People: The Yin And The Yang

There's a line in Moscow on the Hudson that says -- to paraphrase Robin Williams -- everybody in New York is from someplace else. The same can be said of Munich. While there are plenty of German nationals around, as witnessed by the street musicians in Marienplatz (above), the city definitely has the feel of a "world village."

For example, our tour guide, Brigit (below, chatting with Gina next to the elevator up to Hitler's Eagle's Nest) is from Austria. Eugen, the manager at the Hotel Deutsches Theater, is a Hungarian. The hotel's chief cook and resident jack-of-all-trades, Nikos, is Greek. Most of the cab drivers were from Serbia, Romania and even one expatriate from the U.S. The city also has a large Muslim population.

The staff at the Hotel Deutsches Theater was very gracious and accommodating, providing wake up calls, bottle openers and guidance on tours. The only downside was the ongoing six-year construction project at the theater, a 19th-century structure in need of repair.

Drills, jackhammers and saws -- not to mention barking construction workers -- would collaborate to produce a cacophony on a daily basis beginning at 7 a.m. There was no sleeping in, and the construction noise could be bone-rattling, so we had to take advantage of the quiet time in the evening.

We had a German football (read: soccer) team in the room above us for two nights. This group was boisterous on the first night, keeping us awake with their music and shenanigans (having beer so readily available is very liberating, but it also produces a lot of drunks).

So you're probably not surprised that I took sadistic pleasure when the teeth-chattering construction started up about an a hour or so after they finally retired. One of the lads released a primal scream at the construction workers, but it was to no avail.

Our tour guides on the day long excursions to the Bavarian Alps -- Brigit, Gunter (above in the blue coat) and Hilda -- were all very organized and well-schooled in the history of the area.

In Fusson, where we stopped for lunch before embarking on the trail to Neuschwanstein castle, the server asked us as a matter of expediency if we would mind sharing a table with two others, who turned out to be Americans -- police officers from Los Angeles. One said "Go Ducks!" when we approached the table (full disclosure: I was wearing my colors, but it was a conversation starter).

We ran into them again up the hill as we waited our turn in the queue with hundreds of other pilgrims at the Neuschwanstein castle. There, we learned that both had earned their bachelors degrees in communications and public relations, one from the University of Hawaii and the other from UCLA. "Good degrees to have if you're a police officer," I remarked, and they agreed.

Also met a number of Australians, always a delightful and engaging lot (plus, they speak English), on our tours in Bavaria.

We met one family from Perth in Western Australia, which is about as far a corner as you can find on the planet. They assured us that Australians don't really use terms like "shrimp on the barbie" and "g'day" like Crocodile Dundee.

Gina is seen here (right) with Anita, an Australian student, on our trip up the Zugspitze.

Our servers at Der Schnitzelwirt in Karlsplatz (above) were also polite and helpful, but one -- who went by Singh, or "Lucky" (he was from India) was particularly devious when milking a patron for tips.

At most establishments, the tip is actually factored into the cost of the meal. He would hover over us with our change, and we obliged him with more the first time or two. We eventually grew weary of his ways and avoided his section for the remainder of our time in Munich.

The Marienplatz in Altstadt featured a number of other street performers like the mime (left) dressed up like a statue of Maximilian II, father of Ludwig II. The Germans are also obsessed with both Michael Jackson (above, at an impromptu memorial on the second anniversary of his death) and favorite son David Hasselhoff, the former star of Knight Rider.

"Hasselhoff is an incorrigible drunk," said one of the LAPD officers. "We pick him up all the time."

Close to the end of our stay, I found a sunny day to retake some pictures that I shot when it was cloudier.

I ran into a Russian graduate student named Olga (right) who gladly obliged when I asked her to take some pictures of me in the Altstadt. She thought it was funny that I always said "right," as in "yeah, right." Why not "left?" she asked.

"We only use 'left' when we're referring to the mainstream media," I replied, only somewhat wryly.

A final word or two on Ludwig II. At the Linderhof castle, the tour guide noted that some of the frescoes showed the 22 mistresses of Louis XIV, Ludwig's role model. I asked innocently: "how many mistresses did Ludwig have?" "None." "Wife?" "No, he preferred the company of men."

Turns out that the good king -- a popular and visionary monarch -- was also a queen.