For our last day in Munich we decided to revisit many of the places that we had enjoyed in the downtown area, and we wanted to explore it more. We took the U-Bahn from Münchener Freiheit to Universitat and walked down Ludwigstrße to downtown. Here we saw the new body style on a 2002 Audi A4.
As we neared the city center we got to the Residenz, a huge governmental palace now converted to museums. This area began being built by the Wittelsbachs in 1385. Here a statue honors Ludwig the 1st, the king of Bavaria from 1825 to 1848. His son was Maxmillian II, another king of Bavaria, and his son was Ludwig the 2nd, the king that built so many of the "fairy-tale" castles. (Note: we didn't make it to any castles on our trip, so we'll have to go back!)
We happened upon a Mercedes-Benz dealership. The brand new Mercedes Benz SL 500 had been introduced in Frankfurt a few weeks earlier and they had two of these new cars to view. This is a big deal because they only change the SL every decade and they are not yet available in the US.
They were giving out 80 page hardback books as sales literature. This was a dream come true for me. As a young man I used to beg and plead to go to a Mercedes dealer and then the challenge would be to get some sales literature. When we lived in Lima Peru I got some Mercedes literature which helped me learn Spanish. I once again felt like a young boy trying to get the literature, but now it was in Germany! I got nearly a full set of sales brochures and it was quite a thrill for me. Beth browsed a nearby clothes shop. You see, it was not quite as thrilling for her... she was good to let me spend a bit of time there.
After another large church we came to this portico called the Feldherrnhalle. It was erected in 1840 to 1844 in imitation of the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, Italy. Hitler had at least once spoken to a crowd here.
We continued to Marienplatz where we saw the crowds out enjoying the outside dining of this and many other cafes.
We planned to eat at another notable Bavarian establishment but found it occupied by a soccer team (football in Germany). We instead went across the street to a Burger King and ate outside at a table nearly in the road. It is kind of strange to be eating your lunch and making sure that a car does not hit your table when it comes in to parallel park! Space is not wasted in Europe.
Here is a row of taxies, all Mercedes-Benz E-Classes, all diesels.
This is the door to the courtyard to the stairs to the Ratskeller restaurant we ate at yesterday. How medieval!
We walked north towards Odeonsplatz and passed another fruit stand. So colorful!
We went to board the U-Bahn subway at Odeonsplatz. Every train that entered the station heading north towards our hotel was completely full: standing room only. They were packed, as this photo shows.
Nobody in the full station could board the trains. This was so different from the weekdays. What was going on this Saturday? We boarded another train and headed south, past Marienplatz, to Sendlinger Tor. We got off and then took a northbound train which was completely empty. When that train arrived in Marienplatz we saw huge crowds of people being restrained by police. Then we realized what was happening: everyone in Munich was heading to a soccer game at the Olympic stadium! Marienplatz is the "Grand Central Station" transfer point of many trains, so everyone from all corners of the 1.2 million person city were filling up the northbound trains.
The train was filled with a happy soccer crowd. People were drinking beers on the train. Many wore blue and white soccer scarves. One guy sang loud and got others to sing and chant. This guy then sat down on Beth's lap and propositioned her in German. When she replied "No sprechen zie Deutsch" he then said in English, "I am a German man and I can do anything for you that you want!" No harm done and it was an entirely different view of Munich than what we had experienced during the work week.
We continued on to Odeosplatz where once again we saw another full station of people none of which could get on our train. We continued towards our station at Münchener Freiheit but when it got there the train was so packed with people that we could not get to the door to get off! So we rode the train to the end of the line and then returned on an empty train to a new exit that we had never taken: Bonnerplatz.
Our walk back to the hotel was very nice. We saw another pair of Smart City cars.
The walk took us past a large hospital, and the winds whipped up and caused many leaves to fall. It was sunny and not too cold, and Beth said that this reminded her a lot of New England. It was a beautiful moment in time that we both wished we could just freeze. This was the quieter part of Schwabing. (If you look carefully you can actually see leaves frozen mid-air.)
We saw another Mercedes V-Class minivan.
... and a Smart car with the Mercedes logo on it. Originally Swatch was to make the Smart car with a bit of Mercedes help, but more recently Mercedes has taken over the project.
We walked back to the hotel, dropped off another few bags of goodies, and on the way saw this Audi A4 Avant diesel taxi. All taxies are painted this light yellow color.
We then took another ride from Münchener Freiheit to Marienplatz, our usual U-Bahn route, for our final dinner. We decided to go the Palais Keller once again. As we walked to the Bayerischer Hof we stopped at the famous Frauenkirche church with its two towers. A mass was underway, but visitors were still allowed at the back, where we got this view of the interior.
More neat cars: a VW station wagon, a Mercedes SLK, and a Smart car.
Here you see the ambience of the Palais Keller, a restaurant in the basement (keller) of the Hotel Bayerischer Hof. We arrived about 5:30 PM and nobody was there. We had great food once again. This time we remembered to order fewer Cokes. I had Egerlingsuppe (cream of mushroom soup) that was the best taste of the trip. I also had another Gemischter Salat (mixed salad), and Kartoffelpüree or baked potatoes. They arrived scooped out of the shell and looked like mashed potatoes, but they were very good. Beth had stuffed veal. The food was excellent, but our dinner cost half what it did before.
Here is the bread basket brought to our table.
The waitress offered to take our photo.
We walked back to Marienplatz and took a final subway ride home to our hotel. Our time in Munich was over. As we left the street level to go into the subway I saw this BMW 5 Series Polizei car. I remember as a 10 year old reading Porsche brochures that had a photo of a Porsche 911 Targa Polizei. I had always thought that a Polizei was a special Porsche term, but this trip showed me that Audi's, Mercedes, and BMW's are used now. I never saw a Porsche Polizei.
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Created: 18 Oct 2001 Modified: 18 Oct 2001