reas and their kids who hosted us for our tour of Munich. Sunday night we had a great time drinking wine 
and having adult career, global issues, etc. conversation.On Monday, we headed to Munich. Since it was a Monday and a holiday museums, etc. were closed. We didn’t care, the weather was amazing, so wandering around town, taking in the architecture made for a perfect day. Thanks to Andreas’ recommendation we wended our way to the Englisher Garten, essentially the Central Park of Munich.
At the park we watched guys boogie boarding on the same river we had seen in Mittenwald – the Isar – and a sea of people out enjoying the great weather. From the entrance to the park we made our way to the center marked b
y a Chinese Turm (tower) where there was a Bavarian folk band, a biergarten and tons of locals just having a great time. We had lunch and just watched the people go by and listened to the band. The Horse Chestnuts were in full bloom and it seemed like they were everywhere.
After the Englisher Garten we headed over to the 1972 Olympic Village and Tower. 
Someho
w Olympic touring seems appropriate this year given all there is to think about on the topic. The German venues seemed especially thoughtful given what happened at the 1936 and 1972 Olympics, including, as Joe and I discussed, Mark Sptiz’s seven gold medals. It was interesting to look at people swimming in the pool and think about the records that were made there. The best view we had of the Munich Olympic Village was from the Tower, despite the viewpoint, I found it very moving.
Innsbrook was 1976 and as I recall, basically tame, except for the bad haircut craze it spurred in America.
Our last day in Munich we visited the Pinakothek Der Moderne (Modern Art Museum) which was really great. They were running a Dan Flavin exhibit we had seen at the National Gallery in Washington a few years ago. There were some great Miros, Picassos and Klees. We also got to see plenty of 20th Century art by Germans and other artists from the central and eastern parts of Europe that were not known to me. Running out of time, we wandered around and enjoyed the architecture, had a last beer and pretzel and headed to the airport.
In general I was struck by Bavaria’s balance between its historic agrarian roots and contemporary society. Munich is considered the silicon valley of Germany, yet Christine and her family can get organic milk by walking to the local dairyman. In Mittenwald there are literally hundreds of small plots that support a couple of livestock and are used to grow feed. While I’m sure there are plenty of challenges too, it was interesting to see and be inspired by. Bavaria also was full of Rapeseed fields in
bloom, just beautiful. I also thought that there were quite a few mullet's and learned that it is actually a global style.
