A Day in Munich

It was fun going down to breakfast and seeing many of our friends from California and other places. We had a good solid breakfast then headed downtown. We came out at the Marienplatz S-Bahn stop as the day before, then walked 20 minutes to the Bavarian National Museum. On the way we came across surfers on the Eisbachwelle which has been quite a thing in Munich for over 40 years. The river has been adjusted so there’s a permanent, half-meter high standing wave that can be continually surfed. The riders were so skilled, jetting across the narrow but quick running river. One guy did a bunch of tricks then flipped into a headstand as he was pushed over the wave.

We walked around some of the museum exhibits, concentrating on the Baroque and Rococo rooms. There were English translations on the descriptions but the audio guide didn’t help much as it covered too much. They have a bunch of amazing old stuff there, that’s for sure, plus at least one piece of Lactation Art!

Soon it was time to head back toward the S-Bahn and to our station. We had lunch in an Italian café by the station, then made it to the hotel by 13:00, the bicycle group meeting time. Down in the basement we had the critical bike fitting session. We rode around and adjusted seats etc. until we were all happy with our bikes.

There was a bit of a nap session after, at least for Nathan. Then it was time to head back downtown, in a group of about 30. We arrived in Marienplatz right at 5pm when the famous marionette show takes place. We had watched it previously on YouTube but here’s our favorite part.

This started a 2 hour walking tour of Munch, with a very good Italian guide, Simone. He explained tons of history.

After seeing lots, we ended up at a restaurant for a group dinner. 7 or 8 of us stopped for gelato on the way back to the station, and before 10pm we were back at the hotel. It’s exciting to think we get to start riding tomorrow. We had a couple of rain showers today but the forecast for tomorrow is good.