FLUGZEUG

 June 14:  Humans were not designed to be strapped into a small, hard, upright chair for eight hours in a tube moving 700 miles per hour, but that's what we endured on Air Berlin in order to reach Europe. To say the flight was distressing is to understate the case. The airplane was warm, the food was like something you'd buy at 7-Eleven and cook in the microwave, and the seats felt like torture devices. Richard ate some sort of chicken cutlet, and the pasta I ordered turned out to be mac and cheese. Did I mention it was an overnight flight, and we didn't sleep a wink? At least the wine was drinkable, and the flight crew was very nice, although you realize that they too are suffering. Flying used to be so much fun! How have we allowed it to degenerate into this?

On top of all this, we only had 30 minutes in Dusseldorf to make our flight to Munich, and we had to clear a long line at Passport Control. But, we did it.

Once we arrived at the Munich Airport, we easily found the train into town and bought three-day transportation passes. We're not going to rent a car until we're ready to leave the city. The airport is far from the center, and we passed through farm fields and small villages before getting off at Marienplatz in the heart of Munich.

Our hotel was only a five-minute walk; if only we have walked in the right direction. We ended up walking around Munich for about 45 minutes before we finally found the hotel, so thank goodness for rolling suitcases. This wandering wasn't for naught--we saw some sights and the sunlight helped reset our cicadian rhythms. On our walk, we noticed lots of people wearing lederhosen and dirndls! Later we learned it was the 857th anniversary of the city's founding by the munichen or monks. We later found that this regalia isn't confined to special occasions. There are stores that devoted to Bavaria clothing and some people wear it as everyday attire.

Since our room at the Hotel Blauer Boch wasn't quite ready, we left our bags with the desk and walked across the street to Der Pschorr and enjoyed a beer on their patio and people watched. We soon were able to check into our hotel and were very pleased with our accomodations. The location is perfect and the hotel is very comfortable.

Later, we decided to go for an early dinner (3 p.m.) at Paulaner im Tal which was recommended by the desk clerk at the hotel. I had weiner schnitzel that was crispy and redolent of sweet butter, and Richard ordered pork belly that was unbelievable. After dinner, a shower and bed. It wasn't even 6 p.m., but we'd been awake for 30 hours.

When I retire, we're taking a boat to Europe.

Flower stall at the Viktualienmarkt of Munich (an open air market)