Woke up in the Bridal Suite fully refreshed and ready to explore Rothernberg. And what a place it is. Perched on top of a mountain (where else), it is a walled town that tastefully caters for tourists without destroying the ambience of the whole area. Another day wouldn’t have gone astray here, but our comprehensive yet pressing timetable forced us to part ways with the Romantic Hotel and make our way onwards to Munich. Stephan and his wife Heidi (dressed in the appropriate garb) were wonderful, and treated us perfectly, doing everything possible to make our stay such a pleasant one, albeit too short.

After a couple of errant yet now expected wrong turns, we managed to find our way into Munich. Mr X seemed to find the driving a bit easier than he had anticipated by now, and finally we meandered our way to the Suisse Hotel in downtown Munchen. Checked in, went for a walk down through the Marienplatz Strasse, then on to the Hoffbrau Haus, where Mr and Ms X ordered various forms of sausage and Mr X settled down to the second-biggest beer he had ever seen (the first was in Barcelona). Not long after, a guy in his 40’s settled down beside us, and once talking, turned out to be a teacher of economics and gynasium at a nearby school. Rudy was his name, and a friendly and informative chap he was. FIVE beer steins later, and Ms X (after kicking Mr X under the table on a number of occasions) suggested we leave and make our way back to the hotel. After exchanging emails, we said goodbye to our teaching colleague and enjoyed tjhe refreshing walk back to the hotel.

Next day, we enjoyed the basic yet welcoming continental breakfast, dropped off the car at the Avis depot, followed by an amusing series of train rides, attempting to locate the Olympic Stadium, site of the 1972 Olympics and more infamously, the terrorist attack on the Israelis athletes. Due to a mishap in communications with Helpful Harry at the info desk, we finished up at the Munich Soccer Arena, a considerable distance from where we wanted to be. Nevertheless, we forged on, such is our Aussie pioneering spirit, and finally found the evasive Olympic site. And what an impressive complex it is. Considering it is 36 years old, it is still modern by today’s standards. The whole area is surrounded by manicured lawns, peaceful lakes and modern architecture that blensds in and gives the overall appearance of a well laid-out sporting complex (but not as good as Melbournes!).

Proceeded back to Marienplatz and wandered around the busy shopping district, bought some chips, dips and bread for an in-house meal back at the Suisse. Both of us have enjoyed seeing Munich, but compared to what we’ve seen so far, probably at the bottom of the list.