Hard Days Night

Wednesday, June 15th, 2022 was a hard days night.  The Holy Family crew flew overnight from Toronto to Munich on Air Canada.  The flight was uneventful for the most part, I switched seats with one of the students so they could sit together.  This put me by the window.  Which if you know me makes me crazy. I almost immediately feel trapped.  I slept for about the first 45 minutes before the in-flight meal service awakened me.  After that I had no chance of sleeping.  Luckily, Air Canada had Billions on the entertainment console so I binged watched 6 episodes.

Once deplaning was complete we moved smoothly through customs and baggage claim.  The only hiccup was that one of our students had their luggage lost.

We met our guide Patrick and by the time we were finally organized and on the bus it was like 10ish.  We took the bus to downtown Munich.  The area was know as Viktualienmarkt.  This is an open air market.  The amount of food and the variety was amazing.  Cheeses, wine, fresh fruit everything an eater or a chef could want.

I

The market

Katie and fresh fruit

Another view from the market

I grabbed lunch with Elise, Olivia, Nellie, and Katie.  I ordered the lamb sausage and a Diet Coke.  It was great.  The girls had sausage, sauerkraut and pretzels.

Sausage and potatoes.

We had the afternoon mostly free to explore the area around the market called Marienplatz.  

The most striking feature in Marienplatz is the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus). It dominates the skyline and located in its tower is the Glockenspiel which tells the history of Munich with its moving parts.  When FC Bayern win the Bundessliga they often celebrate from the balcony as well.

The girls in front of Neues Rathaus.

Neues Rathaus

The Glockenspiel lives in the upper two openings below the actual clock tower portion.

We decided to climb the steps up St. Peter’s, Munich’s oldest church.

Views from the top of St Peter’s 

From St. Peter’s looking at Neues Rathaus 

The girls at the top of St. Peter’s 

The observation deck 

Katie going on the stairs.  One way traffic only.

The May Pole from the market.

Inside St. Peter’s 

The alter at St. Peter’s

The ceiling.

The girls ditched me to hang out with some of the boys so I wandered over to the Cathedral Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche).  It is massive and build in the 15th century it’s twin towers are quite impressive 

From the front of Frauenkirche.

Inside the Frauenkirche

Approaching Frauenkirche from the square

Statue near the square

Even the access covers are decorated 

Dramatic fresco on my walk

Street views

St. Peter’s in the evening

We watched the Glockenspiel eat a buffet dinner and then took the bus to our hotel.

I ended up in the lobby talking to a German teacher from Virginia.  We discussed our trips and then we discussed her family in ……wait for it…………….Litchfield.  Unbelievable how so the world is.  A town in MN that I feel incredibly connected to and I meet this German teacher and her mom in a random hotel in Munich and we start breaking down MN and Litchfield over a glass of wine.  It was a hard day with beautiful sights.  My only regret is not seeing Robert Lewandowski today.  I am tired more tomorrow.  I am too tired to edit this one so forgive the spelling and grammatical errors.