Monday morning started off well, we got up early and got to the airport and through security with plenty of time to spare. We had breakfast at the airport and it was surprisingly good. Our last shot at English breakfast, but again, scrambled eggs on smoked salmon hit the spot for me.
Shopping there was pretty much a bust, given the exchange rates it just doesn’t make sense, and I’m not paying £30 for a T-Shirt (almost $50 us). I’m just not going to do it.
We arrived at the Munich airport on time, made it through customs without an issue and collected our bags. Straight to the rental car facility, which had a line, but was uneventful. Thank you Budget for not doing the same bait and switch that Alamo in the UK did.
We retrieved our car and were off, straight to the office.
Like the UK office, our Munich office isn’t in Munich, it’s technically in Hallbergmoos, near the airport about 3o minutes north of Munich. The highlighted area in the map above shows where we spent our time in Germany. As far north as Landshut, and as far south as Innsbruck, Austria.
Upon arrival spent the day handing out new laptops and prepping for the router swap. Claudine just hung out in the office embracing her down time watching some flicks on the iPad. We took a break about 4pm and headed to the hotel to check in, and change. We headed back to the office to to the dirty work after hours.
Upon completion it was late, like 10pm late. We hadn’t though through where we’d eat but I was pretty sure the hotel restaurant would be closed. On our way to the hotel we spotted a little Italian restaurant and popped in there.
The place was about closed but they seated us, and didn’t speak a lick of English. Only German and Italian, but from a German/Italian Menu you can pretty much figure out what you want. My Rosetta stone was coming back to me and I could pick out a few things, we used google translate on the iPhone for a few key words.
Best Calzone I’ve ever had.
The following morning, Tuesday, I headed into the office and left Claudine to explore Freising on foot. Of course she found a yarn store and met a new friend.
I wrapped up my work around noon, picked up Claudine and headed to Munich for a Free Guided Tour of the City. We took the New Munich FREE Tour in English and it was worth every penny. Our guide, Colson, was in Germany playing American football with the Munich Cowboys. His wife was completing a 3 year over-seas commitment for the company she worked for and he gave the tours for beer money. They are free but you tip the guide after the tour. He earned his money.
The tour started at MarienPlatz, in front of the Glockenspiel.
From there we wandered through the city seeing the sights and learning about the Bavarian kings, and a little about the 3rd Reich. Colson also gave the 3rd Reich tour so he mixed a little of that in as well.
At the close of the tour we got to watch the Glockenspiel do it’s thing. Our tour guide was right, I can see why it’s the #2 most over-rated tourist attraction in Europe. After the tour we ended up at the Hofbräuhaus for dinner.
There was an oriental family seated at the table next to us. They just assumed we were natives and were very happy to have their pictures taken with me, almost all of them. It was hilarious.
We stood in the courtyard where Hitler painted one of his famous paintings. Of course we bombed the hell out of the surrounding buildings but the tower remained in-tact.
We even found another Yarn store for Claudine. I mean I knew it was there, right there and I took her to it, specifically. 🙂
After we the yarn shopping extravaganza we walked around Munich some more than drove around for a bit and headed back to the hotel to get some rest, Wednesday was going to be a big day.