Rhodes5 in Deutschland: Munich

We went to Munich this weekend and had a really nice time. The grey gloominess of the German Winter gave us a short reprieve and we actually had a bit of sunshine and warmer temperatures also. We were able to drag the whole family too, which was such a nice treat!

One of the "famous" sites in Munich is the "Eisbachwelle" otherwise known as the Ice Brook Wave. It is located in the English Garden. It is actually a man made wave that never ends, so people can surf until they fall (the wave doesn't ever die down). They say it is only for very experienced surfers because it is so narrow and not so deep (Not that we were planning on giving it a try, but just thought I'd mention it :-)). It was really fun to watch and we even got to see the local surfers engineer an increase in the height of the wave by using ropes and wood (interesting.... picture an Asian Man in a wetsuit climbing the side of the bridge like Spiderman in order to make that happen - it was funny :-)). I had heard about this wave a long time ago, so it was really fun to finally see it in person.

The "Deutsches Museum" was the other big item on our list. Camden had been there with his class and highly recomended it (we figured if Camden liked it, it must be really, really, really good :-)). It was a great Museum. It was highly technical with Science and Technology though, and we smiled at all of the German Engineering Minds relishing in the academia of it all (these are the same people who come out to walk on a newly constructed bridge and truly just stand in awe of the grand engineering of the structure - it makes me smile (probably because I understand so little of it, yet appreciate it so much!)! Camden enjoyed it the second ltime, but discovered that so much of his enjoyment of it the first time was the fact that he had so much fun with his friends there (not quite the same with 4 family members :-)). It was fun though and we did really enjoy it.

I was a bit curious what we would find in the Muncih Train Station. The news has portrayed the flooding of refugees into Germany via this station. We saw only a couple of families who were definitely fresh arrivals. It made us so sad to see (especially the children). Everyone has different opinions on the issue, but as a Mom you can definitely sympathize with these Mothers. I can't imagine having to give up my entire world for safety and a better life. Seeing these kids, dirty and tired, sitting patiently on a garbage bag of their families belongings, having such a long and dangerous trek behind them, but such an unknown future ahead of them. No matter what your political beliefs are, it is a very sad thing to comprehend (and to have your children see). Makes you feel very fortunate and grateful (especially after such a fun weekend).

We played cards on the train (reminded us of China :-))

A little pre-teen naughtiness (look at Mia's face)

Here is the famous wave

Mia posing (a little bit nicer this time :-))

It was such an interesting thing to see

They had to be really good, as the river is very narrow

and not so deep either

the view from the bridge (you can see how narrow it actually is)

And here they were engineering a handmade contraption to increase the size of the wave

There is "spiderman" in the middle of the bridge :-)

They somehow pulled something up with the rope on the other side

and the wave got bigger (you can see by the audience on the other side, that it is a real specatcle in Munich)

We went to take a picture of the ducks, and just when I clicked the camera button, a dog had run over and scared them away (you can see the dog on the left)