Saturday, September 1, 1979

1979 Munich Again (9/1/1979)

Saturday, September 1, 1979
We decided to go all the way to München because the Minox camera was made in Germany. When we arrived, we went to the tourist office for a map and were told the stores are open all day because it is the first Saturday of the month. And we had thought we would have only a couple hours in the morning to shop! So off we went window shopping and stopping at every camera store to see if they had Minox cameras, which they did not; apparently sold out. We found a shoe store selling the German-made sandals (Birkenstock) Kathy had been looking for. They even had her size and style, but they wouldn't take charge cards. So we used almost all our cash. We went to another camera store which suggested Kathy could send her camera to the factory to be repaired, then they could send it to her home in the States. When she went ahead to arrange that (only to find it couldn't be done because of customs red tape) I went to the train station to change more money. We continued walking up and down the main pedestrian-only shopping area where a major department store was having a 100-year jubilee celebration and was handing out flags, pinwheels, and yo-yos. We got one, two, and one of each respectively. We also stopped to listen to the street musicians. Previously we had really enjoyed a group of Spanish musicians with an active tambourine player and a guitarist with a great (as in size, volume, etc.) voice. We especially liked their costumes with ballooned shorts and stockings. This time among the usual guitarists and flutists were a bassist, a weird old mechanical-type instrument (sounds of India), a religious choir with a booming evangelist, a bongoist, etc. We managed to pass the Rathaus three times right on the hour to see the circling figures including jousting knights that performed as the hour tolled on the clock tower. We had lunch at McDonald’s and ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. On the street there was a magician from the U.S. doing his thing. He was mostly showman and not so much show although he did juggle flaming torches. He kept making Italian, as well as French and German, comments, so we gave him some of our leftover Italian lire. Kathy found yet another music store to look for a Joan Baez songbook, but she hasn't found the right one. That evening we wanted to head for Switzerland, but wanted an overnight train to sleep on. The schedule was such that we first took a train to Hamburg.
Next: Geneva.

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