Arrival in Munich

We left Berlin in a whirlwind, just making our train. This train is the high speed ICE DB train system that crosses the country. On the way we were able to see pretty countryside and little clusters of houses, each seeming to have a church with a tall steeple that can be seen for miles. Sometimes up on a hill you would see castles, some of which were abandoned and in ruins. In the US we would never think of leaving these standing until they actually collapse, as a monument to time passing around them. Instead, we eagerly tear down anything that looks "old". The train took about 5 hours. Then we made our way to our apartment that will be our home-base for this stay. It is in a remodeled house that has been turned into apartments in a neighborhood with shopping and parks. There is a set of large doors that open off the street that lead to the brick paved courthood. Some apartments have balconies overlooking the courtyard with flowers. Into another door and up two flights of stairs (what's with all the stairs?) is our home for the week. Like everything we are discovering in Germany, it is small, compact, and designed for efficiency. There is a kitchen with a fridge and tiny freezer ( big enough to make 12 miniature ice cubes so in 10 hours there will be ice!) livingroom with pullout couch, dining area and bedroom. We are an easy walk to the grocery and the S bahn city trains. It is in the low 70's here and feels refreshing. A trip to the grocery was interesting: it had two floors with a moving sidewalk ramp to the basement so you could take the shopping cart there. We also have an Aldi's nearby. Eating here continues to be interesting. Since we were tired and not yet aquainted with the surroundings we decided to get food at the grocery for dinner. Alex got a frozen cheese pizza and it was great. I wasn't satisifed with just cheese so I got one with pictures of veggies on it and the word Tonno- Jerry didn't know what that was, but it all looked like veggies with sausage. One bite and I knew there was something really off about the sausage. Turns out tonno is TUNA- ugh. Now I don't know if you have ever had tunafish on pizza, but in case you are considering it let me say this: DON'T....tunafish on pizza is disgusting. Tomorrow we will begin our site-seeing here so I will have more stories then. "Tschus". (bye)