Munich

We woke up to find out that Europe went off Daylight Savings last night. That was kind of nice! We had a good breakfast and then left for Munich. Austria is quite beautiful - mountains whichever way you look.

We decided to drive to our hotel and leave all of our bags and then headed to the airport to return the car. It was kind of sad to turn it in - it was a good car and we have had such a good time. We ended up driving 9,320 kilometers or 5,778 miles. We then took the S Bahn (part regional train and part subway) back to our hotel. The Munich airport is far out in the countryside. No problem though - there is quick transportation into town. Sure wish that Sacramento could figure out some way to get out of the airport! One of the subway stops is actually in the basement of our hotel!

We spent a while repacking suitcases which is always a big chore to do before leaving. So now we can play for 2 days here in Munich.

We took the subway up to the Marianplatz and went to a beer hall for dinner.

I finally found out what happened to Michalangelo's Bruges Madonna that I mentioned a few days ago. The Nazis had stolen it from the church in Bruges and taken it to a salt mine in Altaussee, Austria. At the end of the war, the Monument Men found crates and crates and crates plus bigger pieces in packing material down in the salt mine. Thousands and thousands of items were found down there. The mine was slated to be blown up the Nazis. It is a long complicated story, but the treasure trove was saved. So it was a happy ending for these items. These men founds sites all over Germany and Austria with the looted treasures.