Today kind of reminded me of a Florida beach day in January. You walk the beach in a fleece and windbreaker, enjoying the brisk winter sea breeze. But there they are: tourists from Up North in bathing attire and braving the cold water and air. “We’ve come to Florida for our vacation and we’re going to go swimming and get a tan no matter how cold it is.”

There we stood at 5 PM this afternoon on Munich’s Marienplaz in the pouring rain. “We’ve come to Munich for our vacation and we’re going to see the glockenspiel show no matter how hard it’s raining,” said we and several hundred other umbrella-wielding spectators. It rained, poured and thundered for the ten minutes leading up to the show and the ten minutes it took for the show to complete.

The glockenspiel is housed in the tower of the New Town Hall on the square (plaz). Bells chime out a tune while figures high up in the tower march and dance to the music.

I’d found the Marienplaz on a short walk I took this afternoon. It wasn’t raining then and I dragged Carter and Nana from our Bayerischer Hof hotel room. They were all tuckered out from out three-hour bus ride from the Aqua Dome hotel this morning. By then it was raining at a pretty good clip so our sightseeing was minimal.

In fact, it has been raining off and on all day. I didn’t take pictures out the bus window because of the dark, dreary scenery wasn’t very photogenic and the bus windows were streaming with water.

We arrived at about 11 AM and were joined by our local tour guide who conducted a city tour by bus, giving us history lessons in a humorous and animated way that made even kids like Carter and the others pay attention. Much emphasis was given to the House of Wittelsbach and the various Ludwigs who ruled Bavaria from 1623 to 1918. Ludwig II is the one who built the castle that was the inspiration for the castle at Disneyworld. The family line is still intact and is still quite wealthy.

What was to be the walking portion of the tour was conducted on the bus and we got to the hotel by 1 PM. Our guides gave us ideas for “on our own” places for lunch but, fear not, Carter led us the best pizza restaurant in Munich, L’Osteria. From there, my walk and the glockenspiel trek ensued.

Cocktails at 6 PM and dinner comprised the farewell party. Jeff, who had been out visiting Ludwig II’s castles joined us at dessert time and got to meet a few of the parents and kids. After, Carter took his dad back to L’Oseria for his dad’s first meal of the day. We joined them for a fun hour or two talking and watching them eat pasta and pizza.

So tomorrow Jeff and Carter meet in our hotel lobby at 5 AM and then head off to the airport. We’re going to miss that Carter a whole lot. He’s been a joy to be with and a great help in keeping his Nana and Grampa filled with Italian food. We’re going to have to fall back on schnitzel and sauerkraut for the rest of the trip. His loving sense of humor will be sorely missed.