Day 13 A sunny Saturday in Munich

Since arriving in Europe we have been incredibly fortunate with the weather. Today for the first time we needed our raincoats but the drizzle only lasted a short while and a sunny day eventuated. The day before our arrival in Munich it was -10, today it was +10.

Today we participated in the obligatory tourist experience of watching the town hall clock chime 11am and we stayed to watch the figures come out to play. For over 100 years twice daily this 19^th century mechanical display celebrates past life in Munich including a wedding, dancing beer makers and a joust. It has been said that this is the second worst tourist attraction in Europe (the clock in Prague was voted worst) and yet we, with the few hundred others who were present, enjoyed the 10 minutes spectacle.

Later we enjoyed a visit to the Deutches Museum renowned as one of the finest technology museums in the world. This huge museum was the inspiration for places like the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. We were especially fascinated by the planes including a couple of versions of the Messerschmitt and V1 and V2 rockets from WW2.

Having had some extraordinary food so far on this trip, lunch today did not disappoint. It may come as something of a surprise but we actually had lunch at a soup kitchen. In the middle of a wonderful set of markets we enjoyed a very hot, bowl of pumpkin and apple soup in a tent literally called a Suppenkuche (we did pay €4.95 for the experience). We intended to follow this up with German sausage on a bread roll but the queue was too long and the soup was too satisfying.

Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a stroll through the melting snow and ice in Munich’s English Gardens, a park supposedly twice the size of New York’s Central Park. After some very cold weather it was nice to see people out walking, parents pushing kids in strollers, impressive frisbee throwers and even some people practicing their tightrope walking skills.

On the way back from the park we changed trains in town and were absolutely amazed that the centre of Munich was packed with people shopping at 6pm on a Saturday night. Like us people were out enjoying the milder weather.