Munich to Dar

*sorry, no pix links today slow internet*
What can I say about Munich? It really is all we've seen of Germany, and really it's Bavaria which is like another country in and of itself with a long history and its own language.

Tim has said he's sorry to leave Muenchen so soon and I agree. Having no idea what to expect we were taken aback by how much there is to see here. The people are friendly, proud, yet relaxed. Tristian and Andy both warned us that there was nothing to do and no nightlife in Munich and I'm glad to find that they were right. :-) However, we had no problem filling up our short time here: checking out the rathaus (new town hall), climbing the tower in St. Peterkirche, strolling through viturelien markt, touring neuschwanstein castle, and, of course, wandering around the city admiring the architecture and various cultural differences. In the evenings we found ourselves in fairly nice restaurants eating tasty food. However, it wasn't until last night and this afternoon that we finally tasted real "german" food. Turns out, Bavarians love pizza and italian food and there are plenty of asian restaurants as well.

We lucked out in meeting with Max, a local we found via couchsurfing.com. He was kind enough to squeeze us in his busy schedule: in between school and girlfriend time. Though we could only meet for half an hour, he related much on the history of Bavaria as well as, what he called, a very important piece of Munich- Oedeonplatz. He told us about four very influential Bavarian kings, the promise made between King Maximillian I and Holy Mary, and the story behind the pretzel.

Today, our final full day, was spent doing more last minute errands. We ended our day at the English Garden, the largest city park in Germany and ate an early dinner by the Chinese Pagoda, a gift from China during the world's fair 100 years ago.

Again, there is sooo much to see and do here! The summer opera season opens soon. Surfers to see at the English garden. Churches and museums, too. I was glad and a little surprised to hear Tim say that he would rather return to Munich than Paris.

Airport
So, this evening we arrived at the airport about 3.75 hours before boarding, but what are you gonna do. The internet said check-in began 3 hours before take-off and ended 1 hour before take-off. We encountered our first hiccup- no return flight. The lady at the counter had to call her supervisor and they both wanted to know why we have no visa and no return flight. Tim told them we understood that we could purchase a visa at the airport in Dar es Salaam and that our plan was to take a bus to Malawi and Mozambique. They asked if we had already booked a bus ticket and, naturally, we haven't. Well, they let us on anyway and made us check our bags through as they were 1-2 kilos over their limit and they said it was a very full flight. Overall, they were very nice about the whole thing and I am resolved not to do any I-told-you-so's to Tim.

On our way to the gate we bumped into a beach volleyball exhibition. Yes. Right in the airport. And we couldn't walk around the beach volleyball court because there was another one right next to it!!

Being a hot day, we were pretty sticky and stinky so after going through passport check we looked for some wipes, so we can feel refreshed and not offend our flight neighbors too much.

Now we're sitting at the gate, which is pretty quiet considering we'll be boarding in about 45 minutes. Oh, this is a fab airport. Very clean and very big and no having to drag your luggage to security and we even kept our shoes on!

Landed in Qatar at 6am and it was already 93F. Boy, was I glad that we weren't traveling in Qatar. Checked out there small but modern airport, complete with his/hers prayer rooms. Took a bus to our plane and then we were off to Dar es Salaam.