Paris10-09

IDEAS Vacation Rentals

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This is now the end of one week in Munich and it is our last day here. Before we leave I should show the Euro coins for Germany. The front side is the same for all the EU countries but the backs (below) are special to each country. They have the German eagle on the �2 and �1 coins (right) and the Brandenburg Gate on the �0.50, �0.20 and �0.10 coins (center.)

I also found these photos of the new BMW Welt here in Munich where we picked up our car last year.

I woke at 4:00 and from a dream at 5:45 and again at 7:15 and finally got up at 8:45 AM. I took a shower and packed all my bags. I got into my running outfit, went by Rosen Apokotek by 9:30 and the ATM to get some more Euros. I then walked over to the T-Mobile store at 10:05 and bought a chip (with German phone number) for John's phone. At 10:15 I jumped on the U3bahn to Odeonsplatz (below.)

Just for reference, here are some of the maps that were available from the hotel.

By 10:20, I was having a cappuccino at SFCC. At 11:45 I did my run through the Hofgarten again. I got a picture of the fountain (left) and the bucolic outdoor cafe (right) in the park.

Above is another shot of the Residenz building alongside the park. When I was finished, I then headed up Brienner Stra�e to get to see the last big museum on my list, the Alte (Old) Pinakothek. Below is the Bing map (left) and the Google map (right.)

On the way, I passed the Pinakothek der Moderne (below left) and got this shot of the back side of it with this large metal sculpture.

I came around the side of the huge I-shaped building (below left) and later got this shot of John and Najwa when they met me there later.

Here is the layout of the museum (left) and descriptions of the various floor (right.)

I got these shots of the entry of the museum and PhotoStitched them into a panorama.

They told me I had to put my computer case in the lockers. That was a good idea. After getting a few instructions, I figured out how to do it. You open the door, put your stuff inside, then slip a �2 coin into the slot (below left) and close the door. Now the key will be released and you take it with you. When you come back and unlock it, the coin drops to the bottom slot and is returned to you (below right) - not bad.

At 12:15, I started my tour of the museum and became quite surprised at the number and quality of the famous Masters they have here. I got photos of many of them as well as others I thought were particularly interesting. I will let the art speak for itself. It is long, so if you don't care about art just scroll past it all.

The museum has a nice label at the bottom of the frame of most of the paintings so I used a photo of that for the labels. I have placed the label for each piece just above the work or to the left. Sorry a few are a little blurry. There are some without a description, unfortunately. Note: the abbreviation D.�. stands for Der �lte meaning "the Elder" when there is father and son with the same name.

Then at 12:40 John & Najwa met me at the front entrance and joined me exploring this museum. I let them go their own way, because I go pretty quickly. Below is the "Martyrdom of St. Sebastian" by the famous Van Dyck. Through the years I have been collecting paintings of St. Sebastian.

Then there is his "Madonna" and in the center, his most famous self portrait that I took and on the right is a copy I found on the internet.

Here is a close-up of the center right of the above painting to see his weird details.

At 1:45 PM we finished seeing the museum, so we left and caught a cab (driver was Peter) to go pick up our rental car we had reserved months ago. On the way we came across the church at the University I talked about earlier. It is located at the dead-end of the street we went down (below left) and then I got this shot (Photostitched) of the front of it.

We then went by the Siegestor (below left.) Note that all the embellishments on the top flat part of it were destroyed in WWII and not replaced. We also passed the "Walking Man" again (below right.)

We finally arrived at the Holiday Inn [194 Leopoldstra�e, +49-89-36-6993] and the cab cost us �10. I got a lovely picture of John and Najwa in front of the building.

At 2:00 we went inside the building and headed for the Hertz office on the ground floor which was all locked up and closed. I went to the hotel front desk and asked why they weren't open at this time of day. They said they had nothing to do with it and were of no help. I went back and banged real load on the glass doors and finally someone comes out and opens the door. Are we in Italy?

The background story is that we reserved from Hertz a large Mercedes with automatic transmission, a GPS and a large trunk for all our luggage. When the contract arrived for me to sign, I noted it contained a clause that said "Mercedes can not be driven in Italy," even though the contract stipulated a drop-off in Venice, Italy. When I questioned how I was supposed to get to Venice without driving into Italy, they responded that we now had to choose either an Audi or a Volvo. So we chose an Audi with a large trunk. The week's rental was to be $526 plus an additional fee of $355 for a Venice drop off.

Dotty (above) is the lady who opened the door and took my paperwork. She looks at it with a little indifference and then tells me very curtly that no car is available. You can imagine my reaction. After persisting, she then says she only has manual transmission. I tell her we reserved an automatic and none of us can drive a manual. I then got pretty forceful and demanded the car we reserved. She makes some calls for the next 10 minutes and then says all is OK. She then gives us an automatic Mercedes with GPS but when we got to it, it was a small one.

We had to accept it so at 2:30 we got out of there and John drove us to the hotel using the GPS. We stopped at Aral Auto Center and bought 6 diet cokes for �10. On the way back I got a shot of the other side of the Siegestor (below left) and one of this large fountain with a horse and a bull.

We arrived at the hotel at 3:00 and we checked out. It was strange but they rejected my VP Bank chip card so I had to pay the bill in cash.

They overcharged me for two breakfasts (�30) I never had. We both went up and got our bags. At 3:15 we had a terrible time trying to get all our bags in this little trunk. John was very determined and after several different configurations he did his magic but it was still totally impossible, so we had to pile a bunch of them up in the middle of the back seat (below right.) Poor Marcia and Najwa had to squeeze in on each side. I had a bunch under my feet in the passenger side. It was rough.

Well, my attempt was to see everything there was in Munich recommended by Tom Neuhann but it looks like there is no time to see Schloss Nymphenburg this time. I'll find a way. At 3:45 we left Munich and John drove us the 59 miles south and then east to Lake Chiemsee and the town of Prien. I got this shot of the interesting Gasteig building (below left) as we headed toward the autobahn to Passau/Nurneburg. I have no idea why graffiti on this autobahn bridge says "Cosa Nostra 1860." Maybe someone can tell me.

Tom had given us directions to get there. We needed to arrive by 5 PM. We

took Autobahn A8 first south and then east heading to

Salzburg and then took the Bernau exit north on to Prien. We arrived in the little town of Prien am Chiemsee at 5:00 exactly and checked into Hotel Reinhart [Seestra�e 117, Prien, +49-805-169-4401.] What a charming surprise, this neat place right on the lake (below.)

Prien's coat of arms is above. You can see its location on the lake (red circle.) It is a 3-star hotel according to the German rating system which has the following ratings: 5=luxury, 4=first class, 3=comfort, 2=standard and 1=tourist. We got up to our room (#133) and unpacked. It was very nice with a balcony...

I went down to the shore and got this shot of the boats docked on this small inlet. There is a little park beyond the boats.

Above is the entry to the hotel. At 5:30 we all sat in the lake-view patio out front and enjoyed some wine while I had a L�wenbr�u beer brought to us by Dagmar.

I went inside and took some shots of the hotel's common areas. Above right is their directions to the WC and breakfast areas. It looks like they have a place for music and dancing (below left) and their restaurant looked nice (below right.)

Above is the lunch area and their menu. Dr. Tom Neuhann arrived at 6:00 in his beautiful historic 1957 V8 BMW and he drove us to his house on Simssee (a small lake nearby.) The car is interesting; the doors open in opposite directions.

Tom drove us "over the mountains and through the woods" and we finally arrived at his house (below.)

Marcia and Tom's wife, Toni, got into a conversation and then Tom talked to us about the lake behind the house (below.)

We all sat down and enjoyed some excellent Franconian sekt (dry) "bubbly" (2008 Augustin Wei�er Burgunder) with his son Lucas (standing) who we just met for the first time. We met his daughter many years back in Munich on one of our many visits there.

We had a very enjoyable time. Tom told us the story of this house which was built by his grandparents (below) in 1929 and I won't go into all the details but it is very interesting.

I loved the inside architecture of the front door and this neat caricature of an optician.

He has two statues of St. Ottilia (also known as St. Odile) of Alsace (660-720), the patron saint for eyes and eye disease (below left & right.) You can see that each is holding a set of eyeballs sitting on a book in her right hand. She was born blind and gained her sight during her baptism at age 12 by St. Erasmus of Regensburg. For the Italians, the patron for eyes is St. Lucie (280-305.) I remember seeing the relic of St. Lucie's ulna (arm bone) in the city of Siracusa in Sicilia, Italy in 1997. Click on the links for the story of each saint which are very interesting. Below center is this ancient piece which is on the outside wall of the house.

At 8:00, Tom then packed us back in the car and drove us

to the little town of Frasdorf. We arrived at this 35 room hotel in Chiemgau called the Flair Hotel. It was starting to get dark, so I found some better daylight photos on the internet. Below is my night shot of the front of the building.

It certainly seems a charming place to stay. At 8:30 we sat down for dinner at their restaurant called Karner [Nussbaumstra�e 6, Frasdorf, +49-80-521-7970.] I took these shots of their indoor dining area.

Since it was a lovely evening, we were seated in their outdoor patio. I love comparing the quality of photos without (left) and with (right) a flash.

Marcia and I had Pellegrino and Austrian white wine but I started with a Hofbr�uhaus Traunstein dunkle wei�bier (dark wheat beer) which was very good.

I got a little caught up in conversation and slipped a little when it came time to photograph all that we ate. I don't even remember which photo is of what. I had something with scallops (Krustentier und Zuckerbsencremsuppe Jacopsmuscel) followed by lamb's knuckle with bratwurst (Lammhaxe und bratwurst Kr�terjus Schnippelbohnen Tomaten Olivenstampf) (below right.) I should have paid more attention but the company was just too good.

Marcia joined everyone else in having fish from the lake with vegetables and potatoes (Lachsforellenfilet vom M�llerhof Rieslingsauce mit Wurzelgem�se Petersilienkartoffel) followed by a chocolate desert.

We then all finished off with a cheese plate (Kleine K�seauswahl vom Anderlbauer) and an espresso. It was all fabulous. Thanks Tom, we enjoyed it.

It was 11:00 and Tom drove us back to the hotel. He is really a wonderful friend to welcome us to his home and show us a wonderful evening. I must admit this was a jam-packed day and I got to bed at 11:35; relatively early. Tomorrow we will be on our way to the main reason for this trip - the Oberammergau Passion Play.