We got a late start today, but made up for it with everything we fit in…I cannot imagine how we could have crammed in more if we had gotten any earlier of a start!!
So, have I mentioned our time in Germany is more or less centered on beer and cars -not always in that order…?? The BMW-Welt and Museum was the first stop on our agenda. As with Audi, we ate in their on-site restaurant…the food here was just as wonderful as the café at Audi’s museum. [I know it may seem odd that we traveled all this way to Germany and end up eating in car museums, but the quality of the food is top-notch!] We were unable to schedule a factory tour here because they were totally booked and had been well in advance of when we called. However, the museum was open, available and worth the time. I loved seeing some of the older cars on display…there is something nostalgic about their shapes and colors! I especially enjoyed their special exhibit of ‘car art’. They have several BMWs on temporary display which have been painted by various artists – there is even one painted by Andy Warhol.
Next on the schedule was Olympic Stadium and Park, the setting for the 1972 Olympics. There is a tower here which overlooks the city, and we rode to the top to see the views and take some pictures. This vantage point offers a 360 degree view of the city. From here you can see Theresienwiese – the field where Octoberfest has taken place since it began 200 years ago. (I marvel at how I spent time researching and writing about Munich’s 200th anniversary of Octoberfest just this past September…and here I am less than a year later in the city itself! Funny how things work sometimes!! )
Leaving the stadium, we took the train back into the city center for a self-guided walking tour. We began at the ‘Ratskeller’, a pub/restaurant located in Marienplatz (Mary’s Square) where we sat for a quick snack and pint to map out our path…one must not be hungry or thirsty for a historical trek!! We wound our way through town, stopping at the Old Town Hall, St. Peter’s Church (the oldest church in town), Viktualienmarkt (an open air market…this was my favorite stop!), the Pedestrian Mall, and finally Frauenkirche – a Gothic-style church built in the 1400s. We had dinner at ‘Nurnberger Bratwurst Glockl am Dom’, one of the many restaurants scattered around the perimeter of this church. This very Bavarian-style restaurant was wonderful for both food and atmosphere. Their specialty is their wood-grilled sausages, which I ordered. It came with a side of German potato salad (mmmm). My boys all ordered a sampler platter which was filled with roasted pork loin, crisply roasted duck, sausages and pork belly (OMG, so delicious, especially the skin!), along with potato dumplings, bread dumplings, and kraut. Of course we paired this with pints of lager (for good measure…). And all this served up by a friendly wench dressed in appropriate Bavarian attire. A perfect end to a perfect day!