Fun in the sun in Munich

We have had a full day out. We were up early, took Xena out before breakfast and then after breakfast we walked from the hotel to Tommy’s apartment. He lives near Luitpold Park so Xena enjoyed walking through the park on the way there. His apartment is very nice, light and airy, it has two balconies and it is in a lovely quiet area. 

It’s a public holiday here today so all the shops are shut ( Assumption of Mary). Tommy however had work to do as he has a deadline so we left Xena with Tommy, while Gavin, Luke and I went to see the BMW museum. Meriel preferred to go for a run despite it being 32C again today. 

The museum was very interesting. I am not really into cars but Gavin and Luke loved it while I enjoyed seeing all the models of bikes and cars through the ages. In 1928 BMW - Bayerische Motoren Werke or Bavaria Motor Works - bought the company that made the British Austin car and designed the first BMW car from that. There was a section in the museum on their involvement in the war when the Nazi government forced them to reduce production on cars and  make aircraft engines instead, and they relied on prisoners of war and other forced labourers to produce them. They apologise for this and say they will never let this happen again. I doubt there is much they could have done in the circumstance (similarly Hugo Boss made all the Nazi officer’s uniforms). They were difficult times. Gavin loved all the motorbikes, he grew up building up motorbikes from reconditioned engines and as a student always had a motorbike.

We got back to Tommy at lunchtime and then we all took an U bahn to the hotel where we met Meriel. Then we walked from there all over the English Garden as Tommy wanted to show us his favourite swimming spots. This park is enormous and is such a pleasant green space in the city.

Summer in Munich is wonderful. The people all swim in the rivers in the English Garden and picnic in the large grounds. On a hot public holiday like today there were so many people around, all enjoying swimming or nude tanning (!) or surfing on the Eisbach. There is absolutely no litter and despite people buying beers from the various beer gardens in the park, everyone was well behaved, no loud techno music blaring out from speakers and no drunken behaviour, a pleasure to witness this. The empty beer bottles are neatly placed next to the bin - not inside - so that those that want to return them for a cash refund may do so. We have been so impressed with this city, it has a vibrant young population, it’s clean, the public transport is efficient and clean, it’s really a great place to live. 

Tommy, Luke and Meriel swam at various places on the Eisbach and then we walked to the old town to another swimming area on the Issar River. One jumps into the fast flowing waters of the Eisbach and you are taken by the strong current down the river until you want to get out. There are also two sections where people jump into the water with surfboards, they can only stay upright for about couple of minutes before the churning water knocks them off their boards.  We walked so much today - 25,000 steps - and I am still so sore from falling off my bicycle that I think I need to see a doctor. Some positions are impossible for me as they are excruciating. Anyway that is next week’s problem. It has been a great day out in very hot weather. We ended up quite far from the hotel so Luke and Meriel took scooters back to the hotel while Gavin and I took an Uber that also allowed dogs. 

It’s been a great day out with Tommy showing us ‘his city’. Here is a view of people enjoying the sunshine in one small area of the park - in the extra you can see people having fun in the Eisbach, including one of Meriel and Luke jumping in.

(Note dinner at Italian restaurant Pepe-Nero)