Munich day one (post jet lag)

Munich is a lovely place. Beautiful old buildings, a metro that runs like clockwork, and the coolest escalators I've ever seen ... they actually go two ways, and sensors at the bottom tell them whether to go or up down depending on the foot traffic. Of course they can't switch quickly, and amazingly, people wait at one end if they can see you are already waiting at the top. We discovered these after arriving at the metro station with bags and finding only two up escalators. It turns out one was the reversing kind, and a woman showed us where to go. I have a feeling these would never fly in the Bay Area, people would not see the signs and fall. The first day we arrived late, after a nice flight. A gentleman named Armand gave up his Economy PLus seat (with more leg room) one of which I was able to get for Barney but somehow the transaction did not go through for my seat, so he was kind enough to switch. We met a young Bulgarian-American woman with a 15-month-old boy named Andrew, flying to visit her family in Bulgaria (for the first time for the little boy). He was remarkably good, and Barney held him a few times as she juggled clothes and food etc. It took me back to the days when I'd fly to Dallas with baby Madeleine to see my parents .... only 3-4 hours to Dallas, and it was 11 hours for this young woman. A 45-minute train from the Munich Airport to the station near our airbnb apartment, and all was well. The apartment is on Klenzestrasse, a fairly quiet street with many apartments, a few restaurants and shops, and a school. It's a cut little studio, decorated in the most original way imaginable. The host is a medical student and musician, so there is a piano and two guitars and music plus amazing found artwork and photos and interesting memorabilia. The small balcony looks out on the building behind, toward the river. We manage to settle in in our bleary-eyed jet lag, and wandered over to the Marienplatz, the main square of the town, about 7pm.

Lacking much energy to hunt for a place to eat, we opted for the Ratskeller which is underneath the New City Hall, an enormous place that seems to take up half the block underground. Efficient waiters and waitresses take the orders of what seem like thousands of jolly people who all seem to be celebrating something like birthdays. We opt for a salad and a selection of sausages and two dark beers, and settle happily into our little niche.

We wend our way out through the many corridors and I begin to think that we should have left a trail of breadcrumbs. Successful at staying up until 9pm, we make the little trundle bed and fall fast asleep. Tomorrow we get to explore Munich, this time, conscious.