After our morning in Dachau we headed back for nappy and then off to the Glockenspiel (spelling). The big show is at 12, 1 and 5 PM and we made the late show.
The Marienplatz was full with an exhibition of solar powered cars, bikes, cooking utensils and others and hundreds of people. The plaza has many outside dining tables, an occasional performing artist and loads of touristas.
The appears to be no open intoxicant laws in Munich as several of the boys were whooping it up. The dress is much more conservative and the weather chilly in comparison to South America. Light jackets were the order of the day.
At 5 PM exactly the chimes start and the cameras come out. The entire show lasts all of ten minutes and consists of these figurines spinning around in a circle. Not exactly a show stopper but it probably has been going on for centuries and it seems to draw quite the crowd. As you can tell, I was not real impressed.
But the building was magnificent not only in size but in the ornate figures attached to the sides. Mostly Gargoyles and the like. I’ll try to add a photo or two of the figures in the next day or two. Katy took some prize winners. My camera battery is dead.
We have emailed and noted Andrew and Amy several times but have not caught up yet. Tomorrow promises to be sunny and warmer and the plan is to head over to the Big Beer Garden in the park for a diet coke, and people watching. I also need to spend some time on the rail tickets for here to Salzburg and around Switzerland. A Swiss pass may be the answer but still unknown without further research.
Dinner was Italian with a huge pizza served by a Macedonian waitress. She was polite at first, but somewhat shy until we started asking about her, her life, job and home country. People are really friendly if you show some interest in them.
She has been in Germany 19 years and came for work, but now things may actually be better in Macedonia she said. The pay here is 1300 – 1500 per month compared to 300 to 500 at home. But the cost of living is also much higher here. In Macedonia you can go out with 6 people for 4 bottles of wine, appetizers and full course meal for 60 Euros. Here it would cost 200. Housing is also more expensive with an apartment here going for 1000 per month and in her home country only 300. If housing is a 300 and wages 300, I can see why she came to Germany. Of course these are waitress wages.
She was so warm and friendly and offered her hand when we left.
People can be great, not matter where they come from, but as we saw this morning humans are capable of just about anything, and it is not all good and kind.
