A zither, a keg & a two-necked guitar?

Being total tourists, we decided to go to dinner last night at the Hofbrauhaus, one of the oldest beer halls in Munich and probably the one tourists visit the most. The ground floor alone seats 1,300 people and their beer. Just as we were getting there and wondering where to go an older gentleman, originally from Scotland, and his wife arrived. He told us to follow them up to the first floor where the locals went. Because it was the first Monday of the month it was sort of like "open mike" night for bands. They just sat around the tables, drank beer, ate, drank beer and took turns playing. In the photo is the band with the zither player who was incredible; the beer keg player (who needs real drums?); and the two necked guitar (or whatever it's called) player. They were marvelous! The other groups weren't slouches either.

Today it was off to one of mad King Ludwig's castles (the one Disney patterned theirs on and whose name I can't spell). Too many tourists and lines so we settled for a distant photo instead.

The countryside is beautiful and we always seem to get lucky finding out-of-the-way places with great food to eat. The restaurant below is a favorite of locales and bicyclists. If you're a biker, the bike paths here look great! The rest of just just like to eat (and probably gain weight!).

As an aside... We were aware that Germany, up until last year when Spain came out ahead, generated more solar energy than any other country in spite of having a solar effectiveness rating on a par with Alaska. After driving around Germany we have no doubt how they've managed it. It's very difficult to go more than a few kilometers without seeing banks of solar panels on roof tops and we passed at least three solar "farms" just on today's drive. The U.S. has some catching up to do!

 

PS - the 2 Johns can't stop raving about their BMW tour yesterday. Very high tech. They say if you're ever in Munich it's not to be missed. (Guess Judi and I will have to come back.)