Spring Break Part 3/3 -- Munich

Olympic Park at Sunset

Friday, April 6, 2012 -- 10:30AM

My final leg of Spring Break was to Munich. Bobby and I took a train (Rick went off to the Italian Riviera to see a cycling race). The train was super smooth and really nice. We just used the time to start filtering through photographs from our previous week and a half of travel. We made it to Munich and our Hostel was right across the street from the train station. Also kind of on the edge of the red-light district, but Munich is one of the safest cities in the world, apparently. Our hostel was very interesting. It was Jagermeister themed and had a bar in the lobby that was open to public at night. The rooms were actually really nice, even though it was bunk beds. Bobby and I took some time to roam the center city which was a lot older than we expected. That city has an incredible history. It was unlike every other city we had been to. We got some awesome pretzel sandwiches for lunch and went into a Haus der Kunst (a museum) that we randomly stumbled upon. It actually had a really interesting collection of photography and paintings. We walked back to the hostel through the hofgarten where we saw many people playing bocce and drinking beer, of course. We had dinner at Hofbrauhaus, one of the most popular breweries over here. We walked back to the hotel listening to a lot of excellent street music. Mostly jazz but a little bit of classical and reggae. Blake arrived pretty late from his travels in Spain.

Haus der Kunst

Hofgarten

Hofbrauhaus

We started out next day at the BMW Welt, Museum, and Factory. The Welt was more like a convention center with a lot of interactive mechanisms to teach you about the innovative design of BMWs. The factory was absolutely incredible. Being able to see the robots and mass production was great. You always see things online and on TV but to see it in person and to hear the sounds and watch the sparks from the welders fly across the warehouse, was just awesome. The museum was really great as well. A spiraling plan, kind of like Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim, it took us through the history of the BMW and the engines. Bobby helped inform me of a lot of the mechanics because I must admit, I'm not as educated in the engine field as I would like to be. After spending most of the day with BMW we went right next door to the 1972 Olympic Park. We weren't able to get into the stadium or anything which kinda sucked but we climbed a nearby hill to be able to see down into the park. Apparently the hill was built from all the rubble from WWII. We stayed there until about sunset and went back towards city center. Blake really wanted to go to Hofbrauhaus, so we went again because it was so good and cheap. We were all pretty whipped out so we called it a night pretty early.

BMW Welt

"The Hurricane" design of BMW Welt

BMW Welt (Kind of like a convention center)

BMW Museum

The Kidney shaped grill that made them so popular

2012 3-series

Bond.... James Bond

The rebirth of the M1

Super tall escalator, cutting through the space

1971 Olympic Park

Our last day in Munich, we started at Dachau, the very first concentration camp. It was a smaller camp that was more for temporary stays, while in transport to other concentration camps. Let's just say that it was a pretty heavy experience. A lot of things happened there that I can't even wrap my head around and don't really want to try. An extremely weird feeling overwhelmed my body while I was there, but I am glad I was able to experience it. It was good for a one-time experience, but I don't think I'll ever do it again. We then took the subway out to Allianz Arena, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, home of FC Bayern and TSV 1860 Munchen futbol teams. TSV 1860 Munchen, their club team, was playing and we got some tickets to get inside and watch. It was a pretty boring game because they are terrible and we had standing tickets, so it was tough to see. But we stuck around after the game to get closer to the field and really take a look at the structure. A lot of Leiterhosen and we almost saw a fight too; it was a full experience.
We took the packed subway to the "Highlight Towers" by a Chicago based firm. As the sun was going down we grabbed some beers and started walking towards the Biergarten (Beer Garden). We stumbled upon a set up in the river that these guys were surfing the wake. So we hung out there for a while and drank our beers. We made it into the English Garden, which houses the Biergarten, and it was really dark. We just followed most of the paths that had light. We finally found this Biergarten, right before they closed. We got some beers and hung out for a bit. They allow you to take your 1 Liter Beer Steins as a souvenir if you pay 1 euro more. It was a good deal. We stopped somewhere random for dinner which was really good and had some more good beer. We watched some more street music on the way back to our hotel and then obtained our free shots from our hotel bar, as our welcome to Munich gift. We hung out there for a little and got the bar to play Bobby's favorite song, "Call On Me." People were loving it. We called it a night and I had a 7:30am train to head back to Switzerland. I was riding alone, because apparently my ticket was the last ticket for the train, so Bobby and Blake were on a later train. It was an 8-hour train in total, with switches in Stuttgart, Zurich, and Lugano. I slept the first part and then spent a lot of time working on editing pictures, so I would be ready to post them immediately when I got home. It really wasn't too bad of a trip at all.

Walk of Remembrance to Dachau. I'm not going to post any other photographs of the concentration camp because it was pretty deep. An experience that photos can't and shouldn't attempt to do justice.

Allianz Arena -- Herzog & de Meuron

Barely see-through membrane

TSV 1860 Munchen

Highlight Towers

Guy surfing in the river