Tuesday 12 September
For the last time we got the tram from Jean Jaunes stop to Gare Central and caught the 9.50 2 coach train to Appenweier. There is precisely bugger-all at Appenweier, and we had to wait 50 minutes for the Karlsruhe train, which was 10 minutes late. We sat next to 2 German ladies on there way to see a Tina Turner show in Stuttgart. They assured us that German trains are often late or cancelled, which made me feel better, I think they called it Schadenfreude.
At Karlsruhe we raced to platform 7 and got on the Munich high speed train with 5 minutes to spare. Phew.
Twas a very pleasant journey on the fast train, at one time we were going at 250kph.
high-speed Tintin hair
Munich station had the biggest model railway shop I have ever seen. The prices are eyewatering, the tiny trains are hundreds of euros each. I liked this tiny model of a wedding couple on a Scooter.
At the station in Munich we found the S Bahn platform for Oberschliesenheim where the AirBnB is. But all the trains on line S1 were all cancelled, so we took an alternative route via Dachau.
In Britain we only know Dachau for one reason. Now it is a pleasant suburb with a Memorial Centre.
After arriving at our flat we walked to a Lidl 5 minutes away. It was like a warm embrace from an old friend. I’m sure the prices were half what we spent in Paris, especially the Primitivo Pugilio for under 3 euros.
I was dead chuffed, and I am now in a state of considerable relaxation.
There is a huge TV, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is ready to go, so over and out.
Saw the film, it was a loada tosh. But I am at least 50 years older than the target audience.
Wednesday 13 September
We have a lovely big flat in Oberschleisheim, very modern, cool and spacious. Much better than the hot and cramped places we had in Paris and Strasbourg. Our preference is somewhere with a kitchen so we can cook for ourselves and do some laundry.
It’s also literally 5 minutes from Schleisheim Palace which was built for the Bavarian Royal Family in the 17th Century.
The new palace is vast, and the style is Baroque and similar to Versailles and Hampton Court. There are dozens of huge rooms furnished with tapestries and damask wall coverings. They are hung with hundreds of pictures including masterpieces by Ruebens, Van Dyke and Caravaggio.
But there was hardly anyone there. At times we had vast swathes of palace to ourselves. It cost us 8 euros to get in, compared to Blenheim Palace which cost £30 and is much smaller.
We needed a coffee after all that culture, and found a cafe outside. There were more people there than inside the palace, and they were all drinking large mugs of beer. They were eating large plates of food, and it wasn’t a lightly dressed salad. Very different for yer average National Trust Tearoom.
I was green with envy, but I knew that if I ate and drank like that I would be catatonic for the rest of the day.
In the afternoon we visited the nearby Schleisheim aircraft museum, a collection of old planes in 3 big hangers, much more my kinda thing.
I wanted to steal this one for the RAF, but I had no wings.
There were 2 more museums we visited because we had bought combined ticket. The Altes Schloss (old castle) was full of models of nativity scenes, dozens and dozens of them.
A nuns delight, but really boring.
Lustheim Schloss was all porcelain, interesting for 10 minutes and totally deserted. I didn’t take any pictures so imagine a nice plate with flowers on it.
There was a huge thunderstorm when we walked back to the flat and we got soaked. But it made a change from being roasted.
Thursday 14 September
We took the S1 train into the Central station and then walked to Marienplaz, the main square of the city. It is dominated by the Neuesrathaus, the gothic town hall. Close by is the twin towered Frauenkirche Cathedral, which is quite plain and undecorated compared to others we have seen. I’ve seen a lot of cathedrals (I have a list if you are interested), and they do get a bit samey.
Munich is gearing up for the Octoberfest which starts on Saturday, Europe’s biggest piss up. The shops have lots of Bavarian costumes, which don’t come cheap. A pair of lederhosen start at 200 euros and can go up to 1000 euros.
Suits you sir
Close to the square is Viktualenmakt, which is a food market a bit like Borough Market, but with many more pubs. We went to a restaurant called Bratwurstherzl for lunch, I had Schnitzel and a pint of helles lager very nice. Better than the bacon and cabbage on Strasbourg.
After lunch we visited the place we should have actually gone for lunch, the Hofbrauhaus. It’s a giant beer keller that can hold over a thousand people. Naturally they had a umpah band, and outside was a splendid dray with 4 horses.
In Odeonspaltz there were dozens of armed policemen. Julie saw a miniature soldier and asked him “wassup”. Turns out there was a military passing out parade and the Prime Minister of Bavaria was there. The cops were there to guard the soldiers. There were tall soldiers as well.
FUN FACTS
Bavaria (a state of Germany) has a population of 13 million and Austria (an entire country) has a population of 8 million.
The biggest park in Munich is the Englishen Garten, and running through it is a very fast running river called the Eisbach. It is a very popular surfing spot. Just close to a bridge is a standing wave which surfers take turns to ride.
It is great fun to watch and some of the surfers are really good. They spent more time upright than anyone I have seen surfing on the sea, and then got another go at it 10 minutes later. The river runs remarkably quickly, i can’t think of anywhere in London where it would be possible. You are lucky to get good game of Pooh Sticks on the River Crane.
Friday 15 October
There’s probably 3 things that Munich is internationally famous for: the Octoberfest, Bayern Munich and BMW. Europes biggest party starts on Saturday, just as we are leaving, so we will miss that. Football – ask anyone who knows me – is an alien world to me. Some people would say that I’m not interested in cars, so to confound them all, I went to BMW Welt.
Basically it is a big flashy car and motorbike showroom for the Munich monster of automotive engineering. It’s also free to get in, which is nice. They have most of the latest models of BMW, Rolls Royce and Mini cars there to be admired and purchased if you wish. It was interesting to get up close to massive status symbols, including a BMW with bodywork that changes colour. It looked very tacky, but I’m sure the young princes from the Gulf that rev up and down Kings Road would love one.
Lady Penelope’s Roller
I sat on an 1800cc Transcontinental motorbike, and it was very comfortable, as motorbikes go. It was quite good fun to look round for an hour, but the cars didnt really excite me much and wouldn’t look right in a Lidl carpark.
On ma new hog
BNW Welt (world) is next door to the Olympic Park, so we wandered around that. It was built for the 1972 Olympics on a site where all the rubble from the destruction of Munich in the war was built. The rubble was beautifully landscaped with hills and a lake, and still looks great 50 years later. We had lunch in a cafe in the Olympic pool where Mark Spitz won 6 Golds for swimming. My toasted cheese and ham focaccia was over-baked into a cheesy brick, but it was just about edible.
There is a 60 metre tall hill with great views over Munich and the BMW tower and factory. In the past it has been used for winter sports events. It is also made of rubble, and is about the same height as Richmond Hill. It’s a lovely place to sit on a bench and enjoy the views of the park and the BMW complex of buildings.
Some men like football, some like drinking large amounts of beer. My particular weakness is a science museum, and Munich has a bloody good one. The Deutsches Museum sits on an island in the river Isar, and matches the London Science Museum in size. There is a great aircraft and rocket section, I love a good rocket. The other surprisingly interesting department was on bridges and hydrology. It was full of astonishingly good models of bridges underconstruction. I now know how an 18th Century French basket-arch bridge is constructed, and if we ever meet you at a party I can tell you in detail.
My favourite exhibit was the first reinforced concrete building in Germany, which is a dog kennel. How bizarre.
Fortuntely they chucked us out at 5pm, or I would still be there now. I really am that geeky.
Julie and I went our separate ways in the museum because she is fed up with aeroplanes, but happily we were reconciled in the sunshine afterwards and she made me buy her an Aperol Spritz. I had a helles lager because I’m a cheap date.
timharnesstravels 