12-11-2015 MUNCHEN, GERMANY PART II

Our first whole day in München was ridiculous.  It was cold enough to freeze the nuts off a plow and raining.  I’m not a big fan of being cold.  Am I going to go out in this and wander around on the streets to look at strings of Christmas tree lights?  Already struggling with a cold?  I think not.  The least it could do is snow!

Rob suggested that we spend the day indoors.  Good idea.  We rode the sightseeing hop-on-hop-off bus to get an overview of the city.  It was so cold that the windows, covered with raindrops, fogged up and we couldn’t see a thing.  The guide spoke German and a bit of English so we didn’t learn a whole lot.  The bus stopped at the Nymphenburg Palace and we were invited to get off and tour the grounds and buildings.  “We’ll pick you up later, another bus will be by.”  I don’t think so.  The Palace does have some interesting history, though, and on a better day, it would have been a spectacular sight with vast expanses of lawn and fountains all surrounded by palace buildings.  There were a lot of Ludwigs, Maximillians, Ferdinands and Marias involved in the history and they were all by rights blood lines of this and that making them very, very important.  The one thing I did get from the broken English on this tour is that this chick from Spain, Maria, married this guy from here and they kept trying to have a son so she promised God she would build a church if she could get pregnant.  (Apparently she thought getting pregnant involved a church.  Maybe because everybody yells, “Oh God!  Oh God!”)  I guess she figured it out because she got pregnant and gave birth to Maximillian who turned out to be one of the greatest Bavarian rulers ever.  His statue is all over town.  Maximillian Street.   Maximillian Square.  Maximillian stew.  Maximillian E-I-E-I-O!  We dig Max to the max!  And that’s all I know about that.

Rob at the Bimmer Museum

Magnesium chassis

As I mentioned, it was cold and rainy, so a museum made sense.  We continued on the bus to the BMW Museum, led there by Rob’s built-in GPS system that runs on petrol.  Interestingly, the company started out in 1917 with an airplane engine that they marketed to the Prussians during WWI.  It was a big success and the company name was changed to Bayerische Motoren Werke.  It wasn’t till the 1930s that they created motorcycle and auto engines and later, race cars.  One of the chassis on display is made of magnesium, very light-weight but hard to weld because it’s flammable.  The entire chassis weighs about 75 pounds.  (And bursts into flame on impact?  They don’t talk about that.)   The museum is state-of-the-art modern and sparkling clean and the exhibits are polished with q-tips until they glitter.  Quite impressive.

Bimmer Museum

Rob and the 3.0 CSL

We waited in the rain and, finally, frozen and wet, we boarded the bus for the rest of the city tour.  It took us past many a fountain, monument and arch but all I was thinking about was drying out and getting warm so I must confess that I don’t have much to tell you about the city highlights.  I know that I dreaded the walk back to the hotel. Luckily, the Hofbräuhaus stood in the way,

Ein Hofbrauhaus!

holding a table, keeping the food warm and the beer cold.  To my surprise, Rob had something other than schnitzel!  He ordered roulade of wild boar!  I ordered  Bavarian deer stew.  Because we could.  Both were very good, the warm food felt good inside and the music cheered our weary souls.  Next stop:  hotel room.  Which reminds me:  why do people like down pillows?  You lay your head on them and poof!  They collapse into nothing.

Band at the Hofbraushaus!
Ein, zwei, g'suffa!