Germany 10 - Munich - The Allianz stadium - a giant marshmallow that turned red /a zepplin sighting

---

Where in the world is Gabby the motorhome?

She is parked up on a dedicated stellplatz which we can use as long as Bayern Munich are not playing their home games at the Allianz stadium. 15 Euros a night buys us a pitch with free electricity and WiFi, a view of the giant marshmallow stadium which will turn red tonight and a U Bahn trip into Munich if we fancy it. Tonight they are not playing so we find ourselves in their car park waiting for the light show to begin.

The day started off in a similar fashion to yesterday. Breakfast listening to the rain pattering on Gabbys roof. We seem unable to outrun this bad weather.

We left Zweibrucken and travelled courtesy of the free German motorways. Road works plagued us for many a mile and hampered our progress although not to the same degree as yesterday. The downside of German motorways are the drivers who are all budding racing drivers in their high end cars touching at least 140 mph at times and frightening the life out of us as they flash by us travelling at a sedate 70mph. The growth of Germany is seen at every turn of the road with new roads being built and a high speed railway in the process of construction across the valley. There is no austerity here. Another upside of travelling on Sundays are the lack of lorries on the roads which mean empty roads. The downside is that they are all parked up on every available inch of rest area. Meaning that we travel miles to find a space to stop off. Nevertheless we made good time approaching Munich by 1.00.

In the distance I saw something just as we were arriving at the car park. I don't know what it was. It was too far off to be clear but it was yellow, cigar shaped and I wondered at some stage if I had imagined it . I forgot about it in the end as you do . I was not expecting to see it again that day. I guessed I would never know what it was.

We parked up. The car park is massive but then it would need to be large to cater for the crowds at home matches. We were in the sight of the stadium - a huge white marshmallow shaped building which was unlike any stadiums in the UK . The stadium has a seating capacity of 75,000 and the exterior is widely known for its inflated plastic filled with air which have full colour changing panels . We look forward to seeing them tonight in all their glory. Tours are available at a cost of 17 euros which include full access to the ground, the changing rooms, the boot rooms, the baths plus the museum. Tours are in both German and English. For 10 euros you can just visit the museum. The full tour which would have taken over 3 hours was too much for us. Had it been a British club we might have bit the bullet and paid to tour . Instead we opted for the shorter museum visit.

After paying we saw walls which held potted histories of the club from its formation to 2019. Footballers shirts past and present lined the walls together with shoes and golden boots. In cases were the trophies Bayern Munich had won over the seasons. I wondered how they would fare against our English teams in the Premier League. We saw the World Cup that Germany won. How many times can you say you have actually seen the World Cup. There were many European trophies and more local trophies for the german leagues. Bling was a word we bandied about all the time. Garish sometimes . Was it worth the entrance fee ? I am not sure . I had been to Liverpools Anfield many years ago and felt more of an affinity with what I saw. There was not even a mention of the Munich air disaster of 1958 which surprised us greatly. .

Outside the stadium was a bus park. From here we could have caught the city tour bus into Munich. The buses plied their trade all afternoon. Not many visitors used them. I have been to Munich before . It was 1998 and a visit p on the way home from Austria and the Saltzkammergut region. I remember the gothic town hall set in a very impressive square . I don't remember much about the church. It failed to impress me. Too Baroque . We decided to leave Munich for another day although to be fair it would have passed an hour or so.

So what excited me most? That yellow cigar shaped object that was not a figment of my imagination. I saw it again as I walked around the car park. It seemed to move ever so slowly and quietly. It flew far lower than a commercial airplane. What was it? It began to intrigue me as I realised exactly what I had seen in the sky a few hours earlier . A Zepplin no less . We had not realised that the hangar housing the Zepplins was near to Munich . We were lucky that we saw it . Flights only run at certain times of the year and today was one of those days. The Zepplin not a balloon nor tethered was a magnificent thing floating above me effortlessly. I could hear its motor running and could see the cabin hanging from its bulky shape. I looked up its schedule. It runs tomorrow and on the 1st May. A few flights are left with seats costing 390 euros . Now that is something to think about in the future .



Chuang Tzu said " I wondered if I were imagining what I thought I could see " "Are you and I caught up in a dream from which you have not awakened" I certainly thought I was in a dream and imagined the Zepplin when I saw it from a distance. How many people can say they have watched a Zepplin cruise overhead? . Not once but twice . I saw it and I will remember it for ever

Tonight as dusk fell the arena started to turn pink . Finally after 20 mins the white stadium was a blazing red colour. They say motorhomers have a different view from their windows every day and today we have had a couple of very odd ones.

---