(I have no notes from today, so going from memory here)
(Tomorrow there will be some actual motorcycle riding!)
Sleep! Glorious sleep. I've had better nights, I kept waking up every hour or so, but I did actually manage to sleep. I can't tell you how good it felt to be out from under that pressure. I will never again take sleep for granted.
Unfortunately the Holiday Inn didn't have any rooms available that night, so I had to find another hotel room for my last night in Munich. Dave and Peter were booked at the NH Muenchen Deutscher Kaiser, right around the corner from my old sweat-box, so it made sense to move myself over there. Made a reservation online (at nearly 3x what the sweat-box cost) and took the short train ride over there. Once again I impressed upon the front desk my need for a room with working a/c, and was given a room on the 6th floor. I declined the offer "maybe you would like internet in your room?" for 25 euros and went upstairs. I had a minor moment when I couldn't get the a/c to blow cold air, and after a quick trip back downstairs I learned you have to set the dial on the sun, not on the snowflake, to get cold air. The sun, because it's sunny outside, so you might want cold air. Um, OK.
From the window near the elevator you can see my old hotel
The Hauptbahnhof is the large grey building in the center
Dave and Peter showed up in the lobby right on time. They both had had some concerns regarding their flights; Dave was flying Air Transat that only flew to Munich once per week and had limited options if there was a problem, and Peter was flying Air Canada whose customer service employees had just gone on strike. Fortunately there were no problems and Peter even managed to get an hour's sleep on the flight. The guys got checked in, cleaned up, and we set out for downtown.
I took them around to all the best sights I'd seen while I was here, and we had a good lunch at a cafe right in Marienplatz. Having had such success with my sausage experiment the day before, I ordered another variety this time, mit brezel. It was great to see friends again, and share laughs over a beer. I felt like the trip was really getting started now.
Dave in Munich
Peter setting up a photo. It was good to have a beer again, especially a Paulaner Weissbier.
My sauerkraut remained untouched, but I devoured the rest of it
How can you pass up a photo op like this?
Second Ferrari of the trip
Great music from this quartet
After taking in all the regular places, including another tour of The Residenz, we took the U-Bahn up to the Englischer Garden. This was on my to-do list for Munich, but didn't get a chance to visit yet. It's one of the largest urban public parks in the world, and features a fantastic (and huge at 7,000 seats) biergarten located at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower). This turned out to be a completely delightful place to hang out and have a beer, with lots of shaded benches and a variety of food options.
The Chinesischer Turn
Couldn't help but think of The Blues Brothers "Chicken wire?"
Interesting contraption for drinking and riding. Saw a couple variations arond the city.
After a while we walked south through the park towards the city in search of the surfers. Yes, surfers. Even though Munich does not boast any oceanfront, or big sandy beaches, it has a thriving surfer community. We basically followed the river and the sound of the surf and were soon rewarded to an almost surreal scene, folks in wetsuits surfing in the middle of the city just a few feet away from a busy street.
Great pictogram
Fascinating to watch this going on in the middle of the city
Waiting patiently for their turn
You could tell who was going to give a good show by how they jumped in. The new guys would put the board in the water and slowly stand up on it before gently drifting into the middle of the river. Hot dogs like this kid just jump in and land on the board with complete confidence.
Sometimes they wiped out in spectacular fasion
And sometimes they would just call it a run and fall in the water so the next surfer could jump in
I was disappointed to find this after Dave called me over to "check out this rack!"
Passed this gorgeous E-Type on our way back from the surfers
I wonder if they remake this every once in a while ("Johnny, what can you make of this?" "I can make a hat, a broach, a pterodactyl!")
We ended our day at the Hofbrauhaus
By the time we had finished our dinner and beers at the Hofbrauhaus it was around 9pm, and the guys couldn't keep their eyes open. Back to the hotel, and requested an early wake-up call to start the big day tomorrow. My room was about 17 degree celsius, and sleep came mercifully quickly.