Tuesday 25 March. We were picked up from home at 6:30 am, and after a very comfortable 10 hour flight we arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport at 6.30 pm. The Qantas cabin staff’s service was excellent and when we commented on how well they were looking after us, they replied “We don’t get many backpackers in Business Class.”
Wednesday 26 March. Just when we thought nothing else could go wrong, we received a message at the hotel from JAL, the flight has been delayed by two hours, which meant we would miss our connecting flight from Frankfurt to Munich. At Narita airport the JAL staff was very helpful and arranged with Lufthansa to rebook us on a later flight and told us they would pay any extra costs. The bed style seats made our twelve hour flight from Narita quite tolerable as we were able to get several hours sleep. We finally arrived at the hotel in Munich at 1:00 am (11:00 am Melbourne time) but managed to sleep till 7:30.
Thursday 27 March. After a good breakfast we set of for Marienplatz, centre of the old city and on emerging from the railway station we were greeted with a very upmarket busker, playing a grand piano, a sight not often seen on the street. We then walked to the Neues Rathaus (Town Hall) and watched the 11:00 am performance of the Glockenspiel. We spent the rest of the day walking around the old area visiting many old churches and buildings and finishing at the Viktualienmarkt, the stalls selling all types of food from tropical and exotic fruits, to many varieties of cheese and stalls with the most wonderful display of flowers. We finished the day at a small beer hall and dined on Bratwurst sausage, mashed potato and sauerkraut, washed down with half a litre of beer.
Friday 28 March. After breakfast we walked back to Marienplatz to join the “Third Reich Tour” which walked us around Munich to the places associated with Hitler’s rise to power, finishing at his office building which is now used as a music school. Our guide was very knowledgeable and had many historic photos to support her talk but had to be careful when displaying them as many older residents become annoyed if they see them.
After the tour we walked to the English Gardens one of the largest parks in Europe, around four kilometres in length with many man made streams and lakes. The park comprises woodlands and open grassed areas and is extremely popular with the locals especially the large beer garden beside the Chinese Tower. After nearly seven hours of walking we were glad to return to our hotel for a “cuppa” and a rest.
Saturday 29 March. Today is “white knuckle day”. We picked up a car at Munich station, a small Mercedes, and set out to drive on the “right” side of the road, how pleased we were that we ordered a GPS with the car, I don’t think we would have found our way to the motorway without it. The helpful girl at the office programmed it for us to direct us to Oberstaufen and the resort. After about an hour’s driving we realised that the signs on the motorway said to Nuremburg, which is north of Munich, we should have been travelling south west. A quick stop to re-programme the GPS and we were directed off the motorway and back on to the other side heading back to Munich. With the correct address in the GPS it was a simple matter to find the resort, we knew we were heading in the right direction as the snow on the ground changed from small patches to total cover, there had been a heavy fall the previous week.
We arrived at the resort after driving an extra 60 km and have a very comfortable studio apartment on the first floor, with a balcony, looking out at snow covered hills, now all we have to do is plan our activities for the week. Tonight is the start of Summer Time so we will have to remember to change the clocks.
