Linda and I had a (not so close) call at the Munich Airport. We arrived early, checked our bags with no problems, made our way through security, and made our way to the gates. Our boarding passes said we were in gate K section, but didn’t have a gate number. We had plenty of time, so we found a snack bar and sat down to eat lunch.

We finished lunch and walked to the big board to see of our plane had been assigned a gate.

We found our flight to Prague. Leaving out of gate G35. Linda looked at the last column in the board. It said “12 Minutes”.

“OH S@!T!” she exclaimed. “We have 12 minutes to get to our flight.”

“OH S@!T” I replied. “We better run”.

We sprinted to the terminal tram, ran down the escalator, jumped on the tram, jumped off the tram at the G gates, ran up an escalator, ran down the row of gates, and turned a corner to find gate G 35.

There was no one there. No passengers, no gate agents, and NO PLANE.

“OH S#!T” I said. “We missed our flight.”

“OH S#!T” Linda echoed. “Now what do we do?”

We ran to the closest Lufthansa Help Desk. I showed my boarding pass to the agent.

“Your plane doesn’t leave for another hour.”

As it turns out, the “12 Minutes” we saw on the big board was the walking time from where we were to gate G 35.

On to Prague.

Sunday was our last full day in Munich. There is so much to see here, and not enough time. With that in mind, the four of us decided to visit two places that are must sees in Munich. The first was the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial and the second was the Nymphenburg Palace.

For as many times that I visited Munich, I’d never gone to Dachau. It’s a place all who come to Munich should see. So many terrible things happened during World War II, and the memorial park helps keep the ugly past alive in hopes that what happened there will never happen again.

I didn’t make may photographs in Dachau. I did however read most of the historical displays and walked quietly through the grounds. Even though I know of many of the atrocities that occurred at Dachau, wandering around the grounds and reading about the past was still hard to grasp.

After leaving Dachau, we rode a streetcar followed by a few busses to get to Nymphenburg Palace. The palace and its grounds were a direct contrast to Dachau. The palace itself is huge and ornate, while the grounds were lush and beautiful. We sat in the gardens for a while, amongst statues of various gods, and then found a new (at least to us) beer garden.

Our next phase of our journey starts with a quick flight to Prague. We’ll stay there two days and then begin our week-long bike ride to Dresden.

More wandering around Munich today. We started with a stroll through Englisher Garten, which is close to Unterforing where we are staying. The morning weather was fantastic as we walked along secluded paths. We madebour way to a lake and sat for awhile drinking coffee and watching a white swan try to drown a baby goose (the goose survived).

All morning long, Gary and Susan were in contact with Julia, a young woman they know from Canada. Julia lives in Munich. In fact, I would out she was born just a few blocks away from the house where my mother was born.

We met Julia in Schwabing, a very cool area in Munich. I would a place where she might know – a huge statue called “Walking Man”.

Julia became our tour guide for the rest of the day. She took us into the Karlsplatz area of Munich, where we found a small cafe with an interesting statue as a cool fountain.

We eventually made it to the Augustiner Biergarten (the only one we visited yesterday).

Today we plan on visiting Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial and the Nymphenburg Castle.

My mother was born in Munich in 1928. Actually, she was born in Orbermenzing, a western suburb of Munich. I lived there with my family for a few months in 1960, spent the summer of 1973 there with my younger sister Monica, and when I was stationed near Frankfurt in the late 1970s, I traveled down to see my Opa (grandfather) and Tante Oni (aunt), The old house at 25 Eisenhart Strasse was an important part of my younger days.

Yesterday, I went back. The four of us, Linda, Susan, Gary, and I, spent the better part of the day and evening wandering around Munich, made our way to Obermenzing, and ended our day at a beer hall (or two).

We had plans to have lunch with a friend of Susan and Gary for lunch at the Hofbraukeller, a very cool beer garden near the Isar River. Julia, the friend, had to cancel, but we went anyway, stopping beforehand to see and hear the Glockenspiel.

After lunch, we rode trains and busses to the Blutenburg Castle, which is a few blocks from where my mother grew up. While Susan and Gary relaxed (slept) in the sun, Linda and I walked to the old house.

The house is still there, and looks just like it did when I was a kid, only there is an addition to the house.

The castle has a small lake near it (I believe it used to be a moat). The four of us drank coffee by the lake before catching a bus and train back into Munich. We found the Hofbrauhaus (every tourist to Munich who likes beer should go there). It was big and busy and loud, as it usually is.

After just one beer, we left. I told them that when I was 15 years old, my Opa took Monica and me to the Lowenbraukeller, a big beer hall where the locals go. We went. And had one more beer.

I have lots of memories of Munich from my youth, and yesterday brought me back town Memory Lane.

Today was our first real day exploring Europe. Linda and woke early, after about twelve hours of catch-up sleep. Our goal for the previous night was to erase the jet lag from the long flight to Munich.

After breakfast in our hotel, we met up with our friends Gary and Susan. We know them from Venture Out. They live in British Columbia. They also love to travel as much as us. When they told us they had a two bedroom apartment in Munich and asked if we wanted to join them, we didn’t hesitate to agree to stay with them.

The four of us checked into the apartment, dropped our bags in our rooms, and then headed out to Englisher Garden. Yesterday when Linda and I walked into the park in search of food, the weather was damp and the park was near empty. Today the weather was great and the paths and tables in the several beer gardens we visited were full.

We made the best of the sunny day by walking the entire length of the park. After four stops for some cold German refreshments, we strolled into downtown Munich.

We had a great meal in Marineplatz, the heart of downtown Munich. We shared an outside table, overlooking the Glockenspeil and the main square.

It was close to 10 PM when we finally rode the S-Bahn back to the apartment in Unterföhring. Time to rest up and get ready for more adventures in the morning.

We made it to Germany. Neither Linda nor I slept much on the nine hour flight. We arrived at the Munich Airport around 10:00 AM, cleared customs, found our bags, and made it to the train station.

A train left right away, and we arrived at our hotel in Unterföhring by 11:00. Unfortunately, it was too early to check in, but Sophie, the desk clerk let us store our bags while we went for a walk, looking for food and beer.

We walked along wet streets and wetter paths through Englisher Garden and found the Aumeister Beer Garden.

We found food and beer.

We’re back at our room now, dry, clean, and trying to catch up on sleep. Our friends Gary and Susan get here tomorrow and we’ll share a two-bedroom apartment with them for a week.

Guten Nacht.

We officially started our European trip this morning, but had a day layover in Houston. We arrived just past 1:00 PM, hopped a shuttle to our hotel, then took an Uber to the Houston Botanic Garden.

After walking through the park for a couple of hours, we took another Uber to Captain Benny’s, a pretty funky seafood restaurant built into an old shrimp boat.

One night here, and then we fly to Munich, with a brief layover in Atlanta.

We’re on our way. Five AM came early. Two cups of coffee got us moving. Our friend and neighbor Kelly drove us to the airport. We’re checked in and waiting for our first flight to Houston.

We’ll stay the night in Houston and then fly out tomorrow morning for Munich. Hopefully, we’ll meet some of my old buddies from my days working offshore. Or, in the case of James, my days as a consultant for Hewlett-Packard.

If we don’t get a chance to see our friends, I guess we’ll hang out at hotel drinking Shiner Bock (the second best thing to come out of Texas, after ZZ Top).

Life is a journey.

The car is wrapped, we’re ready to leave.
After all these months, it’s heard to believe.
In a few short hours, we’ll be on our way.

In the morning, we’ll be Houston bound.
The next day, we can be found.
Arriving in Munich, waiting to join our freinds.

We’re leaving on a jet plane.
It’ll be a month till we’re home again.
We’ll have tales to tell when we get home.

Our first leg of our journey takes us to Houston. We’re flying Alegient Airlines there in the morning, then have a night in a hotel before flying out the next morning to Munich. We’ll be in Munich the morning of May 8th and stay in a hotel near Englisher Gardens before meeting up wih our Canadian friends Gary and Susan. They have a two-bedroom arpartment in Munich for a week and asked us to join them, after I told them I used to live in Germany and speak German (enough to get around comfortably).

Guten Abend, my friends. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Our European vacation starts in a couple of days. Time to start packing.

Actually, we already started. I have my Osprey backpack. Linda had one too, but opted at the last minute to take a roller-bag.

I’ve got my bag packed. Linda is still working on hers.