I have in mind that my fictional character Berthold Becker will study at the University of Munich, so we set out to see the main buildings of the university, hoping that some would look the same as they did in 1930. I had written to the university, and we were fortunate to have two guides, former students who were knowledgeable and also interested in my project. Pat and I met Simone and Viviane at 11:00 am Saturday at the fountain in front of the main building.

The first thing I learned was that Berthold would not be able to study engineering at this campus, since those courses are not and were not offered here. I believe it was Simone who suggested that perhaps philosophy would be a better choice for the kind of character I am trying to create. See how easy it is to change majors?

As we walked around, we identified many campus and classroom locations that fit scenes I already had in mind, and also several that suggested new ways to develop my characters.

And then, we had the great pleasure of a Bavarian lunch at our first Munich beer garden.