Despite his busy schedule, my dad carved out some time to spend with us before we went off to Italy. He and my stepmother took us on a walking tour of Munich.
First, Eric and I made our way by ourselves to the Viktualenmarkt. The Viktualenmarkt is a large open air market which sells everything from fresh fruit to giant mushrooms to handmade wooden toys. Eric happened upon the “Hoenighaus’l”, a little stall selling everything related to honey. Then it was off to meet my parents at the main square at noon. There is a giant clock in the tower of the Government building there. As the clock strikes noon, puppet-like figures start moving inside the clock tower on a large lazy susan, some people are dancing, two knights on horseback joust, etc. It was fun to watch, even when surrounded by tourists of all stripes, with nonplussed “Muencheners” making their way through the crowd.
After a quick lunch of sausages at the Viktualenmarkt (seated next to a group of people from Orange County), we planned out the rest of our day. We took a street car across town, hoping to see an art exhibition, but the museums were closed. Instead, my parents, who have lived in Munich on and off during the past 30 years, took us all over town, pointing out things both historical and personal. It was a lot of fun, and my parents, given their historical backgrounds, are excellent tour guides. We wished that they were coming with us to Italy. Eric and I went by ourselves to see the Residenz, the local castle in Munich, which had some lovely pieces of furniture and some great art.
That night, we were able to have dinner with Sam and Katrin alone, which was great fun, and allowed us to eat up all of the leftover goodies from the party. Sam and Katrin were very generous hosts, especially since they were working the whole time we were there. It was great to see them and spend time with them in their very chic apartment.
