On the Road Again…..Finally!

Hello to All,

John and I are in Munich, Germany. The long-awaited cruise for two weeks on the whole (or most of) the Danube is finally taking place. We signed up in 2020; John wanted to go on the maiden voyage of the AmaMagna, the newest ship of the fleet of Amawaterways. We were to be traveling with our good friends, Tomi and Bryan Storey.

Our trip was postponed to 2021, and then to 2022. It is finally taking place and we are excited to be on the road again!!!

But first, let me fill you in on the trip so far:

We made it through the night — sleeping quite well. In fact, John awakened me saying that everyone was eating breakfast — YAY!! But it sort of went downhill from there.

It took the airlines one whole hour to bring my scooter to me; it was supposed to be delivered on the jetway, but that didn’t happen. I kept getting different stories. Finally it turned out it had been taken to a departure gate, but not even our departure gate! We had to transfer to another terminal so this nice person grabbed us and some other older people and gave us this transfer — I thought we were going to be cleaning snow off of the runway :). They loaded 6 of us ( 5 scooters and wheelchairs and me) in a custom vehicle with a lift to a small cabin, drove us to the rear of the airplane, and deposited us directly into the rear door of the airplane-no ramp, no steps.

We were kinda short on time so we didn’t get to the boarding gate from London to Munich until shortly before the flight. We were almost the last to board.

Then it took forever in Munich to get my bike; it was the last thing to be delivered in baggage claim; at least they didn’t send it up the conveyer belt!

Life got better after that — the taxi ride into downtown at the Mandarin Oriental was only about $96. Wow! But the hotel is spectacular and our room is lovely.

Now we were supposed to arrive with the Storeys, meeting up in London. Their plane from Dallas to London was two hours late, causing them to miss the Munich flight and not to land until 7:30 p.m. So we went on to dinner, around the corner from the hotel at the Hofbräuhaus. It’s a huge place and we found our way to the outdoor garden area — a lovely day to be outside and ordered some beer….and then some dinner.

It was a happening place; about fifteen men dressed in their lederhausen were partying right next to us…..so I had to photograph them and join in a little!

We got back to the room and were really, really tired so we got ready for bed and then Bryan called; they made a drink and came to our room. We had already taken a sleeping pill, so it was a short visit!

On Thursday the sightseeing began in earnest. First stop was the Marienplatz to see the famous Glockenspiel. But we also took some pics along the way.

We found a nice little cafe to sit and watch the show.

Then we decided to go into the Munich Cathedral — beautiful!

We then decided that both couples needed to pose before this crypt!

Time to make our way to a rest stop….but not without a few more pics:

More silliness:

We ended the day at Risotto, an Italian restaurant out from town and ate in the garden. It was lovely!

We all slept a lot and started Friday with a walk to the Residenz, the home of the monarchs of Germany from the 1500 or 1600s. It was a truly amazing building….and HUGE! Just a few pictures of the spectacular sights.

It was time for lunch — back to the Hofbrauhaus. The Storeys hadn’t been yet and they loved it!

We all needed a rest — but we were revived enough for dinner later — this time at Katzlmacher — Italian (even though it doesn’t sound like it!)

On Saturday we had a slow start, but opted to spend the time on two different routes of the hop-on-hop-off bus. I could ride onto the bus on my bike and I stayed downstairs while the other went up to the open top level.

The Germans seem to love to use frieze ornamentation on their buildings. I shot a few pics while traveling.

More sights from along the way:

So I brought along my small pillow that I sleep with — between my knees for my back. Well, the first morning when housekeeping cleaned, they took my pillow and pillowcase with them. After a few complaints I received on Friday night a replacement pillow with a plate full of sweets. On Saturday they had found my pillow — minus the pillowcase. It was returned with a bottle of body lotion.

We didn’t get to lunch until almost 4:00 p.m. Bryan wanted more Hofbrauhaus…so back we went!

John says the blog is sorta boring — like all we did was drink beer. Well, what can I say? We did drink a lot of beer!!! It has not been boring; we have been getting over jet lag and John and I are still sluggish from recovering from Covid. Yes, we did catch Covid about ten days before departure. But we took paxlovid and were testing negative six days later –thank goodness!!!!

I must say, the food there is very good. Now time to pack up. The Amamagna boards on Sunday. Time to go see the Danube!!!!

It is 90 miles from downtown Munich to the port on the Danube so it’s a two hour drive. Ready to start the next chapter of the trip.

Love to All,

Beth