Munich June 2006

We spent our first family weekend away together in Munich during June. It was Cailan's first visit to Munich, the City where his parents first met each other nearly five years ago at Kuntspark Ost. We stayed for four nights at the Holiday Inn in the City Centre from Thursday to the Monday, and fortunately just by coincidence, it happened to be the World Cup Quarter Final weekend, and so we joined in with the local festivities after Germany's heroic victory over Argentina, and the rather downbeat sorrow that followed the England versus Portugal game.

Holiday Inn

Flag of St George at Marienplatz

Brunch at Marienplatz

Bordered by the Neues Rathaus, shops, and cafés, this square is named after the gilded statue of the Virgin Mary that has watched over it for more than three centuries. It was erected in 1638 at the behest of Elector Maximilian I as an act of thanksgiving for the city's survival of the Thirty Years' War, the cataclysmic religious struggle that devastated vast regions of Germany. When the statue was taken down from its marble column for cleaning in 1960, workmen found a small casket in the base containing a splinter of wood said to be from the cross of Christ

Getting his head down...

Marienplatz pre-Germany game

Cailan's first City Tour of Munich

Just Fountain

Where Next?

Karlsplatz

Which would you rather do on a Saturday?

Lunch for Cailan at Paulaner Im Tal

That's better

Lift

Putting our feet up!

Schlaf Gut

Lowenbrau Bierkeller

Cailan at the new Marienplatz U-Bahn Station

Olympia and BMW Towers

Robert with Cailan at the Olympia Park

When the Olympiapark was planned for the XXth Olympic Games in 1972, the designers had the long-term needs in mind. In contrary to many olympic sites in other cities around the world, the different centers built for the olympics are still used and the Olympiapark has become one of the major tourist attractions

Pushover

Tollwood

Shocking...

The huge Tollwood cultural festival first took place in 1987. After a stream of summer festivals and winter events at the Olympia Park Süd, it is just as popular as ever. This year's fine musical programme includes highlights such as Herbie Hancock Quintet, Madness, Monika Gruber and Art Garfunkel .
Every year, Tollwood welcomes international theatre companies, pop, rock and jazz music, but for many the heart of the festival lies in the many innovative pieces by less well-known artists. Cabaret and comedy entertainment is presented in front of a jury panel and the enthusiastic public. Five candidates perform ten-minute shows, which are judged by previous winners. A prize of €3500 and the chance to appear as a guest performer for a week in a Munich cabaret is awarded to the winner

Held in a set of tents and open-air stages in the Olympic Park, the atmosphere at the event is chilled. In addition to the paid evening concerts, certain tents offer free afternoon and evening entertainment. In spite of its huge success, the festival has maintained the charm of its original incarnation as a multicultural celebration of cabaret, circus and dance. Much of this unique atmosphere is due to the mixture of international stars and local notables from Bavaria, Austria and northern Germany. Tollwood is known for its persistent originality: dozens of festival performances have been honoured with awards from media and cultural institutions

Figurine

Lakeside
The Olympiapark site contains an ice rink, an indoor pool, a residential district and student residences, the Olympia park itself and of course the Olympic Stadium, which was the home of the main local soccer team, FC Bayern München until they moved to the futuristic Allianz stadium in 2006. The Olympic stadium can seat 80,000 people and the Olympic hall 14,000. The adventurous can take part in a roof-climb, which consists of a tour on top of the roof covering the Olympic Stadium

The Olympic site was built by Günther Behmisch, Frei Otto & Partners and became world-known mainly because of the futuristic tent-like roof construction. It covers the Olympic stadium, Olympiahall and the swimming pool. The roof covering the main stadium consists of a PVC-coated polyester fabric

Munich World Cup Fan Park at the Olympia Zentrum

Screening

I think It would have be more interesting watching a game of footie on the Hill behind the screen than watching the England V Portugal encounter

Fan Park Village

There is a truly international buzz in Munich ahead of each staged game of the World Cup finals. Everywhere dotted about the crowds gathered in Marienplatz, the central square of Germany's third largest city, are the bright colours of football shirts. With this weekend mainly belonging to the Blue & White of Argentina, the all White of England, and of course the Black, Red and Gold flags of the hosts

Feeding again

Carousel

The 3 sq km (1 sq mi) large olympic site has now blended in with the city and is easily reachable via the U-bahn (underground). Situated close to the city center, it was built on a terrain used by the Bayern army until 1925 when it became part of the Munich airport. After the second world war in 1945, the rubble cleared from the city was moved here, forming the basis of the hilly landscape of the Olympiapark

Olympiaturm
For a good overview of the Olympic site, you can either walk to the top of the 60 meters (197ft) high hill in the Olympiapark, the Olympiaberg or you can go take the elevator to the 189 and 192 meter-high platforms on the Olympiaturm, a 290-meter (951ft) high television tower. If you find it too windy on the platform, you can also have a view on the city of Munich from the rather expensive revolving restaurant in the tower

Fanzone

Auf Wiedersehen

Right Between the Posts

Coming and Going

I'm Red

Goodbye Sven... I'll drink to that at Augustiner

Cailan, Korina and Martin watch the France v Brazil game

I'm Free

Zug

The Green Green water of Home...

Robert, Korina and Cailan

Schloss Nymphenburg

In summer, the Wittelsbachs would pack up their bags and head for their country house, Schloss Nymphenburg. A more complete, more sophisticated palace than the Residenz, it was begun in 1664 by Elector Ferdinand Maria in Italian-villa style and took more than 150 years to complete. The final palace plan was created mainly by Elector Max Emanuel, who in 1702 decided to enlarge the villa by adding four large pavilions connected by arcaded passageways. Gradually the French style took over, and today the facade is a subdued baroque

The palace interior is less subtle, however. Upon entering the main building, you're in the great hall, decorated in rococo colors and stuccos. The frescoes by Johann Baptist Zimmermann (1756) depict incidents from mythology, especially those dealing with Flora, goddess of spring, and her nymphs, for whom the palace was named. This hall was used for both banquets and concerts during the reign of Max Joseph III, elector during the mid-18th century. Concerts are still presented here in summer

That Buggy will Travel

From the main building, turn left and head for the arcaded gallery connecting the northern pavilions. The first room in the arcade is the Great Gallery of Beauties, painted for Elector Max Emanuel in 1710. More provocative, however, is King Ludwig I's Gallery of Beauties in the south pavilion (the apartments of Queen Caroline). Ludwig commissioned no fewer than 36 portraits of the most beautiful women of his day. The paintings by J. Stieler (created from 1827-50) include the Schöne Münchenerin (lovely Munich girl) and a portrait of Lola Montez, the dancer whose "friendship" with Ludwig caused a scandal that factored into the Revolution of 1848

To the south of the palace buildings, in the rectangular block of low structures that once housed the court stables, is the Marstallmuseum. In the first hall, look for the glass coronation coach of Elector Karl Albrecht, built in Paris in 1740. From the same period comes the hunting sleigh of Electress Amalia, with the statue of Diana, goddess of the hunt; even the sleigh's runners are decorated with shellwork and hunting trophies

Swan Lake

The coaches and sleighs of Ludwig II are displayed in the third hall. His constant longing for the grandeur of the past is reflected in the ornately designed state coach, meant for his marriage to Duchess Sophie of Bavaria, a royal wedding that never came off. The fairy-tale coach wasn't wasted, however, since Ludwig often used it to ride through the countryside at night, and from castle to castle, creating quite a picture. The coach is completely gilded, inside and out; rococo carvings cover every inch of space except for the panels faced with paintings on copper. In winter, the king would ride in his state sleigh (also on display), nearly as elaborate as the Cinderella coach

Nymphenburg's park stretches for 200 hectares (500 acres). A canal runs through it from the pool at the foot of the staircase to the cascade at the far end of the English-style gardens. Within the park are a number of pavilions. The guided tour begins with the Amalienburg, whose plain exterior belies the rococo decoration inside, designed by Cuvilliés. Built as a hunting lodge for Electress Amalia (in 1734), the pavilion carries the hunting theme through the first few rooms and then bursts into salons of flamboyant colors, rich carvings, and wall paintings. The most impressive room is the Hall of Mirrors, a symphony of silver ornaments on a faint blue background

The only Water Canon that I saw...

Hats off to em

Duck Tales

The Badenburg sits at the edge of the large lake of the same name. As its name implies, it was built as a bathing pavilion, although it's difficult to visualize Ludwig dashing in from the water in a dripping swimsuit and across those elegant floors. A trip to the basement, however, will help you appreciate the pavilion's practical side. Here you'll see the unique bath, surrounded by blue-and-white Dutch tiles. The ceiling is painted with frescoes of mythological bathing scenes

Photo Shoot

The octagonal Pagodenburg, on the smaller lake on the other side of the canal, looks like a Chinese pagoda from the outside. The interior, however, is decorated with pseudo-Chinese motifs, often using Dutch tiles in place of Chinese ones

Hold Tight

Columns

Magdalenenklause may look like a ruin, but that was the intention when it was built in 1725. Also called the Hermitage, it was planned as a retreat for prayer and solitude. The four main rooms of the one-story structure are paneled with uncarved stained oak, with simple furnishings and a few religious paintings -- a really drastic change from the other buildings

Food time gain for Cailan

Watery Eyes

Hands On

Too Close

Statuesque

Windswept

My Turn

Other attractions include the Porzellansammlung (Porcelain Museum), which is above the stables of the Marstallmuseum. Some of the finest pieces of porcelain in the world, executed in the 18th century, are displayed here, along with an absolute gem miniature copies in porcelain, done in extraordinary detail, of some of the grand masterpieces in the Old Pinakothek

Hold Tight

Ice Ice Baby

We all have a thirst on...

Holding the Baby

Englischer Garten

English Garden. This virtually endless park, which melds into the open countryside at Munich's northern city limits, was designed for the Bavarian prince Karl Theodor by Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, from Massachusetts, who fled America after having taken the wrong side during the War of Independence. The open, informal nature of the park reminiscent of the rolling parklands with which English aristocrats of the 18th century liked to surround their country homes gave the park its name. It has a boating lake, four beer gardens, and a series of curious decorative and monumental constructions, including the Monopteros, a Greek temple designed by Leo von Klenze for King Ludwig I and built on an artificial hill in the southern section of the park. In the center of the park's most popular beer garden is a Chinese pagoda erected in 1789. It was destroyed during the war and then reconstructed

Another Park... another Milk Bottle!

Crowded at the Seehaus

The Chinese Tower beer garden is world famous, but the park has prettier places for sipping a beer: the Aumeister, for example, along the northern perimeter. The Aumeister's restaurant is in an early-19th-century hunting lodge. At the Seehaus, on the shore of the Kleinhesseloher See (lake), choose between a smart restaurant or a cozy Bierstube (beer tavern)

The Seehaus... from a distance

The Englischer Garten is a paradise for joggers, cyclists, musicians, soccer players, sunbathers, dog owners, and, in winter, cross-country skiers. The Munich Cricket Club grounds are in the southern section and spectators are welcome. The park has designated areas for nude sunbathing the Germans have a positively pagan attitude toward the sun so don't be surprised to see naked bodies bordering the flower beds and paths

Tea Time

The Long Night of the Sports on Leopold Strasse

International football stars are not the only ones showcasing their sporting prowess during Germany 2006. On 2 July, two days before the first semi-final, the Munich sporting authorities together with "münchner kultur GmbH" organised the Long Night of Sports. "Sport and fun under the stars" is on offer, with more than 80 clubs and over 100 sports-based firms taking part and setting up events

"Munich is the first city to organise an event of this size based on sport," said deputy mayor Dr Gertraud Burkert, explaining the reasoning behind the concept. "Football has a very prominent position in our city, with two Bundesliga teams and with the new World Cup Stadium, and the Long Night of Sports will showcase all of what Munich has to offer in terms of sport." The idea for this unique event came from the Long Night of the Museums and the Long Night of Music, which have enjoyed great success in recent years in the city