March 31

Got up for breakfast and found the tables full.  Finally got 2 seats together next to a dark-complexioned man and his daughter.  His name was Kassim and he was from Dubai.  He a hotelier and one of his wives was a lawyer, one a doctor.  I think Kassim is set, money-wise.  I assume he is staying here because the neighborhood is Muslim-friendly. The neighborhood around us is full of women in burkas as well as Middle-Easterners in various attire, including Western.  A lot of signage on our particular block is Turkish, but you also see Arabic script on some of the buildings.

Kassim was very friendly and told us he had spent six months in Cincinnati.  I asked why he was there and learned that the little girl next to him has cancer.  She and he are in Munich for a checkup (she has been in remission for 5 years).  When he learned I was a business professor he tried to convince me to come to Dubai.  I would be very well paid, they'd give me a car and an apartment.  It's Muslim but nobody would force that on me.  The legal system and general society are very separate -- he made a big deal out of that.

Move to Dubai.  On the advice of a guy with 2 wives.  That would go over really well in my house.

Englisher Garten

That said, he was a very pleasant man and we had a very pleasant conversation.  Then we excused ourselves and headed out for a real walk.

Slightly north of Marienplatz is OdeonPlatz, just above the Residenz.  And not too far to the Northeast of that is the Englischer Garten, the largest city park in Europe.  As it was sunny and not too cold and Lonely Planet said this was a "must see," that was our destination.

Englisher Garten Beer Hall

Well, we definitely worked off all the heavy German cooking and beer.... probably hoofed it 10 miles round-trip.  In the summer, this is the place for nude sunbathing.  Thankfully, the temperature didn't get above 50 degrees.  It's nice -- not as nice or impressive as Central Park, in my book -- but nice.  Just below it is the Hofgarten, behind the Royal Residence, and that was more impressive to me.

Hofgarten (Theatinerkirsche behind)

Heading southward toward Marienplatz, we passed the Theatinerkirsche, which was not listed in the Lonely Planet but in some ways was the most impressive church we visited... this time, merely by happenstance.  The sculpture within the church is truly breathtaking.

One of the really cool things about this part of the city is that you can't go more than a few blocks without coming across a string quartet (or quintet, or whatever) playing beautiful classical music on the street.  Way cooler than the guy with the beat-up guitar who thinks he's Tom Petty.

Musicians adjacent to Hofgarten

At this point we were pretty spent so got a giant pretzel and a beer (me) and glass of wine (Judy) before heading back to the hotel to call Liz via Skype/ text via Google Voice.  She and son Aaron will be joining us tomorrow and we wanted to send some instructions on how to meet up with us when they arrive at the airport.

Theatinerkirsche

After a break, we headed back out, this time taking a different route and entering the Marienplatz region from the southwest, through the Sendlinger Tor, a gate that looks medieval.  We went by Asam kirsche, which looks plain from the outside but is supposed to be remarkably ornate on the inside... but were too late to get in.  Meandered up through an Italian area (based on all the restaurants) and finally settled on dinner at Paulaner im Tal, another beer hall.  This time, feasted on Schweinebraten, roasted pork with dumplings.  They had an English menu (haven't seen many of those) so we asked for one in German and one in English to try to decipher what we'd ordered before (and figure out what we don't want to order.  I also tried keller bier for the first time (I think).  I had heard of it.  This is beer that has not been filtered or pasteurized, meaning that more of its ingredients are held in suspension.  I don't know if it's normally this good, but this was really good beer.

Then back to the hotel... big (long!) day tomorrow.  Liz & Aaron get to Munich Airport at 8AM.