August 20-23

Monday, August 20

GE and I walked to the Woolworth which I'd been meaning to visit (but it was in the opposite direction from all the other shopping we'd been doing). We crossed the Isar river near our apartment building. It's beautiful! And it's shallow along the shores, so we'll definitely be doing some wading in the near future if it stays hot and sunny!

A German Woolworth is like a cross between a dollar store and a Walmart, though on a much smaller scale. I knew I'd be able to get a few items we needed there and not spend too much. Along the way, we noticed several used bike shops, so on the way back from the Woolworth, GE and I stopped in at one and found her a bike! She picked out a helmet and biked home--with me trotting along behind as quickly as possible while pulling the rolling shopping cart. She would stop at street crossings or agreed-upon points in the distance and wait for me to catch up.

Waiting for me half-way across the bridge over the Isar.

Suddenly the need for everyone to have bicycles was pressing, so after lunch, I took ME and HR with me to check out a nearby bike shop. They had a perfect one for ME! It needed a little more work before they would sell it, so they said to come back in the evening--they'd have it ready for us by 6 p.m. From there we took a bus to the Hauptbahnhof and walked a little further to a warehouse district where we had been told there would be a bunch of larger used-bike shops. At the Radl Bauer, we found a bike for me and one for HR. After we had selected locks and helmets, we walked our bikes to the bus stop to send ME home and then HR and I rode our bikes back--a simple straight shot south. It was easier than HR expected since German infrastructure has bike culture built deeply into it's planning: bike paths, bike-specific street lights and lane labels, and the drivers know how to share the road. So now everyone has a bike, except J! Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow...

Tuesday, August 21

I completely overslept my alarm because of the noise app I've been using, but at least I got caught up on sleep after jetlag-induced insomnia the previous night. I meant to get up and going around 7 but instead slept until nearly 9 a.m. I guess I needed it! Joshua and I got cleaned up and set to work in the apartment--he on his article and me on the previous blog post. Now that I'm caught up, I can focus on just writing a little bit every day or two.

After lunch, J and I walked to a different used bike shop that I'd seen in my exploring and asked if they had any for him to try. They had one, but it was slightly too small in frame size--we got a recommendation for frame size which should be helpful in our continued hunt for a bike for J. Unfortunately of the 3 shops we stopped at, either they had no bikes large enough or their repair guy who works on the used bikes was on vacation until early September. So, we'll strike out again tomorrow and hit the warehouse district where HR and I found our bikes. There are three different large bike shops in that area, but we ran out of time to go today.

The river was packed with sunbathers and swimmers today! Another hot and sunny day in München.

I had promised HR and ME that we would bike to their school today too, so after J and I quit our bike search, the girls got their bikes out and we road to their school. We followed the suggested Google Maps bike route, but still found this involved too much biking on large, busy city streets, so I'll have to do some more research before I'm comfortable with them biking to school every day. We took a circuitous route home so that we could cross over onto the bike paths along the river. That made things a little more enjoyable! It's really a beautiful part of the city! When we got home the girls and I stopped at the REWE City grocery store right around the corner from our building and helped me bring home the groceries in their bicycle baskets. Then supper prep...

Wednesday, August 22

J and I took the bus to the warehouse district and after checking at Radl Bauer with no luck, we went to another around the corner, Second Hand Sports. They had several options and J was able to ride home on a solid used bike while I took the U-bahn and did a little grocery shopping before heading home.

After lunch, I took the girls to the river for some fun! It was hot in the sun but comfortable in the shade or in the water. The girls had a great time splashing around, floating on their backs with the current, and chilling (literally and figuratively) in the water.

ME and GE in the center; HR to the left (arms out, dripping cold water!)