the walk back to the hotel.

I definitely remembered this fountain from our last visit. We let the kids
shuck their shoes and play.  This is me, trying very hard not to think about
all of the other thousands of people who put their bare feet in this water.

Trying to find their place on the map

Dennis cleared the shelves.

Although we packed very carefully for this trip (three suitcases is as good as it gets for us) we decided we had room for a couple of important souvenirs.  A beer stein for Dennis, and enough marzipan Ritter Sport chocolate bars to get us through a week or two. We have the right priorities in this family.

And that was our day, over much too quickly.  We had to divide into two rooms once again, and it's my turn to take the boys. Alex always falls asleep quickly and firmly, but Joey is a dice roll.  Today, because he had a long nap in his stroller between our train ride and the Glockenspiel, he is not in a restful mood. So now, here I am, hunched and hiding in the bathroom, at 10:30 at night, trying to will him to go to sleep.  It's not really working.  He's chanting "Mooooo-mmy, Moooooo-mmy!" I tried laying down with him, but that certainly didn't help.  "Hey! No! MY! MY bed!" he told me.  Apparently, tonight, Joey doesn't share beds, either.

Success, finally.