Deutsches Museum & Allianz Arena

We were awakened around 4 am by Peter talking in his sleep. Most of it was mumbling, but it sounded like he was dreaming about a field day, perhaps with school. The only parts that we understood were something about someone named “Robinson” or “Robertson” and something about a camera. We told Peter about the talking, but he had no memory of it or what he was dreaming. Everyone was amused by his talking in his sleep.

Isartor

Breakfast at the Eden Hotel Wolff was excellent with the breads, cheeses, meats, eggs and fruit. We ate enough that we wouldn’t need much, if any, lunch. We had planned to visit the concentration camp at Dachau ,but the rail line to Dachau was under construction so we would need to take a bus. This change would add an additional hour to the two-hour trip. It would also make the afternoon trip to Allianz Arena longer.

We had Peter look though a brochure on attractions in Munich and he decided on the Deutsches Museum on an island in the Isar River. The U Bahn ride from the Munich Hauptbahnhof to Marienplatz was short and we walked around a little before we headed to the museum.  Along the way, we spotted the Isartor, a gate dating to the early 1300s when Munich was a walled city.  The 40 meter high gate tower and gate were commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV and was restored in 1833 with the frescos added showing the victorious return of Louis IV after the Battle of Muhldorf in 1322.

Peter with VR body

After looking at the ancient gate the walk to the museum didn’t take long. Entrance to the museum was only 27 Euros for the three of us. The museum is large and has separate rooms for multiple aspects of Germany’s technology. We found the robotics room to be very interesting with many exhibits that were highly interactive for children and adults. Peter enjoyed a VR activity that had a user stand in an area and the computer produced a skeleton image that moved as the user moved. Peter waved his arms and legs, tried to pick up an imaginary box and other movements to see if the virtual skeleton of him could mimic his movements. The music room has many antique music technologies from harpsichords and glockenspiels all the way to digital technologies. Mary and I were especially interested in the theremin, symphonium, and a player piano. The room on flight was huge with aircraft going back to a Messerschmitt from the 1920s and an “Iron Annie” from the 1920s and 30s. There were cutaway engines from aircraft boxer engines, 12-cylinder airplane engines and modern jet engines. We stayed at the museum from the 9 am opening until just after noon.

The museum has several flight simulators and Peter enjoyed sitting at the controls of a jet. 

After leaving the museum we walked back to Marienplatz and looked for a lunch spot for Peter. Mary and I weren’t hungry after our large breakfast. It seemed the easiest spot was a McDonald’s Restaurant on the square. As we entered, an employee gave us a Gutschein (voucher) for a free sundae, Peter got two hamburgers and small bag of fries but wasn’t interested in the sundae so I took one for the team and ate the caramel sundae that was actually very good.

Peter and Oma at Allianz Arena

From Marienplatz, we took a light rail to Olympiazentrum, adjacent to Allianz Arena, the home field of FC Bayern München soccer team. After exiting the train, we had a 20 minute walk through a natural area to get to the stadium. We were a bit concerned that we were arriving about the same time as a group of 50 or so elementary school soccer players from Finland, Fortunately, they were not on our tour.

Peter in Allianz Arena

Since we arrived early for our arena tour and had some time, we went to the FC Bayern Museum for the soccer team. The German National team was also featured at the museum. There were trophies from European and FIFA championships, biographies of current and former players and coaches and life sized cutouts for photos. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the museum, so we went to the gift shop for FC Bayern. Peter picked out a home jersey and had the name and number of his favorite player, Luis Diaz, printed on the back. He also got an FC Bayern T-shirt and some team gummy bears. By then, it was time to meet for the tour of Allianz Stadium. Our guide was English speaking with an Australian accent as well as a German accent. We guessed that he was German but had learned English from an Aussie. The guide told us about the dome being made of two layers of a fire-resistant foil that is filled with air. Hundreds of thousands of LED lights allow the stadium to be programmed to show any color or pattern desired. 

Peter at Luis Diaz' locker

Inside the stadium, we saw the various classes of seating and the strategies for placing supporters of the guest team, reporters, dignitaries and others. We learned that the turf is replaced each season and the techniques for assuring the field is at the best for each home game. The guide took us to the locker room where we were able to take photos with the players’ lockers. We ended our 45-minute tour by walking out of the tunnel that psychs players as they enter the field before each game.

As we were leaving, Peter agreed to get another team jersey with his name on the back and a number of his choosing. He also got the Bundesliga patch on the arm of both shirts. This shirt would be a gift from his other grandfather. We exited the stadium, took a few photos of statues of notable players and made our way to the rail station near Olympiazentrum. The train was full but the ride back to Marienplatz was short.

It was 5 pm when we arrived at Marienplatz so we got to hear the chimes and glockenspiel again as we walked to Hofbrauhaus for dinner. This Hofbrauhaus was founded on September 27, 1589 by Bavarian Duk Wilhelm V to supply beer to the Bavarian court. Reinheitsgebot (German beer purity law) has assured high quality beer since the first days. Peter was in the mood for goulash since he liked Mary’s dinner at the Alpenstunden in Hohenschwangau.The main room at Hofbrauhaus was so loud that we looked for seating outside, but there was so much smoke from diners that we didn’t want to eat there. We sat at a table in a courtyard area with three young people who were from the US. We were disappointed that the kitchen was out of goulash so Peter considered Weinerschnitzel. However, the schnitzels come with potato salad and not French fries. 

Hofbrauhaus in Munich

In Germany, it is unacceptable to ask to have a side dish changed. The only meal that came from fries was the curry wurst. To resolve, I ordered the curry wurst and Peter ordered the Schnitzel and we swapped sides, so he got my fries and I got his potato salad, Mary ordered the German meatloaf that came with potato salad. Peter had orange juice, Mary had Apfelchorle and I had a weißbier. We all enjoyed our meals and made our way back to the Marienplatz train station and up to our room at the Eden Hotel Wolf. We played a few games of Farkel then went to bed. Peter seemed to sleep soundly and only mumbled in his sleep a few times.

Everyone had a great day. It was a joy seeing Peter having such a good time. He loved exploring the exhibits in the Deutsches Museum and going to the FC Bayern locker room and field were exciting for him.

Linderhof Palace and Neuschwanstein Castle

Once again, the breakfast at Eden Hotel Wolff was outstanding. The breads, cheeses, breakfast meats, cereals and juices have been excellent, and the dining experience was elegant. We chatted briefly with two ladies visiting Germany for the first time from Virginia. They were very pleasant and interested in our experiences here.

At Linderhof Palace

We left the hotel early to meet the bus to Hohenschwangau at 9 am. We caught the rail at the Hbf which is across the street from our hotel and took a train to Marienplatz in Munich’s Altstadt. We walked the short distance to the bus and checked in with the tour leader. The bus was nearly full with visitors from the UK, Australia, US, Japan and within Germany. The tour was in English, but headphones were available for those needing another language. The tour guide, Gerta, gave us a lot of information on the area as well as about Ludwig II and his family. The two-hour bus ride from Munich to Linderhof went quickly. We drove the small village of Oberammergau that has performed a passion play every ten years since 1633. When the black plague threatened to wipe out the small village, the people there prayed promising to always perform a passion play every 10 years if the village were spared from the plague. To play a role in the play, actors must have been born in the village or lived there for a minimum of 20 years.

Linderhof Palace from the rear

There was rain off and on as we approached Linderhof Palace. However, the previous times we had visited here were all in very deep snow. Some snow lingered at the higher elevations in the surrounding mountains but nothing like when we were here in the past. After putting on raincoats, we took a few snapshots of the beautifully landscaped grounds around Linderhof Palace as we waited for our entry time.

Our guide through the palace was very knowledgeable and shared information about King Ludwig II and his eccentricities. His English was not perfect but was understandable. The king lived in the palace for several years before and during his reign. Linderhof is not as large as homes of many monarchs, but the interior is exquisite. Rooms have intricate wood carvings, most of which are covered with gold. Custom porcelain figurines are throughout the palace and weaving depicting events from folk tales, Wagner operas or historical events hang on the walls. One of the most interesting pieces was the dining table. King Ludwig II was so peculiar that he didn’t want anyone to see him eating. To solve the problem, a table was built that could be lowered to the servant's area to have the meals placed then raised for the king's dinner. Perhaps the only negative to our visit is that photographs are not permitted inside the palace. However, we took many pictures outside. Peter was very interested in the palace as well as "Mad" King Ludwig II and wished that he could have photographed more inside the palace.  As we left the palace, we purchased a small informational book for Peter at the gift shop that includes photos and descriptions of the inside of the palace as well as the grounds.

Peter's Schnitzel und Pommes

We boarded our bus again and drove the 40 minutes to Hohenschwangau where we would tour Castle Neuschwanstein. By then it was after 1 pm and we were getting hungry, so we went to Alpenstuben for lunch. This restaurant was recommended by Gerta for large portions of well-prepared food at fair prices. I had a local lager, Peter had orange juice and Mary had Apfelchorle which is a mix of apple juice and sparkling mineral water. For our meals, Peter had a Wiener Schnitzel with fries, Mary had goulash made with venison from red deer and I had Kasespatzle with cheese made in the Bavarian Alps. We all enjoyed our meals and shared bites of each other’s lunch, but Mary’s goulash was the favorite of everyone. The venison was very tender and flavorful. Peter was especially fond of the goulash and was interested in trying everything.  

Castle Neuschwanstein

After lunch, we stopped by some of the gift shops in the village of Hohenschwangau to look for souvenirs for Peter. Since he lost his water bottle in one of the museums we visited earlier in the week, he found a bottle with the FC Bayern logo which pleased him. He also got two snow globes for himself and Nicholas with Castle Neuschwanstein. He all got some postcards to send to family back home. Peter was especially happy to find a lenticular postcard showing a goldfish jumping in and out of a bowl that he thought Nicholas might enjoy.  We thought that it was very thoughtful of him to want to get appropriate gifts for his brother on the trip.

Peter and Oma at Castle Neuschwanstein

There are three primary options for getting up the mountain from the village of Hohenschwangau to Castle Neuschwanstein. The only way that we have ever taken up the mountain in previous trips is to walk up the mountain which takes about 40 minutes. Of course, there was heavy snow on the ground in all of our previous visits. A second option is the horse drawn carriage that takes about 20 minutes but only goes about 2/3 of the way to the castle. The third option is a bus that goes to Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge) a short distance from the castle. We had never been to the bridge, so we decided on that option.

The bridge was very crowded and looked over a very deep gorge. We walked out on the bridge and took a few snapshots, but neither Mary nor Peter are especially fond of heights on shaky platforms. We walked over to the castle taking a few photos as we walked and stood on the road just outside the castle chatting with other visitors from our bus. I especially enjoyed talking with a gentleman from Costa Rica who now lives in New Jersey working as a chemist for Colgate-Palmolive. Since our tickets were for a 4:10 pm tour we didn’t go through the gate until nearly 4 pm. A board posted the tour times that were boarding with groups leaving every five minutes.

Village of Hohenschwangau

Our guide at the castle was very good, although the group was large. Her English was quite good and she communicated the information and stories of the castle and King Ludwig II very well. As with Linderhof Palace, photographs are not permitted in Castle Neuschwanstein. The interior of the castle is not as lavish as Linderhof, but was certainly lavish. Ludwig wanted the castle to appear as a Medieval castle even though it was not built until 1886. In fact, King Ludwig II died young under mysterious circumstances before the castle was completed and never lived in the castle. Two weeks after the death of the King, the castle was purchased by the Bavarian Bundestag and used as a tourist attraction. Additions, improvements and renovations have been made to the structure in the 160 years since the death of the king.

Horse drawn carriage in the village

After the tour, we walked down the mountain then revisited the gift shops in the small village where Peter pressed an image of Castle Neuschwanstein into a 5-cent coin. We made our way onto the bus in Hohenschwangau and began the two-hour drive back to Marienplatz in Munich. Peter was hungry when we arrived at the Munich Hof so we went to one of the food vendors in the train station and bought a bratwurst and brotchen (roll) for him. The wurst was over a foot long and stuck out well beyond the roll on both ends. Much to our surprise, he really liked it. The vendor provided two small ketchup packets that were traditional tomato ketchup rather than the curry ketchup that has become so common in Germany.

Before turning in we played a few games of Farkle with Peter then turned in and slept well.

Exploring Munich's Altstadt

Breakfast at Eden Hotel Wolff

Mary and I awoke around 7 am after sleeping very well. That is not surprising after getting very little sleep on the flight to Heathrow on a Sunday night. We eventually got Peter moving by 9 am and made our way to the first floor of the Eden Hotel Wolff for the buffet breakfast. Since the flights had been so long, we didn't want to push Peter but when he awoke, he was ready to get breakfast and begin exploring Munich. Like the breakfast at most German hotels, the food quality and variety were outstanding. There were dozens of whole grain breads and pastries, three kinds of breakfast wurst, bacon and other breakfast meats, several cheeses, eggs, a dozen cold cereals, fresh fruit, yogurt and fresh squeezed fruit juice of every kind. My favorite has the be the various fruit preserves. The Himmelbeere (raspberry jam) was very good, but the sour cherry jam (Kirschkonfitüre) was outstanding. Peter raved on the breakfast and enjoyed a little of everything. We were very very impressed that he was willing to try things before he passed judgment. We all ate enough to carry us through to dinner.

Inside St. Peter's Church

We returned to the room, gathered cameras, maps, passes and water bottles and put our valuables in the room safe before leaving the hotel. The travel agent had left a Mehrtageskarte for us that got the three of us into nearly all of the historic attractions in the Munich area. We took the U-Bahn the short distance to Marienplatz in Munich’s Altstadt. We started our visit at St. Peter’s Church that was built in the 12th Century. The church is beautiful and contains so many ancient artifacts. I am always impressed how the US and Allied military was able to bomb German cities in two world wars and was so caring to do so little damage to historic churches. We walked up the 300 plus stairs to the top of the tower attached to St. Peter’s. The tower dates to the 1100s and is still structurally sound. We took a lot of photos from the top of the tower before descending and continued our walk through the old part of Munich. Before we left the church, Peter bought a refrigerator magnet with St. Peter's Church.

Peter outside the Munich Rathaus

We went through the market and saw many produce stands selling the white asparagus that is popular in Germany now that it is Spargelzeit. We walked the short distance to the Bavarian Royal Residenz where the emperor lived from 1508 until after WWII in 1918. The core of the Residenz was built as a fortress called Neuveste in 1385. The Bavarian rulers from the House of Wittelsbach lived in this complex during the 400 year period. The Royal Residenz has been open to the public as a museum since 1920. Much rebuilding has taken place following severe damage during WWII.

Peter in the Bavarian Royal Residence

We have visited here several times and enjoy it more each time. The structure was nearly completely destroyed in the war but has been beautifully rebuilt, restored and redecorated. We all took a lot of photos throughout the expansive building. Peter was especially amused taking photos of his face with his new camera.

We walked back to the Marienplatz train station in time to see the animated clock strike noon then and caught a light rail to Olympiazentrum where we would have a short walk to the BMW museum. We used the timed passes to the BMW museum that we had purchased online and were directed to a locker room where we stowed backpacks and other personal items. The museum was really interesting with restored BMW cars and motorcycles going back to the 1920s. There were rooms with cutaway engines from cars, motorcycles, boats, aircraft and military equipment. We all enjoyed the restored BMW convertible that was used in several Elvis Presley movies. 

1939 BMW Kamm Coupe

We liked a convertible roadster from the 1930s and a three-wheeled miniature car that the driver entered by opening the front of the vehicle. There were lots of interactive displays where visitors could photograph themselves in BMW ads or driving a vintage car. There was a room dedicated to the forced laborers in BMW factories in the 1930s and 40s during the Third Reich. During a labor shortage people were compelled to work in factories for little compensation in difficult and dangerous working conditions. After we visited all of the 22 exhibit rooms we walked across to the BMW World building. 

Peter & Oma with a 1953 BMW Isetta Knutschkugel

This large building had many BMW models on display including lots of prototypes and concept cars. Since BMW partners with Rolls Royce and Mini, there were models from those manufacturers on display as well. Since BMW World is free and doesn’t require a timed entry ticket, there were many more people there than at the BMW Museum. We walked through the displays and took a few snapshots before walking to the light rain station and returning to the Hauptbahnhof where we picked up burgers and fries from a stand in the train station. There wasn’t a huge selection at Pommes Freunde, but we brought the food back to the Eden Hotel Wolff.  We ate in the room then played three games of Farkel with each of us winning one game. We turned in and slept well.