End of July - Beginning of August

July 23 – One of Jay’s co-workers invited us to Kaltenberger Ritterturniew which is a medieval festival, kind of like The Renaissance Festival in Texas.  They also had Jay’s favorite beer Konig Ludwig Dunkel.  The weather wasn’t the best very cool and raining.  As you walk through the medieval village there are all kinds of different demonstrations and craft booths.  They have a parade with people dressed up in medieval costumes.   There were jugglers, fire breathers and musicians, etc.  As part of the evening’s entertainment there’s an arena where act out the story of King Arthur.  There were knights battling, trick horseback riding and jousting.  This year the black knight won.

July 30 – The ski club we belong to held its annual summer BBQ.  There were about sixty people and plenty of American hamburgers, hot dogs and lots of German beer, of course.  One of the guys in the club has access to a PX at one of the US bases near Munich.  We even had Ruffles potato chips and Tostitos.  About half way through the picnic we have a couple of extra visitors – the fire department and then a couple of police officers.  A passerby called the fire department because they saw smoke coming from the bridge which we were under barbequing.  Evidently we were in a no barbeque area.   Yep you guessed it – no camera again.

July 31 – We rode our bikes to Auer Dulten which is another festival that is held three times a year.  They have kids carnival rides, reminded us of St. Richards carnival in Chicago, but they also have booths where you can by all kinds of tableware, pots and pans, “as seen on TV” items and all kinds of junk dealers, food and of course, beer.  There was a booth selling a type of small pizzas, which I never see except at festivals.  Today they were also having a soap box derby on the street next to the festival.  

Aug. 6 – What a beautiful day in Munich.   Sunny and warm with temps in the low 80’s.  So we took out the bikes and rode to the Auer Dulten Festival again and walked around for a while then we went to a “big” grocery store close by (kind of like a Super Wal-Mart).    We rode to the Taxisbiergarten for an afternoon picnic, the usual half a chicken and a beer.  On the way to the beer garden we saw a wagon going down the street pulled by two horses.  We ended up riding about 20km.

Aug. 9 - Tonight we went out to dinner with friends to a local beer garden, Augustiner Keller.  It rained on and off during the day, but we took our chances and ate outside.  It was a little cool, so a little later in the evening they brought us blankets.  We chuckled a little being that it is August and we need a blanket to keep us warm.  It was in the 50’s.

Aug. 10.  – Had lunch today with a group of women from the League of Accidental Hausfrauen (LoAHF) which are housewives who have been moved here with their husband’s jobs.  We went to a Mexican restaurant and the food was OK.  There were about 14 of us and I had a good time meeting other women in my same position.  It was interesting talking with some of the women that have been here for a while.  I learned that here you are suppose to put salt in the dishwasher to soften the water.  There is a dispenser in the bottom the dishwasher that is for the salt.