Munich

Munich, lets just say that I can sum up a great deal of this leg of the trip by saying that it was at least 1 million degrees and humid as hell.  It would seem that timing would have us in this otherwise beautiful city during a time when a heat wave was passing through.  Now being from Phoenix you wouldn't think this should have any kind of effect on me, but I live in the land of air conditioning the Germans do not.

Our lodgings were at a hostel in Munich city.  Actually not a bad location as it was very close to the rail stations we needed from the airport.  It was also fairly close to and within walking distance of most of the attractions we wanted to see.  When in Munich I think the first thing many people do is explore the Marienplatz.  This is a historical portion of the city and home to the famous Glockenspiel.  The bells chimed as we were walking down the street and people were flooded on both sides of the road and sidewalk.  As we got closer we saw the Glockenspiel in full glory with its characters spinning around and even 2 knights in a joust.  It is an amazing sight to take in.  This is where my friends and I opted to find a seat at a small cafe and just take in the sights.  This is also where I realized that Khalese must be near as I saw a dragon climbing up the wall appearing to attack the Glockenspiel.  This is the only explanation I can manage for why this dragon was climbing the wall as it seemed out of place.  On a side note I learned that no matter how hot it is, one cannot find a free glass of water in all of Germany (well everywhere I've been thus far).  I also found out that beer is equitable to cheaper than a bottle of water.  Seriously....no seriously.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic.  I think my favorite part of Munich was not the famous Marienplatz area, rather it was a place we found while walking and exploring the city.  As we were casually strolling through the town searching for the English Gardens we came across another lush park so this desert girl requested that we literally take the more scenic route.  Luckily my travel friends agreed and we found ourselves under a gazebo listening to a solo  Cello playing in the middle of the park.  There were fountains surrounding the gazebo, beautiful music, lush greenery and great company, I think I could have been lost there as long as the man was playing, but we had a lot ofthings to try to fit into just a few short days.

Alas we had to move on.
Upon leaving this park we saw a small creek with people dangling their lil toes in it (when in Rome...) we again made a detour, ditched the shoes and stuck our feet in.  Oh dear sweet baby jesus that water was cold.  Frigid and I dare say that if it felt amazing as compared to the extreme heat we were facing otherwise.  I was willing to freeze my bits off and jump in fully clothed but somehow I figured it would be poor form since nobody else was doing the same.  Our group lingered here for a bit before again attempting to locate the English Gardens.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that we realized that we had entered the garden we sought nearly immediately after we finished refreshing our aching feet.  It was here that I think I could have stayed, and repeated many a time if I were to live in Munich.  The river runs thought the park and to say it was gorgeous might just be the biggest understatement one can utter.  Imagine NYC's Central park on steroids.     As I said there was a river that cut through the middle of the park and countless numbers of scantily clad men, women & children were quite literally running and jumping into the river.  The current made it the largest free lazy river ride I have ever witnessed.  Walking a bit further we caught sight of something even more crazy and out of place...men surfing the river.  No truly med and one girl were literally taking turns throwing their surfboards into the wave created from a spillway hitting the river.  They would surf back and forth a few times before dropping off to allow the next person to go.  It was an amazing sight to behold indeed.  Needless to say we spent an hour or two wandering around eating ice cream and enjoying the park with all the locals.  (It should be noted that if we didn't have our purses/wallets etc, we would have jumped in the river fully clothed just to cool off.

As previously noted, the weather in Munich was sweltering  We are talking 2 showers a day just to stay cool.  Even then, I'm glad our time there is winding down!