Bavaria 101











It´s been a great couple of days so far here in Bavaria.

Tuesday we hung out with Colin & Marlene and Alexander, their baby, in Augsburg. On our way to the town centre, we walked along part of an old city wall that has been there for many hundreds of years. Besides simply walking and a bit of shopping, we sat in the large platz (a square -- not to be confused with the delicious fruit-based dessert many of us Mennos have grown to love) and sampled some local fare. I had weisswurst (white sausage served in a bowl of water in which it has been boiled) with sweet mustard, a pretzel, and a nice Bavarian wheat beer. Mmmm. Terri even tried -- and enjoyed -- the weisswurst! In the evening we had a very nice meal at Colin & Marlene´s, and then watched Jesus Camp, which is a billion times scarier than any new kind of Bavarian dining experience.

Wednesday Terri and I went into Munich to see some sights and meet up with Christian, a friend I met at Taize last summer. We met at Marienplatz, which is the very center of old Munich. From there we walked to the Hofbrauhaus, another Munich landmark, for lunch. The previous evening, Colin told me that if I wanted a truly barbarian Bavarian food experience, I should try schweinshaxe, which is a pig knuckle. So, I tried it, along with ein masse of dunkel (dark wheat beer), which I figured would help make it more bearable if I didn´t actually enjoy it. Well, both were great. The brass band was pretty good, too.

In the afternoon we hiked the100-metres-tall tower of Alte Peter, which may be the oldest church in Munich, to see a pretty amazing view of the city. Then we went to the Alte Pinakothen (old art gallery) to see a wonderful collection of art and walk around in some air conditioning for a little over an hour. In the evening we met up with Christian again. He took us to the Englisches Garten -- the largest park in Munich -- bigger than Central Park in New York. There we went to a place called the Chinese Tower, around which is wrapped the second biggest beer garden in Munich. Apparently there is seating for about 7500 people. What an experience. Had currywurst -- which is exactly what it sounds like. VERY tasty. Afterwards we took the U-bahn back to Marienplatz, from which we walked back to the train station to get back to Augsburg. Another great day. Enjoy the pics!

4 comments:

Chad said...

Looks like you are still going strong team s&$^ hot. It is raining like stink here, thundershowers and sleepless nights; jetlagging like crazy for bot of us.

Tony Funk said...

Hey Homies! Any luggage yet? Hey! Get the Balzers to turn on Skype and let's yak about the trip. I'm home.

Jane said...

So the airline lost your luggage and those are the new clothes you bought in Paris?

Nelson Boschman said...

C&P -- Yeah, we're still going strong. Hope you get over the lag soon!

T -- Missed your message last night. Depending on when we get in tonight, maybe we'll try to Skype you.

J -- Let's see. Looking, looking. I bought the shirt in Paris, but the rest is either borrowed or stuff we still happened to have with us. If you really want to know.

Point taken that it isn't the most flattering picture of us (thanks Jane for raising issues of self-consciousness...now I'll prolly remove it), but I'm afraid I can't hold British Airways responsible for my lack of tanning ability.