Munchen/Munich

Our final European destination has been great.  Munich is a pretty city with plenty of history (Nazi and otherwise).  Our hotel is very close to the main train station and what a station it is! We have had dinner their three nights in a row and eaten something different each time (and tasty and healthy!) which is a little bit different from Perth's major train stations... We relaxed our first evening here and then set out bright an early for a walking tour the next day.  That was overcrowded so we volunteered to go later in the afternoon and did some touring ourselves.  We watched their famous glockenspiel, and with all the reviews saying "Is that all?", we quite enjoyed it.  I guess it depends on where your expectations are (mine were pretty low).  Mum and I had a sad moment at the end because it played (what mum told me) a German lullaby "Wooden Heart" which I have only ever heard Elvis Presley sing on one of dad's CDs.  We are missing him quite a lot and knowing he would have loved practically everything we have been doing.
We moved on and spent the morning wandering through Munich's palace gardens and large park called the Englishgarten (Germans don't like d's and w's, always pronouncing them as a t or v) which was pretty.  There was a little snow on the ground, enough to be pretty and slosh up the walkways or make it icy/slippery.  We enjoyed it though.  We managed to walk through the university district (wow, what a pretty place to study!) and said a prayer in the Geschwister-Scholl-Platz for Sophie Scholl and her White Rose Movement friends (university students who distributed flyers calling on Germans to passively resist the Nazis and were executed for it 3 days later).
We stopped for a brief hit drink to warm our insides and rest our outsides before starting our walking tour.  Our guide Hein was funny and full of interesting information.  He showed us church's were the devil stamped his foot (leaving an impression in the stone) and left his wind in the streets around it, the palace where the Ludwigs and Maximilians of royal history lived and played (and got up to much mischief), a beer hall were men literally had peeing sticks so they could pee without splashing or getting up from the tables (yes, they literally peed into gutters running under the tables - obviously unable to leave their beers alone), town halls and Platz's where Hitler rallied his followers, and a fascinating street with golden cobblestones to commemorate the Germans who wanted to avoid 'Sieg Heil' (do the famous Hitler arm raise) and were punished for it (a special place of Hitlers first military protest was commemorated and two soldiers guarded the spot 24 hours a day to make sure when people went past they did the Sieg Heil. To avoid praising Hitler many people turned down the street prior to the spot. This was noticed so two more policeman were stationed down that street and if you were caught twice without a good reason for avoiding that special spot, you were sent to Dachau as a political dissenter. Scary times!!)
We wandered in a church or two (yes we are still interested in churches after the dozens we've seen - this was had an all white Roccoco interior with amazing ornate moulds - alright I will stop describing as I can hear the yawning from here).  Then it was tea and home.  We packed in so much that day we wondered what we would do for the next day.  We got up and decided on Therme Erding (this is a google must!).  We put on our bathers and bought a ticket (scoffing to each other about the 22 euro price tag of the train ticket and thinking it had better be good enough to travel 50 mins North East of the city).  We got to see the Bavarian alps out the window and some snow covered fields (no snow in the city) which was cool.  Mum had researched well before we left and so we made it there by train and bus.  We got in and got changed (yet another go at working out how everything works - where is my locker? Where do I get changed? Oo - change rooms, now how do I lock them so no one else gets in? Now where are the pools? How do I get out of the labyrinth change rooms? Yay - water! Now where do I put my towel or is are those lounges reserved? Argh!).  Our first stop was a super cool wave pool.  It is heated to about 25 degrees and you swim out in the fake waves and bob up and down on some noodles for a little while and pretend you are at the beach (but better because there are no sharks and it is warm water and there are no rips).  Then we headed to the main thermal baths which is two sections across (this place is huge and we only paid to see half of it!).  We swam in assorted temperature pools, did some aqua aerobics, swam in a Himalayan salt pool, one with minerals, steamed in a salt gas thingy, put a clay mask on and went on a few slides (one was the longest inside slide) which was fun, then went back to the thermal pools then spent a final half hour floating on our backs in the wave pool (it totally could have lulled me to sleep).  They have so many other things to do there (many of which you could only do if you had a lot of money). It was awesome.  The only thing scary about the place was the number of seats and lounges.  There would have been enough to seat a thousand people - eeek- can you imagine that many people in the pools with you?  It would be people soup.  You'd have to decide to leave a pool three hours before you actually made it to the steps!!
Anyway, we had an awesome time and were grateful that it was a weekday (and winter) which helped thin the possible crowd.
Mum and I are excited to see the Godfreys tomorrow who have finished their week of skiing (with both kids doing well and enjoying themselves).  We will meet them at the train station, take them to the hotel, then most of us are hopping back to the station to go to Dachau - the site of Hitlers first work/concentration camp.  It will be a sad but meaningful afternoon.  If we are all not too exhausted we might take the Godfreys on a small walking tour, passing on our learnt information because the day after we leave Europe.  We all feels like it has been months that we have been away rather than weeks.
We have a few days in Singapore to try and relieve some jet lag (and get used to the heat) before flying home.

I hope you are all well.  All the best to you and your families.  Be sure to tell each other that you love them - we really don't know how often we have left to say it.

Thanks for reading.