Yesterday's trip to Munich/München was all about the unexpected. And that's a good thing. Especially surviving a bomb threat.

Since I arrived Sunday evening, Gunther and I have found the weather reports to be completely unreliable. We expected nothing but steady rain all day in Munich. Instead, we woke up to sunny skies in Pforzheim, which followed us all the way to München. Hooray for surprise #1.

When we arrived at the central station, our first order of business was to figure out Munich's underground system. We were in the queue for tickets when an older gentleman approached Gunther to offer his opinions and assistance. Gunther asked a couple of questions about which line would get us to our first stop the fastest, and the man sprung into animated action, describing in *great* detail how we should proceed down the escalators and exactly where to turn. His hand and arm gestures were so large and expressive that I am fairly certain he used to be a symphony conductor ;-) In reality, I am sure that if Gunther would have asked him to walk us to the U3 line, the man would have gladly done it. Like the older men I have encountered in Ireland and Australia, I think he was just lonely and looking for people to be kind to and assist, whether his help was necessary or not :-) Unexpected encounter.

It was no problem to use the underground to get to Munich's Olympiapark. Both of us had wanted to see the park, one for its grandeur, and two for its historical significance (i.e., the massacre during the games). We took heaps of photos after entering the main park area and started to walk around the very large arena when a loud siren blasted through the speakers, making everyone in sight plug their ears. Minutes later another sound came over the speakers, only this time it was a German voice, and Gunther's eyes opened widely. When the English translation followed, all I could pick up was that we had to leave the park immediately for some type of emergency.

Gunther and I headed to the main gate with a couple of other folks, and I learned that the voice had announced a bomb threat had been called in and that we had to leave. WHOA. Everyone tried to remain calm, and to ease the tension, I turned to Gunther and said, "Well, if I had to experience a bomb threat in Munich, I'm glad it's with you." He smiled and stated, "We'll always have the bomb threat."

When we got to the main gate, the ticket lady was just as surprised and uninformed as we were. She made several calls while we all stood around, anxiously waiting to learn more. Several minutes later, we finally learned that someone was testing the PA system with old recorded messages and had failed to notify anyone. *Facepalm* Letting go of angst and woe, we headed back into the park. Moments later the park was apparently on fire but we did not head to the nearest exit O:-) So, bomb threat neutralized.

After we walked around more of the park (which was absolutely gorgeous, photos coming!), we took the underground to the English Garden across town. Anyone that's read my blog knows how much I love green spaces in big cities, but sadly this was nothing to get uber excited about. By the time we had walked around the park and garden, we had been on our feet for several hours but had more than half a day ahead of us. Time to refuel!

We saw a few more monuments and walked a few more kilometers before finally arriving in the old city. As I hadn't had a salad in a week, I was itching to have one, and we found this neat Thai place with the perfect meal for us both. Gunther did a great job translating the menu for me without the pocket dictionary :-) When the salad arrived, I was so hungry and happy that I thought it was the prettiest salad I had ever seen, and it might have been :-) (Yes, I took a photo of it too!). The meal gave us energy again, so much so that I actually suggested (jokingly) that we skip down the street to our next destination. This greatly amused Gunther who laughed for at least 30 solid seconds. He was sad he had not taken a photo of me before lunch so he could then take an after shot. I am sure the difference would have been monumental :-)

The old city is very much a giant maze (reminding me of Paris!) and I relied heavily on Gunther who led by several paces with a detailed map. After wandering the streets for a bit, we spotted (or maybe it was just me...) an ice cream shop that reminded me of Gelatissimo in Sydney. Totally negating the salad, I bought two scoops, one tasting like Ferrero Roche and the other was Whiskey Cream. All I can say is *oh. my. gosh.* to both. *cue heavenly music and light streaming from above*

Next was a stop at Viktualienmarkt, a major food market in the old city. It was heavenly with all of the fresh fruit and vegetables and we wondered around, while visions of sugary food still danced in my head. As glad as I had been for the ice cream, I really wanted another Banana Java Chip frap, but certainly not after the ice cream. As we left the market, there was a Starbucks directly in front of us. No, I didn't get a frap 30 minutes after ice cream...girl does have *some* will power.

As it was approaching 5pm, we headed to Marianplatz, the centre of the old city, to watch the town hall clock figures move about on the Glockenspiel (which they do twice a day, once of course at 5pm). Hundreds of people gathered in the square to watch the display, which I must admit failed to impress. I had it on my list of things to see and had set my expectations a little too high O:-) Gunther and I snuck away early and headed to St. Peter's church to climb the tower.

Now, this was Gunther's suggestion to climb the tower. And for this I will both tease and applaud him. I figured this would in no way beat the number of stairs at the Arc de Triomphe (which I thought was 230-250, but googling tells me it's more). Wasn't I in for a surprise! The staircases were narrow and everyone going up looked and sounded like they were about to pass out. Miraculously (or attributed to the salad and ice cream combination), I made it to the top to see the most beautiful views of Munich. The sight of the city below made me completely (kind of) forget the wicked hike up. And then, the trip down...I decided to count the stairs. I kind of lost track once, so I counted either 296 or 306. One person behind me said 270, but someone here says 302. Who knows. And who cares really, because after walking for 6 hours and walking up and down those stairs, I had *definitely* earned that ice cream!

We kept winding our way through the old city maze for another 90 minutes until we eventually found ourselves at the train station...which had a Starbucks. It had been a few hours since the ice cream and we wouldn't have dinner, so I caved and bought the amazingly delcious Banana Java Chip frap. Mmmmmmgood. Gunther agrees. Hey, I earned it!

Three hours later we were back in Pforzheim. Now it's 10:30 on Thursday and we're off to spend a relaxed day in town. Tomorrow we leave for Berlin for a few days!

Tschüss!