Munich

30/7  BACK IN GERMANY

Quiet sleep - woken by the bells of the local church at 0600 but we simply turn over with the soporific patter of soft rain on the roof and, at 0700, reach for our books. The adjacent car park is filling up and so we decide on a quick breakfast, no school or exercise and head for Munchen, 2 hours away. 

Initially our plans were to visit some of the Bavarian towns on the Romantic Route north of Munich BUT the Olympics is on and we need to see some racing with TV or internet.

The drive into Munich is beautiful through cropped, well kept fields and then into a very green city.  The kids read and Kel continues making up her beautiful words -  in a matter-of-fact manner, she describes her BK, Megan’s long dress, as ‘unfootseeable’.  Logical of course.  The campsite is ENORMOUS but clean and well serviced.

After lunch, we meet our German neighbours jammed in on both sides and hit the school books. The grown ups plan some sights and activities.

A beautiful evening seems on the cards and so we follow the fast flowing green River Isar along miles of leafy bike paths into the old city.

It has the usual grand wide European streets and a wonderful variety of Italian, Baroque, Romanesque, Gothic and modern buildings softened with balconies and pots spilling over with bright small flowers.

the ride to town

Munich dusk river revellers

We give into the bounty offered by small stores bursting with enormous cherries, grapes & other stone fruits and walk the street with a ‘cone’ of cherries almost as big as small apples.

We trickle around the points of interest on our map - the Frauenkirche with twin copper domes reaching to the blue sky; the palace Residenz; the Alt Haus and an enticing multi-levelled bookstore off the Marienplatz.  After spotting the markets for another day, we finish off with a coffee, milkshakes and a shared huge piece of German poppyseed kuchen.

 A pleasurable 8kms back along the river allows up opportunity for great photos, and chuckling gawks at the nude sunbathers and ‘surfers’ near the campground.

Surfing Munich Style:

line up, no dropping in!

drop and jump

the eternal wave

31/7

Jeff & I spring out for a run along the magnificent banks of the Isar but only a few kms in my R achilles yelps out forcing a premature halt.  Buggar!  Getting older sucks!  Probably need new shoes.  Jeff looks spritely and fabulous!  We then learn that our older neighbours run 3 full marathons/year.  Love it!

Itching to get back on the bikes after school, we‘ve planned a day of simply pulling over for swims & playground stops before ending up in the English Gardens - the biggest green space in any European City - for a picnic by the lake. Then we turn around and do the same, lapping up the easy sunshine & buzz of active people.

Lake in the English Gardens

Munich apparel for dog frisbee games

Jeff’s iPhone ‘beeps’ whenever a race is on and we pull up on a rock to ‘watch’ a rowing race - 500m split times and positions.  Bugger!!  The M2X (Beijing gold medallists) are knocked out of the A final.

This city must be a sight at the time of OktoberFest - already the lawns of full of near-naked and naked folk and the majestic river with it’s divine (rocky/pebbly) beaches are packed with vast groups of young people drinking beer and having make-shift BBQs.  Beer bottles bob around in the icey cold waters - what does the council make of all this?  Large bobcats work busily lifting enormous tree-trunks out of the river making bathing a sheer, unencumbered delight.  Home for more R&R and a chicken curry stir-fry prepared earlier whilst the kids were at ‘school’. Exhausted, we all sleep like babes.

1/8

Another spectacular day!  Wil is marginally disappointed because each day of sunshine delays (an indoor) trip to BMW.  With Jen’s gammy Achilles, we grab our exercise mats and sweat out a 10BX instead.  The anticipated reward of 2 coffees and breakfast can be enjoyed under the trees.  Jeff puts on the washing whilst trying to catch a race or two (but the bloody race times have been changed), we chat to our inspirational German neighbours who are off bike riding into Austria today (aged 60s), and the kids grind successfully through their maths tests. 

Off to the markets & toy museum, ride the bikes along the river path, past even more sunbakers (+/- apparel) on this even more glorious day - not a cloud to be seen.

1^st stop is Munich’s famous food markets which surround a biergarten, just off one of the main plazas in the centre.  We stock up on bread, 2 dips, a white bait in lemon & chilli tomato sauce thing, some sliced wurst, smoked mozzarella and the best ever ½ kg of cherries, then over to the biergarten with the goods.  (that’s OK in Bavaria, as long as you buy a bier).  We share a table with 2 generously smiling and gesticulating middle-aged local ladies, purchase a small (½ litre) beer and hook in, lapping up the surroundings - spires, towers, flags, people everywhere high on the fine outdoor summer life.

Well done, we head over to the Toy Museum to find it’s more of an antique doll display, the kids vote nahhh, we duck into a church whose inside is like a wedding cake, then we find ourselves sucked into a 7 story book store.  What’s amazing is how much time we can spend in these places, even if 6.75 levels are devoted to German books.  We got what we were looking for - a small English-Italian dictionary. What Munich lacks in busker’s, it makes up for with fresh stone fruit stalls. There’s one on almost every corner bursting with the plumpest,sweetest fruits that they serve up in large paper cones, perfect to walk with and as Wil says, munch.

Turn left out the door (we went right the other day) and round another superlative city block, picking up some very fine Ecco shoes for Jen, then 4 marvelous frozen yoghurts pilled high with fresh berries, not that there was much space after lunch, but we are good at finding space now.

Fully satisfied we  find the bikes and head off admiring the fantastic bike paths, the plush buildings all round with random sculptures hanging off, like a big bronze witchy thing hanging from the Sparkasse, the mandatory majestically manly Otto Von Bismarck presiding over all, then onto the bridge with another Ms Nikey, and along our now well beaten path riverside back to the campsite, dodging the prams and the dogs on long leashes, the mad cyclists skidding at breakneck speed around blind corners, and now the baking crowds are even denser - whose working in this city?

Back at Eddie, straight into boardies and back down to the river for a cooling swim and a read in the shade of a tree while the surfer kids line up, so civil, drop onto their permanent wave, cut a few gnarly moves, then drop off for the next grommet.  To add to the appeal, every 10 minutes or so, from the other side of the river and hidden by trees comes the familiar thwack of a well hit tee shot.  On the bridge where they surf is a small sign pointing to the next tee - we are in the middle of a golf course too!

Back to Ed for a coffee and a choc milk, more reading in the late pm sun, before dinner, showers, wash up, more reading ………...  

2/8 BMW Day

Jeff sleeps in, Jen out for a ...WALK with the silly achilles..but after 1 hour, it was rewarded BIG time with an exhilarating undies splash in the Isar, and then, as the German’s do, a stroll back through the campground carrying exercise gear and shoes!

Brekkie even more lovely than usual sitting out in the morning sun, cut-up cherries over cereal and yoghurt, 2 coffees.

No School - off on underground (best we’ve seen in Europe - clean, fast, efficient = German) to the BMW Welt & Museum (with 3 Beanies kids in tow; Bellatrix,Megan & Willhemena).

The BMW exterior is impressive - easily matches Mercedes but then it just falls short.  The Welt is really just a flashy showroom, complete with other BMW brands like Mini, Rolls Royce and Husqvana (MTB’s).  

BMW Welt

nice shoes, nice car too!

Our genteel dreamy perusal of the dolled up 1,3,4,5,6,7 series was shattered by the roar of a stunt man on a Husqy trailbike who rode up the internal stairs, across a walkway, down the opposite stairs (on his front wheel!) and then did a few more laps to the joy of all the punters.  Then, just as quickly as he exploded into life he snuffed out and we were back to the soft classical music and the 6 series cabriolet with the pimpy white leather.

You can buy a car here on the spot, or more commonly you order, then come to the Welt on said day, have the registered car handed over after a plush lunch and a small champagne, then you drive it out along the spiral ring-road, all the way home!

Over the road to the BMW Museum which is a little disappointing post Mercedes.  Mercedes Museum was about the company, it’s role in German history (good and bad) and the innovations it has brought to the world of motoring.
  

BMW hasn’t seemed to invented much at all and there was nothing about their role in the war (except they made the plane engines).  Guess they have revived some great brands eg RR, Mini etc.  The best exhibit was the stainless steel balls suspended by wires from the ceiling, moving up and down so elegantly creating beautiful lines that morphed in and out of car shapes.

     

Followed the Olympics on the snail speed iPhone web, a bit disappointing today - has the world left us behind a bit?

Egg and heavy bread sandwiches on lawns outside - cutting costs but MUCH yummier than cafe food.

Got an email from Laura at Escape Travel saying she really can’t help us with flight changes and we should go back to SAA in London - that’s taken about 3 months!!  So back to SAA who had previously been so unhelpful and cost us so much in call costs.  But we jag a good one (Jose!!!) who in just a few minutes changes our flights without cost (we had 1 free change up our sleeve).  Thank God for Jose!!

Back to the camp for a Celebratory beer - now we can plan the end of the year with Eddie sale, South Africa adventures, return to Castile St.  We enjoy a swim in the cool Isar followed by a read on the banks in the sun, home for a yoghurty dinner and into bed just as a huge storm hits, thunder and lightning (the kids realign their sleep positions so they can watch the fireworks thru the hatch), rain buckets down all night.

"It's not cold!"