(The new station building, with its modern steel and glass architectural design, is one of Berlin's structural highlights (see photo). As is the case in Zurich, Munich, and many European cities, the station houses a mall full of stores and eateries that can remain open on Sundays, despite the general Sunday closing rule. The mall looked nice enough to be inviting even if one where not just training in or out of town.) Once on the high-speed train, the time passed very quickly. All in all, the train was the better option compared to flying--I was able to get a very good fare (the advance reservation helped, though unfortunately, the train sometimes costs significantly more than flying); the seating, even in second class, was more than adequate (not generally the case on airplanes these days, except in business or first class); the schedule for the train gave me the entire day in Berlin (not so with the flight schedules); and the train station in Munich is much closer to our apartment than the airport is.
Driving in a big city can also be a royal pain--with what seems to be an unlimited number of one-way streets and congestion throughout the city, delay and frustration are unavoidable. While I sensed that the average car size in Berlin is a little bigger than in Munich or Zurich and that there are fewer regular bicycle riders, I was amused to see that the Berlin police are doing their part to decrease their carbon footprint (see photo). I wonder whether this Smart Car is equipped with a special engine for high speed chases!Just two days after I returned from Berlin, our dear friend, Karen Crawford, came to visit with her two sons (Ryan (14) and Jake (12)), and nanny (Rachel). Of course, having just extolled the virtues of public transportation, I was disappointed that the Munich S-Bahn let us down for the first time. With even ten-minute delays virtually unheard of, we ended up waiting at least 45 extra minutes for a train to depart from the airport into Munich. When the train finally departed, it moved slowly toward the city. An explanation for the delay was announced several times, but my German was not nearly good enough to understand it. This inauspicious beginning of the Crawford family visit continued when we arrived at their hotel, which was chosen for its proximity to our apartment. After Karen made reservations for two double rooms a couple of months ago, I went to the hotel to make sure the rooms would be up to Karen's standards. I was satisfied with the double room I was shown, but when we finally arrived at the hotel, the two rooms were approximately the size of our daughter Sara's double dorm room her first year of college. The two rooms, which together were smaller than the room I was shown, even looked like dorm rooms, with old furnishings, tattered carpet, and two single beds placed along opposite walls. However, unlike dorm rooms, these rooms lacked space for a second desk and closet! Worse yet, the rooms were two floors away from each other. Had I seen these rooms during my visit, they would not have met my standards (which might be a teeny bit lower than Karen's), and our friends would be staying at a different hotel. Little did the young reception desk attendant know she would be facing the one-two punch of two irate California lawyers! Of course, there were no rooms available that were similar to the one I previously viewed (maybe that room was used only for the hotel website photo gallery (which Karen had taken to be an accurate rendering of the reserved accommodations)). By the time Karen and I were done with the poor attendant, Karen had two large triple rooms next door to each other.
For those of you who know Karen, you would have been amazed how easily she adapted to the rainy weather we endured during her entire stay in Munich--no umbrellas for the Crawford family, they just donned their waterproof windbreakers with hoods and they were ready to rock and roll (see photo)! The rain prevented us from dining al fresco (no "biergartens" for Karen, but she got her "bier"!), but everyone was a good sport. Henry was able to join in the Crawford visit only for the first evening--he left the next morning for Washington, DC, where he had to give a 20-minute presentation to an unnamed agency. The agency was requiring all recipients of a purported five-year grant to justify continued receipt of funding for the fourth and fifth years of that grant. We all missed Henry's company, but managed to be tourists without him.With two full days available, the Crawfords opted for a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial on the first day and a tour of the Munich BMW plant on the second day--an interesting combination. Karen was the force behind the visit to Dachau. As she explained to Ryan and Jake, it's like having an elephant in the room--if you are in the room, it is impossible to ignore the elephant. In the same manner, with the Dachau Concentration Camp on Munich's doorstep, visiting it is a "must". I'm not sure how much understanding Jake took away from the visit, but Ryan was engrossed. I took the opportunity to complete my tour of the Memorial's museum; I spent the rest of the time wondering what brings a nation to engage in genocide, and what is necessary to change that perspective. The song from the musical "South Pacific", " You've Got to be Carefully Taught", came to mind. As the young lieutenant sings, racism is not born in you; it happens after you're born. The same can be said for other types of hatred.
BMW is headquartered in Munich and has built an impressive showcase for the public (see photo--Jake, Rachel, Karen, and Ryan happen to be in the foreground!). They have a large display of concept cars as well as a museum. In addition, they have a plant on site and offer tours. Karen is a current BMW owner and has had several of them over the years. While one might think that Ryan and Jake pushed for the BMW tour, Karen enthusiastically suggested it! The two and a half hour tour was comprehensive, with Jake hanging on every word. At every stop on the tour, he wiggled his way up to the front of the group. Ryan, on the other hand, wanted to take pictures of the concept cars. I walked away with discomfort. Several things contributed--I was reminded the day before, at Dachau, that BMW used slave labor in its plants during World War II; one of the buildings we toured at the plant was in operation since the1920's; the staccato tone with which the tour guide (about my age) spoke English was almost too precise and orderly; the introductory movie about the company's history glossed over the World War II period, saying only that the company had to be rebuilt after the War; and the guide was rather ill at ease when I asked, after the tour was over, what was built at the BMW plant during World War II--he tried to sidestep the question and finally offered that he supposed "army cars" were produced. He was not at all comfortable with my having brought up the subject. My own discomfort was not necessarily consistent with my having owned a German car in years past (a Volkswagen Rabbit), but it was present nevertheless.
While "touristing" around with Karen and company, I finally got to see the figurines in the clock tower of the "new" Rathaus in Marienplatz do their dance, as the glockenspiel chimed on the hour. For whatever reason, they dance only at 11AM, noon, and 5PM. Watching them is one of those little thrills that brings a smile to everyone's face, even after a day at Dachau. The visit with Karen was short, but we did get to hang out together and "tawk" in the evenings, while Rachel stayed with Ryan and Jake at the hotel. Especially after seeing Karen "on vacation" with the boys, I continue to marvel at how she manages to keep all the juggling balls in the air--as a widow, a partner in a law firm (not only working cases, but having to bring in new business as well), and as a mother of two teenage boys. They are good kids and Rachel is great, but boys are definitely a handful. Henry and I were spoiled by having girls. We didn't have to deal with them wrestling in the subway station perilously close to the train track!
With just a couple of days in Munich between the Crawfords' leaving and my meeting Henry at the airport for our trip to Berlin (he arrived back from Washington on Monday morning (6/29), with just enough time to wash up at the airport and catch the next plane), I made it to another nearby group of palaces (Alte Schloss Schleisheim, Neues Schloss Schleisheim, and Schloss Lustheim, which date back to 1600 and 1700). Maybe I am starting to get "schlossed out" after visiting so many of them, but these palaces were not as exciting as most of the others I have visited. Nevertheless, the gardens were very impressive (see photo), as was the exhibit of Meissen porcelain in Schloss Lustheim. 
Also, were I not already tired, I would have stayed into the evening to attend a classical music concert to be held in one of the halls of the Alte Schloss. The Baroque adornments on the walls and ceiling of the hall made it an inviting offer (see photo). The following evening, I attended a movie at the annual Munich Film Festival. Yes, the movie was in English (I would not have gone otherwise). It was amazing how much of the German subtitles I understood when I heard the spoken English at the same time! After so many years of missing out on film festivals in San Diego, I finally made it to one half way around the world.
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