July 2

Hope everyone has recovered from a really fun Canada Day. Lunch at the beergarden was great. I had a typical german meal...pig´s knuckle, coleslaw and a dumpling. Yum. We met two fun young guys from here, but one of them spoke perfect english as he had lived in Alaska for 6 years and has dual citizenship. We asked him if he would ever go back but he said he would never leave Bavaria. We have discovered that the Bavarian´s are a little bit elitist...they think that they are a notch above the rest of the germans. inteseting. they bought us a Willi...a pear schnappes shooter with a piece of fresh pear in it. nice young men.

The hotel is really nice. No longer pilgrims but full-fledged tourists. explored the main area of munich last night. actually a really pretty city with a kick-ass rail and subway system. we met a man from chicago here on business, he works for wrigley´s, and we spent a pleasant hour chatting politics, the economy and the like.

The hotel has an all you can eat breakfast and it is amazing. as well as everything else that you would expect I had pickled herring with beets, crab salad, some fab cheeses and chocolates. We are off to saltzburg this morning to relive the Sound of Music. I will report back