I picked up my parents from the Stuttgart airport yesterday, and to start things off, the flight was delayed 20 minutes. This didn't really both me much. I met them at the gate, and everything was great. We went to rent the car, and my dad informs us that the rental car guy has upgraded us to a Mercedes from a VW Passat. This also sounds great. When we get to the Mercedes, we find that it is a C class sedan with barely enough trunk room for half of our luggage, and non-existent legroom. My dad went back to the man at the counter, and he switched us to a station wagon Opel, which is made by GM. I was a little bummed out at the apparent downgrade, but then the car wasn't in the spot it was supposed to be. Apparently the employee who returned the car put it in the wrong spot. We walked around the parking complex for almost an hour trying to find this car. My dad was pretty upset. We eventually found the car, and it turns out to be pretty nice, other than the fact that we specified automatic and it was a manual transmission. Oh well, better than the tiny mercedes. At least all of our bags fit. We headed out to Munich, and it rained the whole way, and we were bumper to bumper traffic for about half of the time. In spite of this, we eventually made it to our hotel in Munich, and got some delicious Bavarian food.
Today we were up bright and early to see the sights of Munich. We started out by going to the Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel. Despite having lived in Munich for 5 months and hanging out with my bike messenger friends at and around the Marienplatz almost every day, I had never actually seen the Glockenspiel go off. I tend to despise doing really touristy things like that. I would prefer to speak german and go to cafes and play like a local. Anyway, we watched the big clock for 10 minutes, and then did some shopping. Munich is a really posh city, and there is a tremendous amount of shopping to be done there.
My mom decided that she really needed to get a hat, so my dad and I and the hat shop lady spend about an hour trying to find just the right hat for her. I thought this hat looked a little too Rastafarian, but the shop lady kept saying that it was very "modern" (keep in mind we are in Bavaria!)
This one was better, but my mom didn't really like the fur balls. I thought it looked kind of Russian (not that that's a bad thing)
Here's the one she ended up with. Besides being a good portrait, I think that the hat is nice. She also didn't take off her Burberry scarf once during the day. She loves Burberry.
Here's the shot I actually wanted to get. This lady had a curious looking hairnet on. I was trying to hone my street shooting skills, but she and her friend totally looked at me after I took the picture.
Later on we visited the Residenz, where the royal family lived from the 1600's until around the 1800's. It was probably the biggest building I've ever been in, and almost the entire place was covered in marble, gilding, precious stones, old paintings and general opulence. My dad also bought a hat. Wool tweed, and I think it looks great. He didn't want a hat, but my mom and I picked it out for him and made him buy it. The decision took about 1/30th as long as for my mom. It was also the most expensive hat he's ever bought.
Just imagine stuff like this, but on almost every surface.
I thought this sculpture was amazing. It's somebody cutting off Medusa's head. It used to be a fountain in one of the palace's gardens, with water coming out of the severed head, and from the gaping neck wound. My mom seems to like it as well.
There was a special room displaying all the royal family's collection of relics, which in this case are bones from significant religious figures of the past, which have extravagent cases and mini-shrines built around them. The king valued these relics more than any other treasure in the family, because they were supposed to endow upon the person who owned them and worshipped among them the positive qualities that the dead person had. This is called a Kinderschrein, or Childrens Shrine, and is supposed to house the bodies of two children that were killed during Kind Herod's slaughter of the firstborn sons in Egypt during biblical times.
The other photo had some reflections in it. Here you can clearly see the mummified body of an Egyptian child.
For dinner I took my parents to the Hofbräuhaus, which is the most famous beer hall in all of Germany. It was really fun, and the beer and food were delicious. Tomorrow it's off to Salzburg for a special Mozart (or Moe-zar as my mom calls him) dinner concert, and a Sound of Music tour. Hooray!!!
