30 December

Yesterday Saket heard from Christian that he would be meeting us today at 11:30 by a fountain near the famous Glockenspiel (clock with little figures that dance around). I was eager to meet yet another one of his amazing corridor-mates but there was plenty to see before that. We left for the Marienplatz which is a famous square in München home to many shops and near several old churches. We admired it for a while in the daylight and then returned to the Dallmayr shop with some coffee for home and chocolate for our neighbors. We wasted some more time until 11 which is when the Glockenspiel was supposed to begin its twice-daily show. I had the camera out and ready right at 11 but after waiting an excruciating five minutes in which I nearly lost feeling in my fingers, I put the camera away in disgust. Not a minute after I did that, of course, the show started. We had seen another Glockenspiel in Prague that was supposed to be really neat but we were totally unimpressed. Consequently, our expectations for this show weren’t that high. Sachi had to remind us that these clocks were old and thus were not going to be very high tech but still; I want to see something more than a little skeleton ringing a bell and bouncing up and down! This clock was actually pretty neat with a mini jousting match which the Bavarian knight won (naturally) and some other little dancers and drummers. When it started repeating we decided that enough was enough and we were too cold to witness the “spectacle” any longer. We headed for a clothing shop to use the restroom and warm up and generally waste time until 11:30. Christian showed up right on time and brought his girlfriend Miriam with him. We were all feeling pretty hungry at this point and knowing we were keen on Indian food, the two had picked out a few places they thought we would like. We promptly headed for the subway and they took us to an area frequented by students where we found a small yet elegant Indian restaurant. Both Christian’s and Miriam’s English are excellent and they’re very agreeable and interesting people. Christian is studying law and hopes to one day become a law professor in Germany. Professors there are exalted amongst the law community and their briefs on certain laws are frequently used in court rulings. Miriam in studying business management which is a fairly intense program that requires 3 majors! She seems like an awfully bright girl though and I know she’ll have no problems. We had a long, luxurious lunch that was tasty though even Miriam commented that the food was not very spicy. We could talk about nearly anything with them including religion, politics, Red Cross issues…it was fun. Our next destination was the Deutsches Museum. The three of us had learned about the DM in our middle school German class and indeed it’s a world famous science and engineering museum. It has enough exhibits to satisfy even the geekiest person and naturally, the three of us were more than happy to get a chance to visit it. Christian is a science person like us though Miriam is not so she obligingly walked through a few exhibits with us before finding a corner and reading a newspaper for the next couple of hours. The exhibits were very nicely laid out and quite a few of them were hands-on which was nice for us and for all the kiddies. I was bored in the engine and motors rooms but found the optics, spaceflight, and mathematical instruments rooms (including a timekeeping room) fairly interesting. We wandered about until closing time where we picked up Miriam and our jackets in the foyer and then headed back into a chilly Bavarian night. A trip to München is simply incomplete without a stop at the Hofbrauhaus (main beer hall). This beer hall is world famous, enormous, raucous, and a great deal of fun. Seats are found in great big benched tables or along the wall with more benches. Unless you have a large party, you’ll seldom sit with people you know. It was fun to see the barmaids dressed in traditional Bavarian outfits walking by with four one-liter mugs in each hand just brimming with beer. Those things are heavy! We asked the Germans which beer would be best; Saket and Christian ordered Weissbier (white beer) that Saket tried and really liked in Sweden while the three of us girls chose to split a liter of the original house brew. I don’t know how many of you have drunk beer by the liter but let me tell you, the steins are enormous! I had a hard time holding one just by the handle when it was fun and chose to drink two-handed instead. It was the best beer I’ve tasted so far (though that still wasn’t saying much). It took the three of us, rather the two of us since Miriam prefers wine and didn’t drink much, a while to finish the liter. The Germans laughed and said that we would surely sleep well that night. As we left, Saket admitted this was the first time he actually felt something after drinking and I must confess I was feeling some slight (hardly noticeable) effects myself. They accompanied us to a big department store where we wanted to buy some gifts, including a thermos like what mom and dad bought so many years ago, and a nail clipper for me since my nails were driving me crazy. They live about 2 hours out from München by train and so we said farewell by a subway stop. Such wonderful people, and so kind to spend over 7 hours of their day touring around a city they themselves don’t visit very often just for us. We quickly found what we were looking for in the store and also stopped by an outdoor kiosk for some stein gifts for home as well. We wanted something light for dinner. Saket and Sachi opted for more falafel while I wanted something different so we went back to the train station so that Saket and Sachi could confirm our travel route to the airport and I could grab a bite. I found a sandwich shop and just got another ciabatta sandwich. We went back to the hostel to eat, check some last-minute e-mail, write our postcards, and then pack up. Content and pleased how this whole trip had gone so far, we went to sleep.