Today the tour bus dropped us off in Munich for a couple hours. It was overcast when we left the hotel, but not raining, and I packed my rain jacket in my suitcase without a second thought. By the time we got to Munich, it was pouring down rain, my suitcase was buried in the luggage hold of the tour bus, and we didn’t have an umbrella. We were dropped off by the Marienplatz, the main square in Munich.

Lunch was, as usual, our first priority. We ducked into the first shop we found. It was a bakery that also had a large glass case filled with sandwiches. We were standing in front of the counter waiting our turn, but people kept rushing into the store, ordering bread, paying for it, and then leaving. Then some guy started talking very brusquely to me in German. He kept pointing at a small sign behind the corner, and I looked at Marc and said, “What is he saying to me?” The German guy just kept talking and talking although it should have been obvious that I had no idea what he was saying. I was wondering what I had done to offend him, when finally I just walked out of the store. “What the hell was he saying?,” I asked Marc. He wasn’t sure, but he thinks the gist of it was that  there was a sign that said to wait in this specific line to order food. Which was why we kept getting skipped over. That guy was a total jerk. I don’t know why he was mad at us; the fact that we didn’t see the sign meant that he got his bread and we didn’t get any lunch. And we had been waiting patiently, looking at all of the baked goods in the case. It’s not like we were irritated that we weren’t being waited on…

Combined with the rain, it felt like my entire day was ruined and from then on I was in bad spirits. We ended up getting some sandwiches from another vendor. They were really good, sorta like a German sausage without a casing, in the shape of a hamburger on a chewy roll, with mustard. I was so upset by the German guy who yelled at me that I had my first soda pop in months. After lunch we found a cake shop and had a piece of Cointreau cake. It wasn’t as good as it looked, and (surprise!) tasted too much like alcohol. It continued to rain the rest of the day. I was glad to be leaving Germany.

A few hours later, we arrived in the Austrian Tyrol. The landscape along the way was beautiful.

We had signed up for the optional excursion that day, which was a horse and carriage ride followed by a drink and “entertainment” afterwards. Our carriage driver’s name was Fritz. He would occasionally yodel as he drove the carriage and he was, as Barry promised, quite the jolly fellow.

We were taken to an exquisitely lovely church that took my breath away. I took pictures of the outside, but a sign inside said not to take pictures. I held my tongue as people took them anyway.

Outside of the church, Fritz passed glasses to everyone and then poured us shots of his homemade Schnapps. There were two kinds to choose from: men’s or women’s. I chose the women’s. But Fritz was more than willing to give us seconds and thirds. I had two shots and I think Marc had three… In the picture that I took of him, he had his eyes closed but he still looked quite happy.

After that, we were taken back to the restaurant/stable where we had left from. I petted some of the horses, then we went inside and had real, Swiss hot cocoa. Fritz got out his accordion and did more yodeling. Then he had people accompany him, using washboards and spoons and metal cups. Even Marc was chosen to participate! I suppose the entire day was hoaky and touristy, but it was definitely better than being taken back to the hotel.

Eventually, we were taken to the hotel, and served another boring chicken/rice/vegetable type meal. The breakfasts have included more than I thought they would. Although we’re not having the buffets anymore, every morning we have juice, cereals, rolls, bread, butter, jam, fruit, and cheeses. I’ve been making laughing cow spreadable cheese and jam sandwiches. I’m probably going to gain a ton of weight on this trip.

Tomorrow we spend the morning in Innsbruck, Austria, and then it’s on to Venice! I can’t wait to return to Italia!
Go on the next part of the journey!