Day 3 - Munich
Day 3 was a full day in one city - Munich. Home of BMW and the 1972 Olympics. We watched a movie called "Munich", and it wasn't really pleasant (kidnapping and terrorism), so we were hoping our time there would be a tad more peaceful.
The day began with us getting up at the hotel, walking a half block to the subway station, having a bratwurst for breakfast, and going to the Deutsches Museum, a "Smithsonian-like" museum devoted entirely to science and technology. Nerd heaven! Jill was dragging a bit in the museum, after perusing exhibits devoted to engines and boating, but once we arrived at the hands-on physics displays, I practically had to drag her out of there. We all like to play, I suppose :)
Next on the agenda was a trip to OlympiaPark and the BMW Museum (adjacent to BMW world headquarters and one of their major manufacturing operations). A BMW shareholder meeting was being held in one of the great OlympiaPark structures. Those buildings are like no others I have ever seen.
After arriving back downtown, we went to the Viktualien Markt - something like a German farmers' market. After that, it was some pretzels and beers (c'mon, it's Munich!). By the way, I should mention that Munich was very clean and nice, a picture perfect European city.
Day 4 - Munich and London
We woke up on Day 4, boarded the train to the Franz Joseph Strauss airport in Munich (way out of town!), and boarded our EasyJet flight to London, England. The flight was only about $20 each - not a bad deal. With Germany's gasoline rate of $6.50 per gallon, renting a car to make the trip was pretty much out of the question (I guess you'd never drive from Munich to London anyway, just wanted to make that point).
We arrived at London's Stansted airport around noon, and took the train into downtown, near our hotel. Right away we could tell everything in London was much older than it's Munich counterparts (buildings, subway and express trains, etc.). Also, there are no trash (rubbish) cans in London. We had to be creative later on to find a home for our Burger King rubbish in the train station, because there aren't any trash cans there. Can you imagine a train station with no trash cans? Ok, enough about that.
London may not have trash cans, new trains, or old-school European buildings, but it does a bunch of really great tourist attractions - that even us Hoosiers have heard of. We checked into the hotel, grabbed our London street map and walked over to Buckingham Palace. It was really impressive, from the golden gates, to the trotting guards on horseback. We then walked over to see Parliament, Big Ben ("...look kids, Big Ben, Parliament..."), and went for a tour of Westminster Abbey. England's most famous are entombed (or just immortalized) here with intricate statues and crypts. In fact, contrary to our previous opinion, there isn't really much room in the middle of the church for a typical service, maybe only enough for 50 people or so, due to the fact that so much of the church is taken up with statues and memorials. We saw the final resting place of many an English King and Queen, as well as that of Isaac Newton and Charles Dickens.
After seeing the Abbey, we rode the London Eye - a 450 foot tall ferris wheel hanging over the River Thames. It was originally built for the celebration of the passing of the millenium, but it was so popular that is has remained indefinitely. After the Eye "flight", it was on to the hotel, for some fish 'n chips (fish that still had skin on it - under the breading???) and some rest.
Day 5 - London (Jill's Birthday)
Our full day in London began with a traditional English breakfast of salty bacon, a fried egg, and baked beans (it was the free hotel breakfast). We probably gained 5 pounds eating German food, and lost it choking down English food.
We started off at the Tower of London, so we took the underground (or "The Tube", as they call it) in morning rush hour traffic to get there. My cousin had previously lived in London, and it was his advice to go very early to the Tower, because most tourists go later in the day. He was exactly right, because the entire castle was nearly empty until right about when we were leaving. While there we saw the history of the Tower, and of course the famous Crown Jewels.
From the Tower of London, we took the train over to Notting Hill to find something for Jill's birthday lunch. After searching for 30 minutes, we ended up at a Pizza Hut. We're ashamed of this, but trust me - it was the only option (and it gets worse later, I'm afraid). After leaving the Hut, we went to see some foreign embassies, and to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace (as the sign put it "...former home of Kings, Queens, and Diana, Princess of Wales"). They love Diana in the UK.
We walked through Hyde park, and strolled our way over to the famous department store Harrod's. It's owned by the family of Dodi Al Fayed, who was killed in the same accident as Princess Diana, and there are a few "shrines" dedicated to the couple throughout the store. This place was really neat, and we even found a Paddington Bear for Maddie there (which we probably should have bought in Paddington, which was only 2 tube stations away).
After leaving Harrod's, we had our obligatory London cab ride to the hotel, and got ready for Jill's birthday present - our trip to see Wicked - the show about the secret history of the Witches of Oz. It was a great show, but unfortunately we could only get a picture of the outside of the theater :(
On Day 6 we came home, got delayed for 5 hours in Charlotte, but finally made it to Terre Haute, to see family and our little one. Then today we came back to Indy, and it's just been truly great to be back in our own house.
Thanks for checking us out.
I am sure you are all used to seeing this happy, smiling face by now. She wears a smile almost every day and we are so happy that is the case.
Maddie really liked the view from the 12th floor, and you could even see the festivities for the Taste of Cincinnati going on below. The wedding wasn't until 6:30, so we went down to the street to sample some of the city's cuisine. My first instinct was to find a funnel cake, but apparently it's not a Cincy specialty. Oh well.
Originally we had planned to watch the Cincinnati Reds play the Pittsburgh Pirates, but it was 85 degrees and sunny, and we figured it was too much for Maddie. So, we did some extra driving to see the little town of Madison. We checked out some southern Indiana art, but there was one piece that stood out among the rest of the exhibits... 
The only question is, who gets it for Christmas?
