Jennifer Ludlum Braverman worked with Jim in the Emergency Department and then with Sandy in the PACU at Lahey Clinic. She then met Igor Braverman while working in the PACU as he was an anesthesiologist. We have watched them through their courtship, marriage, childbirth and parenting of Sophie. Jennifer and Sophie visited us in London in 2019 and they all visited us in Seville in early 2020 and London last year. We are now happy to welcome them to Munich.
Jennifer and Igor Braverman with their daughter Sophie arrived early in the morning as they were able to breeze through passport control and luggage claim much faster than we did on our arrival.After they settled in to our home we took the 20-30 minute Ubahn subway ride into Altstadt, which is Munich’s medieval old town. Sandy and Jennifer enjoyed some shopping before having lunch.We found a great Italian restaurant where Sophie enjoyed a generous size Caesar’s salad.She took half of it home.On their second day here Jenn and Igor took Sophie to the Aquarium.We met up with them after the Aquarium for a tour of the BMW Museum.Our English speaking tour guide was excellent and shared many interesting stories about the various BMW’s. This motorcycle was the first vehicle ever produced by the company. The Dixie was the first car made by BMW (1928).BMW Motorrad is celebrating its 100th Anniversary and has a special exhibit on the top floor of the museum showcasing many of its vehicles over the century. In September 2000 Louis Vuitton joined forces with BMW for the launch of its new city scooter shown above. It was a great success. The scooter’s design focused on protection of the driver in the event of an accident or against bad weather. They titled this one Le Nomade. In 1958 Elvis Presley, during his military career in Germany, visited a car dealership in Frankfurt and fell in love with this white BMW 507 Roadster. Female fans would leave red lipstick messages on the white body much to Elvis’s dismay so he had it repainted red.In 1955, the BMW Isetta was the top selling single-cylinder car in the world. This is an Italian designed microcar which because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, became known as a bubble car.She looks like a natural on this. Maybe her first vehicle will be a motorcycle!Jim owned 7 or 8 BMW’s over his driving lifetime and 3 Mini Coopers which are now owned by BMW. This visit was very special for him.The BMW Museum building on the left has a futuristic, one of a kind architectural design. A cloud-like impression of the building is created by a double cone supported on just twelve hinged columns, giving visitors the feeling that the building is floating This filigree steel facade helps to control the temperature within the museum. Solar energy from the roof and facade help to heat the building. 4,000 tons of steel were used in the construction of this unique building. After the museum we took them to Munich Olympic Park which was the main venue for the 1972 Summer Olympics. We enjoyed watching swimmers dive off of the high dive platform. Unlike other Olympic Stadiums this one is still operational and free for the public to use. Here is Jenn and Sophie as they strolled the grounds of the park.
Sophie made friends with the neighbor’s children who invited her to play with them in their back yard. On their third day here we did a two day car rental to see some sights out of Munich. Our first stop was in a cute Bavarian village called Ubersee where we visited a beautiful local church.We had lunch at a cafe appropriately called Sophie’s Cafe.The views of the Bavarian Alps were spectacular on our drive.The neighbor next to our apartment building gave Jennifer and Sophie some recommendations of places to go. This is Lake Konigssee, a natural lake near the Austrian border.It was a warm day so Sophie enjoyed dipping her feet in to cool off.We spent a good part of the day in Salzburg mostly shopping.We ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in the open square before we left Salzburg.Day two of our rental car we drove to Oberammergau. This is a town in the Bavarian Alps where we saw the Passion Play last summer and one of the reasons we decided to come back for an extended stay this year. Sophie decided she wanted a traditional Bavarian dress so she chose this adorable dirndl and accessorized it with a cute pocketbook and necklace.Many of the shops and homes here have beautiful fresco designs on them.Ever precocious SophieThis photo was taken in front of the theatre where the Passion Play is performed. The Braverman’s hope to return in the year 2030 when the next performance is scheduled. They are practicing catholics.Our next stop was a tour of the Linderhof Palace. This is the smallest of the three palaces built by the “Fairy Tale” king mad Ludwig II. of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.King Ludwig modeled the Palace after Versailles.King Ludwig II was deemed insane and unfit to rule and was deposed and sent to jail. On the day he was released from jail he returned to Linderhof and was found drowned with his physician in the lake on the property. It was officially ruled a suicide which has been disputed. Coincidently we visited this palace on June 13th which was the 127th year Anniversary of his death.We wanted Sophie to see the Neuschwanstein Castle which was the inspiration for the Cinderella castle at Disney World. It is also similar to “Sleeping Beauty’s” castle in Disneyland. This is a 19th century palace on a rugged hill of the foothills of the Alps in southern Germany.We opted to take a horse and buggy ride up to the Palace and soon realized that we could have walked up faster than the horse was going. Sophie loves horses and is quite an equestrian who rides competitively recently in Florida and will compete next in Lexington Kentucky.Sophie wining first place on her horse in Florida.Today Neuschwanstein is one of the most popular of all the palaces and castles in Europe. Every year 1.4 million people visit “the castle of the fairy tale king”. King Ludwig II commissioned the cliffside castle but died before it was completed. The name translates to “New Swan Stone” castle.We walked about a mile extra to “Marienbruck” (Mary’s Bridge) that offers great views of the castle for a beautiful photo op.On this exact bridge three days after we were there two American women tourists age 20 and 21 were thrown to their death by a deranged man also from the US. One of the woman shockingly survived the fall into the gorge her friend sadly died in the hospital. They were rescued by helicopter.On our way home we stopped in Peiting, a tiny village town where we had a memorable meal at A Casa Ristorante Italian Restaurant. The meal and service was minus 1 but the experience of the friendly owner was a plus 4. He presented Sophie with a hug and an expired corked bottle of wine! He also insisted that she get this gigantic Tiramisu dessert.We gave them a good review on Google.Our friend Sigi who is German, but lives now in England, and his German Aunt Gertrude invited us to brunch at Gertrudes house who coincidentally lives only 8 minutes from our Air BNB. We met Gertrude last year when we had such a wonderful time in Munich and randomly picked our location for this stay not knowing that it was right in her neighborhood. They extended the brunch invite to include our present guests and the Braverman’s were delighted to meet them. Sigi and his aunt are gourmet cooks and everything was made from scratch and so plentiful and delicious.Gertrude has an amazing patio of flowers and herbs.In the evening we enjoyed playing the card game Burraco which is an Italian card game similar to the rummy game Canasta. Our friends Don and Madeline Leone from Florence Italy taught us how to play it.The Bravermans in front of Munich City Hall ( Rathaus) with the famous Glockenspiel. This large mechanical clock is famous for its life size characters, the clock twice daily reenacts scenes from Munich’s history.White asparagus is in season here and it is so delicious.We had it with our meals several times.Nymphenburg Palace is a Baroque palace in Munich. It constitutes one of the premier royal palaces and its frontal width surpasses Versailles Palace. It was the birth place of King Ludwig II and a summer residence to many Bavarian royals.Sophie goofing off in the gift shop.We took a leisurely gondola ride in the canal.Which gave us spectacular views of the Palace.The canal borders the Royal hunting grounds. And all good things must come to an end. Thank you for your visit and we look forward to sharing more memories with you in the future.
[…] is Sigi’s aunt who he is quite close to. We were in Gertrud’s home for brunch when the Braverman’s were with us. We had meant to get together with Gertrud earlier but she had an old email address […]
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