Some impressions of Bavaria

---

Let's see -- We have been in the Munich area for 4 days so far... We met our friend Joe at the airport and had dinner with him in Moosberg. A small town just north of the airport but might as well be a different planet, it is rural and has a great cobblestone street atmosphere. The next day we did OKTOBERFEST!!! It is the 200th anniversary. Liters of good German beer, sausages, radiches, sauerkraut, and of course a pretzel. Will we, in America, ever learn to make a good pretzel roll?

We went back to Moosberg met some of Joe's family friends from California for dinner. Gunther and Sita are from Germany and come back here at least every other year. It was fun to have someone that speaks fluent German help us with the menu.

I can't tell you all how different it is in the various areas of Germany. Hanover, Berlin, Munich and the more rural area of Bavaria all have unique traits. Berlin was fast and mostly new, Hanover was new but very narrow streets and lots of them didn't seem to go where I (the navigator) wanted them to go. Outlying Bavaria is quiet with a different Kodak moment around every turn.

Today we visited Dachau. In most respects it was quite somber but in another respect the museum and various memorials are all aimed at being sure that we remember and all who died.

Tomorrow we are going back to Munich to see the typical year in, year out tourist stuff.

I am barely making it as the tour navigator. Street signs in the towns are SMALL and written in script so I find it very hard to know where in the - - - - we are. We have been lost... or is it merely mis-placed? But saw something worthwhile almost every time.

I don't have much more internet time today so I will sign off and write more later.

---