We arrived early Thursday midday. Jim went off to meetings while I went on a tour organized by Orica. The tour was mediocre compared to the one Michael had given us the year before. However, I did get to see the Cuvillies Theater in the Munich Residence which I had not seen before. It is an elaborate theater done in the Rococo style which I love so much. Thankfully, they had removed the interior of the theater during WWII so although the structure of the theater was destroyed, they were able to recreate the theater using the original interior décor.
That evening we had a work dinner and the head of the region gave all of the spouses a gift to thank them for their support which I thought was quite nice. The gift was a porcelain dish which wasn’t really my style but after visiting the Porcelain factory located on the grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace, I had a much better appreciation for the artistry it took to create the dish.
When I found out that we were visiting a porcelain factory, I thought I’d skip it and go to Dachau instead. However, after discovering that it was actually located on the palace grounds, I changed my mind. I’m a sucker for palaces and castles. In the end, I was glad that I did. I had no idea how much effort goes into making porcelain and the factory grounds were quite peaceful. We also had time to tour the carriage house of the palace which I enjoyed.
After lunch I headed to Dachau with Charlotte and Andie. I’m not sure what I was expecting out of this visit, but I was surprised that it wasn’t a more emotional experience. Not that I left skipping and whistling, however, I expected a few tears especially in my hormonal state. Possibly it is because I have already learned so much about the concentration camps through other sources so I didn’t discover anything new or that the Dachau prisoners were comprised of 2/3 political prisoners and 1/3 Jews. It may have also had to do with how the information was presented. I found the movie to be much more evocative than the placards throughout the museum which detailed the history of the camp throughout its operation. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit the crematorium before the museum was closing which might have been a more sombering experience.
That evening we had a dinner at the Ratskeller which is right in Marienplatz and looks like a traditional German beer hall. It had all of the traditional German options as well as a few steaks so I opted for the Lady Steak which was smaller and came with a salad. The waiters found it entertaining that Jim also ordered the Lady Steak.
On Saturday, we went for a run in the Englisher Garden which is the largest city park in Europe. It was nice to be able to get some fresh air before heading to Oktoberfest and the hot, smoky tents. We only stayed at Oktoberfest for about 2 hours before leaving. It was too smoky and hot for me and Jim was angry that every other table but ours got the food they had ordered. He was jonsing for an Oktoberfest ½ chicken so we finally left the tent and bought one outside. We both came to the conclusion that there isn’t anything really special about these rotisserie chickens; we had simply been much drunker last year when we ate them.
We decided to spend the afternoon shopping instead of boozing it up at Oktoberfest. Jim made a few purchases but I discovered that shopping while you are pregnant isn’t all that much fun because you are limited to shoes and accessories.
We had dinner with Charlotte and Ian that evening at Prinz Myshkin which was an upscale vegetarian restaurant and our back up choice to a Thai place that ended up being closed. Apparently the staff at the Thai place wanted to go to Oktoberfest along with everyone else in the city so closed early. The restaurant was pretty good and a nice break from all of the German restaurants we’d been to over the rest of the trip.
On Sunday, we had the day to ourselves. We met up with Michael for breakfast and headed to the art museum. We went to see the Neue Pinakothek which was a great museum. I wished we had more time to see the entire museum but about half way through we realized we better get back to the hotel to make our flight.
1 comment:
Like the new layout!
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