Welcome to Munich!

Arrival in München

Well, we made it!  Nearly eleven hours of flying and almost six hours of traversing airport later we stepped out of baggage claim in the Bavarian capital, Munich (​München in local Germany).  The first impression you get from the drive to town from the airport is how low to the ground everything is.  There are no 40 story office buildings, rather you see two story farm houses, small local business and fields just beginning to turn a healthy green with the hints of Spring.

Our quintet of travelers arrived at our hotel at about 4:30 in the afternoon.  Hotel Torbräu ​has been in business for 525 years as a hotel and run by the Kirchlechner family for over a century.  IIt sits right in the old town center, just two blocks from the Marienplatz.  The staff is extremely friendly and helpful.  While not a "fancy" hotel by American standards, the rooms a comfortable size, clean and well appointed.  The original building was destroyed by bombing raids on the city in 1944, but it was rebuilt and reopened in 1948 again for guests. 

The best part of a long travel day is having a soothing hot shower upon arrival.  I enjoyed this very much and changed clothes for our group dinner.  Bavarian food & drink - here we come!

Prost to Bavaria!

A little rain had begun since our arrival, so we buttoned up our coats, put on our gloves and raised our hoods or umbrellas and took off down the street to Marienplatz.  Dinner was at the Ratskeller Restaurant in the basemen of the New Town Hall.  We had a long table in the back of the sprawling underground restaurant.  The prearranged menu included a delicious soup or salad, entree selections of fillet of salmon, pork knuckle or a pork loin all with traditional dumplings and other accompaniments and finally a Black Forest Cake or Apple Struddle.  A number of local beers were sampled and we toasted our new home city with the traditional "Prost!"

Now to allow the jet lag and food to take us off into dreamland so we can explore this beautiful city with greater gusto tomorrow.

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