Happy 4th of July from Munchen!

We sure did miss seeing the red, white, and blue today. No fireworks, no star bangled banners, no sparklers, no watermelon or baked beans. We certainly did think of the Ol' U.S. of A. Especially when we had been walking around for 4 hours and couldn't find water anywhere. It's amazing how different the water consumption is here. But anyway, God Bless America. We wished you were here!

Our first stop was the Justizpalast (palace of Justice). It was built in 1890 by Friedrich Ritter von Thiersch. Whoever that is. EEK. We got to walk up these amazing marble stair cases and walk into some very old court rooms. Today the building contains the Bavarian Ministry of Justice and parts of the Provincial Court.

There was a lot of reconstruction going on around the city. Including the city's most famous church, the Frauenkirche. Construction began in 1468 but the two towers were not completed until 1488. The building's famous domes on top of each tower were not added until 1525. The cathedral can hold 20,000 people.

There is also a legend that is referred to as the Teufelsschritt (Devil's Footstep), at the entrance of the church. It's a black footprint, which according to legend was where the devil stood when he curiously ridiculed the windowless church. The clever builder, however, tricked the devil by positioning columns so that the windows were not visible from the spot where the devil stood in the foyer. When the devil discovered that he had been tricked, he could not enter the already church. The devil could only stand in the foyer and stomp his foot furiously, which left the dark footprint. Everyone was putting their feet in the footprint, but Mom and I decided we didn't want to be following in the devil's footsteps. So we passed.

Then we took a break for lunch. Ate at a nice little cafe called Hofer Der Stadwirt. I ordered quiche and Mom got a ham, cheese and pineapple sandwich. We paid for water for the 1,643rd time in two days. The waitress stood over mom while she was trying to figure out how many Euros to tip. And then I took this really pretty picture of mom and made her make it her new facebook picture! :)

After lunch we walked to the Residenzstrasse, which is the former home/palace of the Bavarias's ruling family the Wittelsbarchers. It is a 130 room palace and every room was trimmed in gold or marble. Basically a large part of the palace was destroyed in WWII so the rooms that were still in the original shape were few.

We both managed to get in trouble and decided to leave. Don't use flash (which sounds like fish in Deutsch) and don't touch the marble doorways. At that point the tour got a little lengthy so we picked the pace up and headed to Starbucks.

We walked through the English Garden on our way back to the hotel for a nap. Lots of musicians stood around playing the violin or cello. Quite the picturesque scene.

Dinner... oh lord dinner. We asked the receptionist at the hotel were we could eat without having to take the subway back downtown. She gave us directions.... 300 meters, 400 meters, an Italian place on the corner, and no name. After a scary encounter with some German mob restaurateurs we ended up here...

And don't ask me how I ended up with the worlds largest McDonalds cheeseburger ever. Whatever. That menu was complicated.