88. The Nudes

I saw things today that I never thought I’d see. Rick Steves recommended a bike tour so we actually went on a bike tour through Munich! Thank you Rick!!!! Our tour guides Yoanna and Jack were both from Australia and we were the only ones on the tour, so a great time was had by all.

Before the tour started, we watched the clock tower go off in Marienplatz. All I can say is that the rooster that crows at the end definitely sounds like he’s 100 years old.

In all honesty, I was a tad intimidated by the bike tour. I can’t even remember the last time I rode a bike, now I have to weave in and out of city traffic on one? Nerve racking. Luckily basic motor skills aren’t easily forgotten. Unless you are Arden, the only person in the family who crashed. Seeing as I had never been on a bike tour before, I didn’t really know what to expect. In the end, I don’t think I could have expected what we got.

Here was the first surprise. We rolled into the English Garden, and the first thing I noticed was the Greek columned building in the distance. The second thing I noticed was the old man sitting in the grass. Why did this old man stand out? Because he was naked. The third thing I noticed was all the other naked people. We were in a nude park. It’s all about experiencing the culture right? On our way through the park to the beer garden, Brody almost made it on the “people who crashed” list due to his lingering eyes not focusing on the road.

Lunch with our guides was the best lunch yet! I think we were all excited to have new people to talk to. In my opinion, we should do more tours just to get to know our guides… After lunch I saw another thing I never thought I’d see. River surfing! There is a river with one huge wave and people in wet suites line up along the sides to take turns surfing across it. Way to use your space efficiently Munich!

The rest of the tour was filled with the palace, some museums, 279 clocks, and a lot of History that Yoanna made interesting even for Brody! 

This golden strip of bricks represents the path some German took to avoid going by officers who forced them to Sieg Heil. 

After we said goodbye to the best tour guides ever, we walked around Marienplatz ducking into little market shops, and getting ice cream. The best purchase was by Brody, who found a chocolate sale. He got about 20 euros worth of chocolate for under 5! He is very proud of his deal finding skills. The rest of us spent our time trying to calculate exactly how much we could possibly stuff in our backpacks to take home. I’ll be surprised if the seams don’t break on my bag before I get back.