Beer and a Palace

Hi everyone. Here's our boy!!!

It's a gorgeous sunny morning here, with a predicted high of 6 degrees, twice as hot as yesterday!

We caught the train in to Munich yesterday. We had intended to do the biking tour, but it didn't seem to be on, so we ended up going on the top of a double decker bus - a better option given that it was only 3 degrees with what Grandad would call a lazy wind.

We stopped at the Nymphenburg Palace, where King Ludwig 2 was born and looked through - magnificent painted and gilded ceilings, and furnished royal bedrooms. The grounds were amazing, laid out with a long straight central canal and gardens lining the sides.

We arrived back in the Marienplatz just as the glockenspiel was chiming, all the people on it coming out and dancing. It is an old clock on the side of the town hall, with lifesize painted figures that come forward and dance about in a ring when it chimes.

From there we wandered down to the victualienmarkt, where there were dozens of produce stalls - all sorts of fruit and veges, including things like fresh dates and figs, and some stuff I had never seen before. Glen bought some carob for us to eat - long brown pods, that are dried and taste a bit like dry, almost crunchy, dates. There was a fabulous olive stall, dozens of different varieties, and flavoured with things like garlic, almonds, and parsley. We bought some white aspargus for Claudia (it's just coming in to season and apparently she loves it), and some cheese and enormous strawberries.

Earlier we had had what Glen calls a 'Bavarian hamburger' - a roll with a big chunk of sausage and sweet mustard in the middle, so we weren't really too hungry, but we went and had 3 enormous beers at the Hofbräuhaus! We had dinner there too - pork and dumplings (not as good as Gisela's) and Sauerkraut. It's an amazing place, the band in their lederhosen playing oom pa pa music, and the locals in their corner with their hats with feathers, and about a million tourists gawping like us!

Today we are having a quieter day in Freising, Claudia's friend is coming to visit.

Timothy is great, only waking once at night now, and we still haven't heard him cry.