Blogs from Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe - page 7

Christmas has arrived early this year. As the doors were being unlocked, we were back at the Welt again for delivery day. Our scheduled pick-up time may have been at 0940, but we were there at 0759. This never gets old. First order of business was doing the paperwork in the newly renovated offices next to the Lounge. And there was quite a bit to be done. I wonder if anyone actually reads through all the documentation you're given. Everything was in order and we were given passes to the BMW museum, a voucher for a free engraved key chain and a ten Euro credit at the BMW gift shop. We were also offered passes for the Munich BMW factory tour but we declined. I told our clerk that we had already arranged to visit the ... read more

Things were going a bit too smoothly. In fact, we arrived in Munich a few minutes earlier than expected. Our hotel for two nights in Munch would be the LetoMotel München Nord just two U-Bahn stops from BMW Welt and across the highway from Olympic Stadium. Check-in time wasn't until 2pm and now we had almost 7 hours to kill. Going through passport control was not pleasant only because there were only two agents and a couple of hundred passengers waiting to go through. This took at least twenty minutes. The positive side being that our luggage was already on the conveyor belt when we got to baggage claim. As soon as we walked out of the customs area we were greeted by a huge crowd on the other side of the fence. I immediately spotted ... read more

From one happiest place on Earth to another, this next one purely for the adults, I headed off to Munich for Oktoberfest! I had started planning this when I went to Berlin and although it was always on my bucket list coming over here Berlin cemented that I definitely had to attend the world’s biggest beer festival so I had flights booked shortly after I returned home. It also looked as though I wasn’t going to be doing this trip solo as I’d been talking with Michael, who asked if he could join as he was also in the process of planning his own Euro adventure at the time. Due to the festival, we organised our beds in a hostel at a highly increased price in April/May otherwise we would have risked missing out or paying ... read more

Seit vielleicht 5 Jahren gibt es den NSU-Prozess in meiner derzeitigen Heimatstadt. Daher ist es eher ein Wunder, dass ich ihn als politisch sehr interessierter Mensch bisher nicht besucht habe. Das lässt sich nur dadurch erklären, dass ich zum einen an Werktagen viel zu tun habe oder gar nicht in der Stadt bin und ich zum anderen gedacht habe, dass man schon zum täglichen Beginn um 09:30 vor Ort sein muss, was mir für Urlaubstage zu früh ist. Heute habe ich diesen Besuch aber trotzdem unternommen. Ich war um etwa 13:00 am Strafjustizzentrum und wurde kurz danach in das Gebäude und auf die Zuschauertribüne gelassen, wo gerade noch Mittagspause war. Es gab dort eine Handvoll Journalisten, die man daran erkannte, dass sie ihren Laptop mitnehmen durften und darauf einiges eingetippt haben. Daneben waren noch andere Zuschauer, ... read more

Most of us think Munich means only the famous Oktoberfest whenever September rolls around. But this great German city, which I last visited in 1971, offers much more than just great beer. I spent the better part of a week here, but hardly recall much more than spending each day and evening at the enticing Oktoberfest grounds. So, here is quick shot at some Munich facts and figures, most of which you will either ignore or at a minimum, rolls your eyes into cabbage rolls. Munich is Germany's third largest city, after Berlin and Hamburg, with 1.3 million residents. Just so you know, the Oktoberfest started in 1812, and attracts over SIX million people in a three week period. That is more beer than Lake Tahoe (just kidding!). It is the biggest folk festival in the ... read more