After we passed out from exhaustion around 8:00 p.m., the jetlag hit. I awoke briefly at 9:00 p.m. and again a little before midnight. I think I fell back to sleep around 2:00 a.m., and slept soundly until the alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. We wanted to explore Munich a little more before leaving, so we had breakfast and checked email (and posted a trip report) in the lounge, packed, and got ready. It was after 9:00 a.m. when we left the hotel, but we really only wanted to see the Viktualienmarkt. We spent some time walking among the shops selling fresh breads, fruit, spargel, meats, cheeses, honey, crafts… you get the idea. After we had had our fill of looking, but not buying, we walked around Marienplatz some more. At 11:30 a.m., we headed back to our hotel, retrieved our bags, and took the train to the airport to pick up our car.
We had originally planned to rent from Hertz in the city, but reading FT convinced us that it would be easier to do so from the airport. Also, we decided to go with Avis instead, mainly because Hertz was going to charge us €50 extra for a GPS (on top of the daily fee) because we would be dropping off the car at FRA. Not only did Avis not charge a drop-off fee for the GPS, but also its daily charge for GPS rental was one-third that of Hertz.
We approached the Avis Preferred counter, and the process was a breeze. We showed our licenses, got Mr. FB on the contract, and walked to the garage to pick up our car. We had reserved a Mercedes C-Class Automatic, so being upgraded to a Mercedes S320 was a nice surprise. While having a larger car can be a disadvantage, the extra space will come in handy when we pick up Mr. FB’s parents on Friday. In addition, having a diesel-powered vehicle is a bonus in a country where diesel fuel is about €0.25/litre less than regular gasoline.
While I took the time to acclimate myself to the vehicle and adjust the seats and mirrors, my spouse entered our first destination – Schloss Linderhof – into the navigation system. With one stop for lunch, we made it to Linderhof at about 3:00 p.m. The tour of King Ludwig’s small palace took only about 20 minutes, but everything about it was impressive. Ornate does not begin to describe the place, and Ludwig’s obsession with Louis XIV was obvious.
At the recommendation of the guide we walked up to the grotto and waited for the 4:00 p.m. tour. This man-made cave also served as a performance hall, and was reportedly the first place in Bavaria to get electricity. It was worth the walk uphill, and afterward we were able to get some great pictures of the palace and surrounding area.