wednesday, july 11

wake up
shower
get ready
breakfast
get ready for another long day

last night i called the front desk for a wake-up call at 8:00am. i woke up in the morning with the sun streaming in through the curtains and high in the sky. we didn't have any clocks in our room and i got really nervous that we had missed our wake-up call and everyone had left for a day on the town without us. i called roger (lauren's stepdad) and found out that it was only 7:40am. wow, those bus naps must have worked. i went back to sleep, got up at the wake-up call, and got on with my day.

we started our day with a driving tour of the city. we loaded onto our tour bus and drove around to the famous places in munich. i was glad that we were on the bus when it started pouring buckets; i wouldn't have wanted to be caught in that kind of rain again, a la salzburg. stupid rain. we headed over to the nymphenburg palace for a tour:

ludwig i built this palace for his wife for bearing him a son (remember ludwig ii? the one who built neuschwanstein and died doing homo-erotic things with the doctor in the lake? he was the son). how awesome to get a palace just for having a baby boy. the palace and its grounds were huge; the guide said that all of the people working and living on the palace grounds totaled around 2,000 people. that is the size of my high school, living in this baby-palace.lauren and i pose behind a statue in front of the palace

lauren, roger, and me, waiting to get our ticketsthe palace backyard

the inside was beautiful; everything was gilded or decorated with frescoes. one of my favorite rooms was a bedroom in which the ceiling was decorated with paintings of baby angels--cherubim--with six-pack abs and huge pecs. that is true creativity, right there. the best room, though, was called the "gallery of beauties." i call it the best room because i was in a painting in the room, but i will get to that in a bit. the gallery was a room for displaying paintings (36 in all) of beautiful women, who ludwig i had a liking for; apparently his son did not take after him.gallery of beauties

the reason i say i am in a painting in this room is because i had about seven different people (some strangers, too) independently approach me and tell me that i look like the girl in the painting in the bottom left of the picture above. below is a close-up:my face-sake

i felt pretty good about being compared to a "beauty." this particular girl is antonia wallinger, born in 1823. she was seventeen when this portrait was painted of her, and was a famous ballerina for the royal theater in munich.

after the tour we drove around some more and saw more sights.

me, on the bus, looking at some building

we also drove by the mercedes headquarters and the site of the 1972 summer olympics. after our driving tour we stopped in downtown munich for lunch. we ate at a brewery that was built and begun in the 15th century. it was a nice break, and good food (thank goodness).a great picture of me, eating lunch with my cousin and aunt

after lunch we walked around and shopped, and saw the sights.

rathaus (town hall) and in the background is the glockenspiel (clock tower)

the glockenspiel was, unfortunately under construction, so this is what it looked like for us. below is a picture of what it normally looks like:glockenspiel on a good day

a cool picture i took of a statue of the madonna and childa beautiful building. just look at those flower boxes!
the two onion domes of the 15th century gothic "church of our lady." amazingly, these towers survived the bombing of munich during wwii.

me, being eaten by a catfish.

and finally, a big fountain in front of a city building. i was going to run through the fountain, but thought better of it because i might have missed our bus.

after our city tour we got back on the bus and were driven to a chapel where the choir was going to perform for a fireside. while the choir practiced for two hours, lauren and i, along with four other people walked to a mcdonalds for some treats. the mcdonalds in europe are so awesome. they are more like cafes instead of slummy roach-holes like they are in the united states. and it is true--they sell beer at mcdonalds in germany.

the fireside was good, but i was tired from our travels, and the benches were uncomfortable. after the fireside, there was yummy food. then we got on the bus and went back to the hotel.