Munich

Photos - One of the numerous courtyards in the Residenz, one of the halls in the Residenz, sometimes used for dining and the Palace of Justice, another palce in the old part of the city.

Erith says:

Yesterday when we got to Munich we went for a little walk and went to an internet cafe to update our blog and to find a hotel to stay. We got to a hotel and it was very nice. Our room is 712 and we have a great view from our window. It's quite small, but very cozy.

This morning we went to an old palace. It was very pretty on the outside and very detailed. When we got inside, we got an audio guide to tell us about the things. There were two sections - one was rooms of the palace and one was crowns and jewels. I thought the palace was great and so did dad.

On the way back, we saw lots of lolly shops but didn't get any lollies. While we were walking back to the hotel, I got a new swimming costume and a charm for my charm bracelet.

Then we had lunch. I had penne pasta and it was very nice. Just when I had finished it started to rain. It was only raining for a few minutes and then it stopped. We walked back and went to the internet cafe to do the blog.

Today I'm excited because tomorrow we're going to Paris.

Marcus says:

We arrived in Munich yesterday, to weather that we're really not used to - it was cold and rainy, and felt quite a bit like a Sydney winter. We found a hotel easily enough - we've been having good luck using wotif.com and lastminute.com to get usually four-star accommodation for a lot less than the standard price. Even with the exchange to the Euro, the prices are comparable to what you'd expect to pay in Australia.

Paris may be a different story - Erith is looking for something at the moment, but I suspect that it may be pricier than what we've been getting so far. I realised last night that Wimbledon is on at the moment, so London could also be a challenge. We may pop in for a look, even if we don't watch any decent action - I've always wanted to go and besides, I happen to love strawberries...

As Erith said, we went to the Residenz today - it was very interesting, but a bit like overdosing on sugar. Opulent room after opulent room, all apparently used by very important people to meet with less important people. Bedrooms never used as bedrooms - set up for show only, etc. Another slightly sad aspect was that many of the rooms were bombed out of existence during World War II and although they have been filled with Authentic Royal Stuff, the rooms don't actually bear that much resemblance to their original use.

The treasury was also very interesting, but the sugar factor took hold again - fabulous jewel-encrusted goods of every description, but room after room after room of them. We stopped listening to the audio guide, then even stopped taking pictures, not because the items weren't magnificent, but because they were no more magnificent than those in the previous rooms.

We have been making a point of having a nice, authentic meal before leaving every country and today it was lunch. Erith had penne, but I had a brace of fine pork sausages stacked on saurkraut. We both had hot chocolate with hot milk and whipped cream delivered separate from the chocolate suace. It was superb, especially because of the inclement weather.

Munich has been a bit of a blow-through, but as I hadn't come here when I spent a year in Germany in 1981-82, I was curious to see it. The weather's poor and I'd rather have gone to Berlin, but it was worth coming and we needed to break up the long train trips anyway. Having struggled to make myself understood in Italy, I have found German to be a lot easier to communicate in - I'm amazed at how quickly it's returned. I guess it's possible to learn even while mis-spending your youth...

It's such a contrast coming to Germany from Italy. In Italy your take your life in your hands every time you cross the road, but here everyone obeys the lights even if there's no traffic coming for two blocks each way. They're also very clean - we've seen two people pick up rubbish that wasn't theirs - also a contrast to Italy, where that would seem to make you appear subservient, so would be totally unacceptable.

The major annoyance here is that everyone seems to smoke. Everywhere. Last night in the internet cafe, we were the only computer smoke-free, with a guy lighting a cigar as we left. I'm sure we must stink of smoke as the whole of Munich seems to. It must be impossible to quit smoking here and would arguably be pointless anyway.

On another note, we've completely run out of time and have had to drastically modify our plans. Unfortunately, we won't get to Poland to see my sister Belinda, who is studying there for a couple of months to escape the heat of the Middle East, where she lives the rest of the year. It's a real bumer as I was looking forward to catching up, but we would have spent the whole time on the train and Bel has been getting up at 5:00 am to prepare for classes anyway, so we wouldn't have got much of a visit. It's a drag when we're geographically relatively close to each other, but without more time it would never work.

Next stop is Paris for three days then London for two. I can't believe that we're getting close to being finished in Europe - we'll be half finished our trip when we fly to Canada next week.