We had another day with a sketchy weather forecast and knew that we needed to take advantage of the early, rain-free hours, so we left Kai behind to sleep in and start his day slowly like a proper teenager, while the three real grown-ups went on an outing. We took the subway and then a bus to the famous Olympiapark, built for the 1972 Olympic Games, and checked out a flea market that happens there every Friday and Thursday. We didn’t see much but Mark enjoyed checking out the electronics and Imke and I looked at some of the dishes. It was a good way to enjoy the partly sunny morning, and eventually we moved away from the flea market area and looked at the park and the arena buildings with their famous “stretchy” tent-like roofs. We didn’t do one of the rock-climbing tours of the roofs that are now being offered, and neither did we take the elevator to the top of the Olympia tower, although Mark was tempted. We also weren’t tempted by the nearby BMW Museum and BMW World, although the bus went past the enormous BMW complex (headquarters and big plant as well as the museum etc.) for many kilometers. Instead, we had a cup of coffee in Olympiapark and then went back home to have a quick lunch (Turkish fast food and delicious baklava bites), rest up a little, and then go back out, this time with Kai.
The four of us now alighted near the Staatskanzlei–architecturally interesting because it was a ruin after WWII for many years and was just recently restored (in the 1990s) to have two modern glass wings jutting out from the classicist cupola in the middle. Some remainders of the destroyed parts of the building, which used to house an army museum, are preserved as part of the new building. In front of it sits the Hofgarten, or court garden, which belongs with the Bavarian royal palace, the Residenz, and took it in in all its neoclassical splendor and symmetry, but then moved on to the “Romantic” English Garden that is its opposite–all landscaped in the late 18th/early 19th century to look “natural” with curvy paths, meadows, woodsy areas, and brooks. It is pretty much the Central Park of Munich, with very extensive grounds, but it also has the city’s river, the Isar, and a few creeks running through it. It is famous with tourists for its naked sunbathers (“Nackerte”) and, more recently, for the surfers who river surf in a couple of spots along the Eisbach in all weathers. It was a bit cold and wet for more than a couple of naked people this afternoon, but we did see the surfers, who surf this one specific wave near a bridge that is perfect for riversurfing. It’s one surfer at a time, with a line of surfers (all in wetsuits) waiting patiently for their turn, and it’s clear that it requires very advanced surfing skills, as Mark’s photos show). We watched for a while and Mark had fun with his camera. Then we went in search of a photo exhibit that we had read about, “100 Years of Leica Photography,” and that was pretty interesting. I couldn’t fully focus on it, because I had gotten a text from our friends Michl and Silvia, who were en route from Austria to visit us. They were supposed to stay with us but Silvia was developing a migraine and thought a hotel room would be better, so I booked something near the train station for them. After that was done, we rounded up our pre-ordered ballet tickets for Kai and Imke, who were going to watch a John Neumeier ballet at the huge Bavarian State Opera later that night. Then we found ourselves a lovely Indian restaurant and had an excellent, if rather expensive dinner while watching the rain come down in buckets. We then dropped Imke and Kai off at the huge National Theater building, where they were to STAND to watch the 2.5 hour opera (for 10 Euro each), and Mark and I went to pick up Michl and Silvia at the Central Omnibus Station. We wanted to make sure we could find the way to the hotel first and without much fuss when they got in, and that took a while as did figuring out where the buses were coming to town. But we eventually all found each other, and luckily, Silvia felt better and they just dropped their stuff off at the Metropol Hotel. We went to a very traditional Munich Bar (I think it was the Augustiner am Dom), where we had traditional Munich beer, certified to be from wooden barrels that we saw the barkeep heave into place, and traditional Munich food for the two travelers. It was fun people watching (and good food; a specialty roast with a dumpling, called a “Schauefele” was especially impressive) but also unbelievably noisy from conversations, so we barely heard each other. Then they took off to get back to their hotel, and we went to meet Imke and Kai at the theater and took the 30-minute subway ride home. What a long day!