Munich to Bremen

Thanks to Dan and Pam, we were able to get caught up on laundry and enjoy some down time in Munich before getting back into travel mode. Tim took a quick trip to Switzerland while I stayed home and took a bike tour around the city.

Some highlights from Munich:

• final Bayern Munich of the season - Tim had a blast,
  
• hanging out at Westbad - awesome outdoor pool with all the massaging jets you could ever want,
  
• wandering around the Olympic Park - beautiful landscaping and interesting archeticture,
  
• Legoland Deutchland - who doesn't love legos, and
  
• a solemn visit to Dachau - the first prison camp in use and the only camp in use the entire duration of the war.

After Munich, we spend two nights in Berlin. Bike rental is the way to go if you want to see more of the city. It's relatively flat and the bike trail system is very well put together. We found a place right down the street from Checkpoint Charlie that rented them for only 10 Euros for 24 hours. After wandering around old cities with Baroque or Gothic architecture, the ultra modern skyline of Berlin was a bit of a shock.

We arrived in Bremen this afternoon and did the prerequisite walking tour starting at the famous statue of the Musicians of Bremen. Tomorrow we plan on exploring Hannover or Hamelin depending on whether we feel like a walking tour or more storytelling.

Next stop is a hostel created with caravans just outside Amsterdam and then we hop a ferry to Newcastle where we pick up a car for the remainder of the European leg of our odessey.

We keep bumping into people from Seattle on our travels. My tour leader in Munich was from the Central District and we ran into a guy from Bothell in a sporting goods store in Bremen. We've also met many people from Vancouver and other places in the Northwest. It's funny how far we've traveled to meet people from home.