I am very sorry about the lameness of our posting, but we have had very little WiFi (pronounced VeFeeeee) over the last couple of days.  So, here is a quick summary of our trip in Munich (in Germany it is called München).

Summary:  We have visited just about every Catholic Church worthy of note.  Why?  Minus their amazing architecture, and being a house of worship, they are also free.

Real Summary:

             On Thursday (June 28^th) afternoon, we took the SB (SchnellBahn – Fast Train) into the middle of town, called the Marienplatz, and walked over to St. Peter’s Kirche.  What amazing detail people use to put into their work!  Unfortunately, much of the architecture, and many of the stained glass windows in many old Churches were ruined during World War II bombings.  Then we visited Munich’s Open Market, which is open every day, and  just inhaled all of the amazing smells coming from all the different stands, but bought nothing for now at least (darn tight pursed sister).  Then we returned to the Marienplatz, and watched the world famous Glockenspiel, which depicts two stories.  The first is of a 16^th Century joust in celebration of a Bavarian King’s wedding, and the second is of a cooper’s dance during the Black Plague.  Once it ended, we continued on our way over to the Frauenkirche, where the Orlando Deanery Girls and Boychoir performed in 2006, and ended up attending an evening mass.  Speaking of church echoes (which we weren’t), the Frauenkirche has a three second echo, which means that when you don’t know the German Catholic hymns, and are sitting in the very back pew, the lead singer and the organ sound very off.  However, we will assume that they were not.  After the service, we went into a food store where they had THE BIGGEST JAR OF NUTELLA EVER!!!!!!  IT WAS HUGE!!!!  We stared at it for a few minutes before reluctantly moving on.  From there we found Isabella a Reformhaus (home to gluten and sometimes milk free products), and after she got her dinner, Johanna and I got ours (Pretzles!).  Then we fought the flood of Soccer fans pouring out of the DB (Deutschebahn – German Train), and headed home.  Not, however, before witnessing some of the excitement before the game.  For example, five young guys came out of the station shouting “Deutsch – land!  Deutsch – land!  Deutsch – land!”, and were quickly joined by several other guys and a whistle.  Deutschland shirts were everywhere, as were dresses, mohawks, and extended eyelashes with the German flag on them.  Too bad they lost, because it would have been fun to see everyone’s reaction.

                On Friday (June 29^th), we traveled to Schloss Nymphenburg, which was the Bavarian King’s outside of Munich Summer residence, and which basically looks like a much larger version of Pemberly (Mr. Darcy’s house).  After wandering about the gardens, we bought our tickets, and entered the Schloss.  Wow, as you can see from the pictures posted below, it was amazing.  The Main room was such a beautiful mixture of blue and gold, which was being lit up by light pouring in from at least ten foot tall windows.  It was simply stunning.  After admiring the Schloss for a couple of hours (including the hall of Beauties, a collection of 54 paintings or so, which King Ludwig the 1^st commissioned of woman from all over Europe), we left the Schloss, and walked towards The Tent.

  Ah, the Tent.  If you not a member of my family, then you may not know what the Tent is.  Let me tell you.  The Tent is one very large tent hostel, which can sleep over 100 people.  It is also very cheap (perhaps that is because it has no heating for when it is cold), and supposedly has great food for only €4.  The con?  It’s mixed dorms.  I know, I know, that’s not so bad, but still, I didn’t want to sleep in mixed dorms, in a tent.  Why am I bringing this up?  Because we almost had to stay there for the first four nights of our trip when my cousin Heidemarie was in a bad biking accident a week before we arrived.  However, to make a long story short, to my relief, we did not have to stay there, but Johanna did want to see it.  So we went, and all in all it wasn’t that bad, minus the fact that just about every guy there was shirtless (Johanna liked that, Isabella and I eh, not so much)!  They even had a Cherry Tree loaded with fruit (Johanna wants me to add that the Cherry Tree was more interesting to her than the shirtless guys) in the middle of the camp.  Anyway, after visiting the Tent, we found ourselves a Starbucks, bought the cheapest thing there (tea), contacted our family, and were given free Frappecienos.  From there we went to the Reformhaus, bought pasta, and went home to make it.  Actually, it wasn’t that bad.

                                  

                On Saturday (June 30^th) we got up “early”, and hopping on the SB, made our way up to Munich’s Soccer Stadium, where the 2006 World Cup was played.  As Johanna put it, it looked rather futuristic, because there was the big stadium, and the only things around it were fields of flowers.  After taking some photos of it, we caught the SB back into Munich, and walked into the Englisch Gartens.  German gartens and not like our gardens.  When we say garden, we mean a plot of land where row after row of planted things grow.  When Germans say garten, they generally mean a forested park with paths for walking, and streams for swimming.  This is what the Englisch Gartens looks like. 
                                
It is a beautiful place for students to study, children to play, and families to eat.  It is also where people go to go swimming (there is even a place to go surfing!).  After wandering through here for some time, we eventually stepped out right by a museum, which had in front of it a war memorial to the men lost in the World Wars.  On the front of the memorial it reads “Sie Werden Auferstehen”, which means “They will arise.”  From there we walked past the Hofgartens and old Residenz (which had a fence shaped like treble notes!), went through a festival into the stunning white baroque Theatinerkirche, and stopped in a Starbucks to phone home, and then hiked over to the overly ornate Asam's Kirche, which was built by two brothers in thanksgiving after they survived a storm at sea.  We zipped back into Ottobrun on the SB, and then went out to a scenic biergarten with Klaus and Heidemarie, before going home to pack for our departure to Salzburg the next day. 

Alright!  We've finally gotten through Munich!  Hope you enjoy the pictures, and please forgive us for taking incredibly long to get this to you.  Anneliese (bearing most of the burden of blog posting for Johanna and Isabella)