17 June

It was still rather cool today, but not raining. We packed up, stored our packs at the hostel, and went on a guided walking tour of Munich. The guy leading the tour was very entertaining, as have been all of our tour guides, and he gave a lot of information about the WW2 years that we didn't know, especially regarding Hitler's rise to power and the German resistance. We came away with much enhanced respect for the German people of that era who worked and risked everything to undermine the regime.

A highlight of the tour was the activation of the Glockenspiel, a large – make that very large – cuckoo clock type affair that dances about and plays chime music three times per day. Thanks to our guides, we were able to enjoy observing the crowd, which is more entertaining than the glockenspiel, as the show does nothing except play bells for about five minutes when it first begins. However, the crowd doesn't know this, so most of them stand with cameras hoisted, certain that something marvelous must be about to occur. The city was about completely destroyed in the war, but unlike other German cities, the people of Munich decided to rebuild in the original format, so the town looks old, even though a lot of it is new.

Janene's pedometer clicked over the 500 mile mark during the hike. She bragged about it to the guide and was appropriately congratulated. He was probably amazed that a person of her age could even vaguely approach that distance.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the tour early to catch our train to Dusslingen. We made the three connections required to get there, and accidentally met our host, Daniel Rathbun, as we boarded the final train. We settled into his guest room before going for a walk around town.

Capital One continues to work to protect us from ourselves. We tried to use several different ATMs in Munich, but our cards were rejected. Since we were down to about 10 Euros, this was a bit of a problem. I called C-1, did the normal ID routine, asked for the banking dept, and got cut off. Called back, went through the same drill again, got transferred, explained problem, put on hold, cut off. Called back, ID drill, transfer, explain, hold, told to try card in twenty minutes. Waited about an hour – card no good. AAAAARRRRRGGGGG!!! Called, explained, transferred, cut off. Called, etc, on hold forever, cut off. Decided to try card again. EUREKA, IT WORKED! No longer penniless, we all had kebops for supper.

Walking Tour of Munich

Spielhalle (video arcade)	Karlstor gate	Frauenkirche	Devil's Footprint at Frauenkirche entrance
expectant crowds	Rathaus-Glockenspiel 1st Glockenspiel video (2:24, 19.3MB)	tour guide 2nd Glockenspiel video (1:27, 16.4MB)	Janene's pedometer
Feldherrnhalle	Feldherrnhalle	Theatine Church

site of Nazi memorial at Feldherrnhalle

lane behind Feldherrnhalle

The square in front of the Feldherrnhalle was used for SS parades and rallies. Passers-by were expcted to hail the site with the Nazi salute. Some people tried to avoid this by detouring through a lane behind the Feldherrnhalle. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldherrnhalle]

to Dusslingen / Tübingen

train to Tübingen

Tübingen station

major road construction