The Munich U Bahn

We were woken up at 5am this morning with a very loud thunderstorm with lashing rain and lightning. Xena is terrified of storms but did not seem to stir, she is so good in the hotel room and she just stays in her dog bed all night. Except she didn't last night, when I finally woke up again at 7am she was curled up in the tightest ball possible in the corner of the room, obviously scared from the storm.

The rain cleared the oppressive heat that we have had for the past few days which was a relief. We decided not to have breakfast at the hotel (as it in not included) but rather walk a short distance to Cafe Buur instead. We had an excellent breakfast there, an açai bowl for me with fruit, and they had such a good choice of all kinds of breakfasts.

We then met up with Tommy who had planned a guided walk through th old town of Munich. We walked down Ludwigstrasse to Odeonsplatz, the square that is famous for the Nazi march in 1923 in the course of the Beer Hall Putsch, and today it is an important site for demonstrations. We continued to Marienplatz and watched the 12 noon Glockenspiel playing in the tower of the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall which was built in 1867 - 1909).

We visited some of the churches, Frauenkirche (the Catholic cathedral), St Peter, another Catholic Church, and then our favourite Asamkirche (see extra). The Asamkirche is an extraordinary example of a Baroque church built by the Asam brothers, one being a sculptor and the other a painter, from 1733 to 1746. 

We had lunch at the Victualienmarkt, the boys had Bavarian food while Meriel and I found a vegetarian soup stall that served the most delicious soups. Gavin then decided he wanted to swim in the Eisbach as he never joined the others in doing so yesterday, so we went back there and they had fun jumping in and swimming in the strong current downstream. I took some more photos of the surfers, as can be seen in the extra. The Eisbach is a very narrow canal and the area where they surf has extremely turbulent water, as it is funnelled through a narrower section under the bridge, so surfing there requires great skill in the turbulent waves.

Finally back to the hotel to rest before supper, which tonight was at the hotel restaurant called Cevicheria Pez - it served delicious Peruvian food including ceviches.