Mr. Here (pronounced héah)- We met Mr. Héah during our first excursion into the Schnellbahnnetz Station, aka the subway. Standing in the middle of the crowded central hub, with people flowing around us, we obviously looked lost. Mr. Héah courageously approached Momma, as he spoke no English and we obviously don't speak German. He commandeered our map and proceeded to point and ask, “héah?” Once our destination was confirmed, he began using “héah” as a directional verb, complete with hand gestures- forward, down, and diagonal to guide us through the station. “héah … héah …. héah” Repeating it twice for clarity, we headed off and somehow, we made it “héah.”Ms. Gamma Phi- During our hotel check-in, Elizabeth was stopped by a fellow guest who noticed her t-shirt and asked “Gamma Phi Beta?” Elizabeth nodded yes, and the woman proceeded to inform her that she’d been a Gamma Phi at Vanderbilt. What a small world.
Ms. Baker- Our hotel’s complimentary breakfast left quite a bit to be desired, so we turned to a Café a block from our hotel. During our first visit Austin and Elizabeth asked the friendly worker for recommendations. She first pointed out an Easter roll and traditional German breakfast roll. Austin then asked her what her personal favorite was and she held up a seeded roll. When he asked her what it tasted like her informative response was “like all the seeds.” The seeded roll was a multi-seeded whole grain jackpot for health conscious eaters... not quite what Austin had in mind, so he went for the sugar laden iced Easter roll for taste conscious eaters.
Aunt Pat- We met Aunt Pat (not really Aunt Pat, but she reminded us a lot of our Aunt) during our trip to the nearby city of Dachau (da-cow) to see the concentration camp memorial. Dachau was the first concentration camp to be opened in Germany and over 200,000 prisoners from 30 countries were held there. We started our visit with a deeply disturbing audiovisual presentation that included live footage from Dachau as well as a
condensed history of the camp and then worked our way through the museum housed in one of the barracks. Outside we saw the concrete foundations of 32 barracks used to house prisoners, the front gate and a reconstruction of the fence as well as the memorials. Making our way out the main gate we came across the remnants of train tracks and wondered if they were the tracks used to bring in prisoners. We walked over to a display board and discussed our question amongst ourselves when Aunt Pat rode up on her bike. Dressed in a turtle neck, jacket, pressed pants and sturdy boots, she softly asked us if we had a question. Mom repeated our wonderings and Aunt Pat was able to tell us the train tracks were, in fact, not used to bring prisoners. Come to find out Aunt Pat was visiting Dachau to learn more about the memorial to hopefully become a licensed tour guide. We spent about 20 minutes discussing other questions we’d acquired during our visit and she was able to answer them all. As we were leaving she commented that she was glad we had visited Dachau and that it was important that people know and remember the atrocities committed there. Her helpfulness and kind nature definitely helped offset the solemn feeling of the camp.Düük aka Mr. BMW- For the record, if Austin ever buys a BMW, he’s coming to the Munich plant to pick it up. We met Mr. BMW at a driving simulator in the BMW plant. This plant is an auto lovers paradise with displays of all the newest, sleekest models of BMWs. The customary “where are you from?” revealed an interesting connection. His sister is in med school, at “how do you say this Düük... Doook?” and living in Raleigh.
Michael-
Wow, what a character. We first ran into Michael during a shopping trip in an outdoors store. Elizabeth spotted him while Austin was absorbed with his shopping. He was a big burly Germany man with flowing white hair and a long white beard. He was wearing hiking shorts, wool socks and his hiking boots. Unfortunately, Momma was occupied elsewhere in the store (probably the cycling section but most definitely holding the camera) and we were unable to sneak a picture. Then, as luck would have it, a few days later we were eating lunch in the market and we spotted Michael again. We tried to be sneaky and have Mom stand near him while we snapped a picture, but he grabbed Momma and smiled for the camera. Turns out, like Momma, he is a fan of cycling and also evidently very health conscious as he asked Momma if she was well before he consented to a picture.Elvis- Our waiter at the outdoor cafe in the center of Munich quickly pegged Elizabeth and Austin as Americans because we ordered a coke. "American, two cokes!" He was also eager to share with us that he is a huge Elvis fan and aspired to visit Graceland. Truthfully, he did resemble Elvis, and he was quite proud of that fact, and planned to grow long sideburns to match his black hair before visiting the US.
Other Notable Interactions:
Docent- On our last day in Munich we visited the Schloss Nymphenburg. The palace began in 1664 as a villa and was expanded over the next century to create the royal family’s summer residence. And let’s just say that it makes the Biltmore look like a double wide. We started out in the Marstallmuseum to see the riding gear and carriages of the Royal Family. We wandered through the halls admiring the elaborate carriages and sleighs, making Mom wonder how much it normally snows in Munich. She asked a Docent and it took a combination of gestures and basic English to make her question known. He managed to show the average amount of snowfall, by placing his hand about 2 ft above the ground. But throughout the whole exchange he seemed rather perplexed by mom’s question. We continued our tour through the china and after exhausting the exhibit mom returned to the friendly docent to ask a question that had been hotly debated amongst ourselves. Exactly what metal was the finish for all the tack and carriages? 
I mean, we’re talking a lot of metal here. Austin was unsure, but knew it wasn’t gold. Elizabeth believed it to be gold plated and Mom debated between bronze or gold. Mom posed the question and the Docent eagerly jumped in. “I finally remembered the word for your last question!” Expecting a better description of the snow, he divulged instead that the word he had been searching for to describe mom’s previous question was… “unusual.” (FYI- the carriages and tack were gold plated. Point for Elizabeth)
Chinese lady- After walking past a Chinese restaurant near our hotel several times and smelling the delicious aroma, we took a break from the traditional German fare of sausages and sauerkraut. Our plates cleaned, Momma tried to turn in Austin’s Coke bottle. In Germany, drinks in recyclable materials are charged a deposit that is refunded upon return. But, when Mom tried to return Austin’s bottle, the Chinese lady’s English skills quickly deteriorated. She was quite proficient when taking our order, but suddenly her only phrase was “I no understand.” We laughed and gave up on reclaiming our .25 €.
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