Three trains and two hours of sleep and it was 5:30am when we pulled into the station. Munich was already awake to welcome weary travelers. I could not check into my hotel until 11:00am so I walked around the station looking for a place that had WiFi. I tried a Starbuck’s and after a hot chocolate, a chocolate muffin and three hours of trying to decipher a German set of instructions on how to get an hour of free surfing, I gave up and went over to Burger King where I was able to get some kind of internet even though it surfed at the speed of a Slowski. It was 10:00am and I walked to my hotel praying they would let me check in early. I know they have WiFi; I made sure of it before I booked the room! I get to the hotel and check in and find… that the WiFi access point on my floor doesn’t work! In fact, the only way that I was going to get internet is to hang out in the lobby with the nice lady at the front desk.
I wanted to crash and sleep for a few hours at this point. But, knowing that I only had a couple of days to see Munich, I decided to walk up to Olympiapark where Munich hosted the 1972 Olympics. It was nice to see the park still alive with people and that all of the facilities were still being used. I thought about Rachael’s task of creating a facility for the 2012 Olympics in London that would still serve a purpose long after the games were over.
Um, ridiculous. Close to Olympiapark was the BMW dealership and museum. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this. People were coming in to test drive or pick up their new BMW. I watched cars being taken up elevators and being driven down the ramp. Restaurants, bars, kids jumping into the seat of any BMW they could open the doors to; it was amazing.
Munich is considered the “Beer Drinking Capital of the World”. So, later that night, I decided to join a little tour that took you through various beer halls. At each hall, we got to sample a different beer that was recommended by the tour guide. I got into a friendly competition with a couple of guys from Australia that we would only order beers by the liter or “leedah” as they would call it. For those following along at home, that is almost 3 beers (34 oz). At some point during the night, I wanted to prove that my camera was indeed water proof. I took the above picture with my camera inside of my mug. Fortunately, it still worked this morning.
I got a little lost on my way back to the hotel. I knew how to get there from the train station so I attempted to ask someone if they could point me in the right direction. I found a guy who was speeding towards me and asked “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” to which he replied in perfect English, “I do not speak German”. I thought, “Fantastic!”. “Can you point me in the direction of the train station?”. His reply was “I’m sorry but I can’t help.” as he continued to speed by me. I don’t know if he thought I was trying to mug him or if he had a fear of Germans. Needless to say, I found a German guy who helped me get back to the hotel.
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