Hang Ten in Munich

In the English Gardens in Munich, water flows out from under a bridge in such a way that it creates a perpetual wave. Local surfers grab their boards and ride the wave, doing tricks until they biff it and float downstream. One surfer girl we saw did a 360 on the wave...whoa. The irony is noticing the "Surfen verboten" (hmm...translation, anyone? :oP) sign beside the river. You can see another guy's pic here http://www.stanford.edu/~dlpress/europe/east/Imgp1215_munich_surfing.JPG

Since we last left off, we got a rare chance to see a classical concert by young European musicians. We had originally set out to Munich's Stadtmuseum for the permanent exhibit on the rise of National Socialism (Nazism), but when we walked in a lady handed us tickets and ushered us to the top floor (a musical instrument museum). The ability of the muscians was amazing. We sat and listened to a duet piece by a pianist and a clarinet player. The clarinet player was really really good. He did lots of difficult scales...of the Eddie Van Halen type...only classical and without the strechy pants. We did get to see the exhibit...after getting lost a bit and seeing an entire floor dedicated to marinettes and old carnival exhibits. Creepy.

That evening we took a Third Reich Tour through Radius Tours. Our tour guide, Robert, was a post-grad straight-talking Texan who knew his history. He did a good job telling us about how National Socialism was born in Munich and the difficulty they are having with the past. Even more so than Berlin, Munich likes to hide its 12 years under Hitler. We saw the Fuhrer building, where the famous talks with Hitler and Chamberlain took place, as well as the Gestapo site...now a Bayern (Bavarian) Bank...and thats the way Germany wants it...not Munich.

Yesterday, we relaxed a bit and did our laundry. While I think we are both having a good time, Amy really misses her gluten-free pasta, lasagna and Kinnikinik Bread. The Reformhauses have been great and are nearly every where we turn, but without a kitchen you can only do so much. She had a hard time yesterday at lunch...it is a lot of work for her to find food that is safe let alone edible. In the afternoon we visited the English Gardens with the Chinese Temple/Beer Gardens (http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/3/3b/250px-Munich_English_Gardens_-_Chinese_Tower_Beer_Garden_-_August_2006.jpg ). We stopped in Marienplatz on the way back and ate at Weisse Brauhaus. I had heard that it specialized in Bavarian foods...and it did: Calf head, Pork kidneys, Liver, all of the good stuff. We found some good dishes, and Amy got a good gluten free omlette with tasty sauteed mushrooms. I had Bavarian meatballs with (German) potato salad. It was good and I think helped Amy rebound from our sad lunch at the hostel.

Today we visited Dachau. It was cold and blustery...the kind of weather you imagine such a place having year round. I felt cold in June, yet I could only think of the prisoners there standing during roll call (which reportedly could take any where from an hour to twenty hours) in the middle of January. Tommorow we are taking a day excursion to Neuschwanstein Castle (aka "Disneyland Castle") and other surrounding castles.

In other news, thanks for the emails and information from home. We have little time and access to find that out. Also, I enabled comments to be viewed on the blog, so if you would like to reply to something you should be able to. How is the Presidental election coming? Lots of Candians ask me. One even said, "What happens to you guys affects us a lot."