Munich

(Steve) We left San Francisco the evening of Sunday April 15.  Our first disappointment was the airport lounge Lufthansa uses in San Francisco, managed and serviced by United Airlines…what a dump - the only snacks available were pretzels or bags of tiny raw carrots. The hostess was personality-deficient and very unhelpful.

We boarded our plane, a new Airbus 600 with a gracious staff, but sadly lacking in sufficient  toilets for a full plane.  The food was over-plentiful, but the seats failed to fully recline, making sleep a struggle. 

Monday, April 16^: Munich, Hotel Bayerischer Hof

The flight was eleven hours and, upon landing, it took us nearly two hours to recover our  luggage and pick up our lease car.  It is a Peugeot, with a wonderful GPS which guided  us, in heavy  rain, to our hotel.

(Margo)After settling ourselves our room, we headed downstairs to the hotel’s Keller (ancient wine cellar dating back to the 1700s. It was like being in a rock-lined dungeon. We enjoyed it  on our last visit. We had a light snack (hearty asparagus soup with liver dumplings. He said it was good. I opted for a German veal sausage (weisswurst). Our meal washed down with a dark German beer for Steve and light German beer for me.

We then headed back to our room to catch up on our sleep.

Tuesday, April 17: Munich, Bayerischer Hof

(Steve) After a poor night’s sleep (jetlag), we woke up to a series of disappointments and frustrations:  The package with our wedding gift for Frank and Melanie, which we’d had shipped to the hotel in Munich,   had been returned to the U. S. by the German post office. I discovered that my brand- new iPhone simply didn’t work, despite the assurances I received from the Verizon dealer in San Francisco from whom I purchased it, that  it was European-compatible.  We were informed by the German cell phone stores that the so-called “sim” chip was incompatible with the European versions. The Apple store personnel in Munich told us the same thing! Won’t work in Europe

                   

 We spent the next day going from the Apple Store to various cell phone  stores, all to no avail.  A cell phone in Europe is called a “handy”.  No one had a solution…

In a rage of frustration, I called our Visa card company to request that all Verizon charges for the iPhone be disputed. The Visa representative called Verizon to discuss the problem.  Verizon, in turn, brought in a tech support person who walked us through a lengthy, complicated process that made the sim chip work.  It took several hours, but I now have a functioning iPhone!  (The phone charge on our hotel bill was, of course, astronomical).

We have enjoyed staying at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in the past, but it has has proven a disappointment this time.  Although the staff is generally as agreeable as it had been in the past; the services have been severely cut back though the prices have sharply increased.  For example, our reservations included a complementary “high tea”.  In the past, that consisted of a pyramid of cakes, scones, sandwiches and the like - so generous we used to skip dinner. This time, however, after a long wait, the server finally asked us if we wanted either cake or a sandwich!  The cake wasn’t what it had been in the past, and the sandwich was tiny, dry and tasteless.  The coffee was lukewarm and served in a half-filled pot.  We left, hungry.

(Margo) We went for dinner to the Spatenhaus brewpub, which was as much fun and the food as hearty and tasty as we had remembered.

For the appetizer, we both chose Sautéed White Asparagus with a delicate sauce laced with crumbles of crispy smoked Black Forest Ham – I’ll have to experiment with that at home (using green asparagus). The Germans go hog wild over white asparagus, which is only available for a very short time in the spring of the year. Following our appetizer, Steve ordered Beetroot (beet) Carpaccio served on a bed of green salad, followed by Venison Ragout and steamed fresh vegetables. He said it was delicious.

For the main course, I ordered crispy roast pork with Klosse (wonderful German potato dumplings and German red cabbage, apple sauce, with a side dish of green bean bundles wrapped with smoked bacon. 
              

 Wednesday, April 18^:  Munich, Hotel Bayerischer Hof

(Steve) We window-shopped, including a visit to Loden Frey (upscale clothing store near the hotel).   We found things extremely expensive and had no urge to actually buy.  We did go to the huge bookstore on the Marienplatz and were able to find a 2012 Michelin Red Guide for France.  We stopped at Dallmayr, the lux gourmet food shop, for a bottle of wine to take for to  Olivier LeFeuvre, our friend in Berlin, who had invited us for a wonderful gourmet dinner. He has recently taken up gourmet cooking and showed us photos of some of the wonderful things he has been cooking and baking.

An obligatory stop at Konditerei Kreutzcam for a lunch snack of coffee and cake was in order. 

(Margo) Olivier picked us up at 7 p.m., and drove us to his home for a wonderful evening, which included a lots of warm and lively talk and a viewing  of a grand Woody Allen film we had neither seen nor heard of in the United States (“Whatever Works”). We highly recommend it.

Olivier’s delightful meal was outstanding. Before dinner, we sat and chatted over some wonderful French white wine (although Olivier lives in Munich, working for BMW, he is actually French, so enjoys serving French wines). The wine was light and fruity, with a little bubble to it. Olivier disappeared into the kitchen and when he reappeared, he brought three delightful, square ceramic dishes (with lids), in which he served his delicately seasoned fish soup. It was a creamy, bisque-like soup – very delicious! Olivier’s main course was roasted duck breast brushed with a most unusual, tasty sauce that he told us included cumin, coriander and cinnamon. He served it with a mélange of lightly sautéed Spring vegetables, served with an excellent French Merlot wine.  After we viewed the Woody Allen film, Olivier drove us back to our hotel around midnight – tired, exhausted but happy to have been able to spend time with our good friend.