See the sign for the hotel above the entrance? My room is immediately above it, with a balcony!
That's a Braeburn apple on the pillow, in case you're wondering. As you may recall from my last post, I couldn't check in immediately, so this picture is out of sequence. I did it for the flow of the story. Another first - the hotel gives you two beers in the mini fridge for free as a welcome! I would hope so, for $200+ per night (Oktoberfest hotel prices are ridiculous). Wi-Fi is gratis, as with all of the other hotels except in Heidelberg.
The people here are warm and friendly. They smile, they're animated, they are ready for fun. I saw a lot of people wandering about in their lederhosen and in bust-revealing dresses, a la the St. Pauli girl. Can't complain about that.
I had to take these pictures on the sly, to avoid any trouble. Just a quick snap of my shutter from where my camera hung from around my neck, casually, while I walked around the Viktualienmarkt after visiting the Deutsches Museum. I'll be all-out bold once I reach the Theresienwiese, the Oktoberfest grounds, tomorrow. I actually have an appropriate shirt, as blue and red checked shirts are de rigeur for the event (I have a blue one, which seems more popular anyway) and I have a great pair of docker jeans that are a brown akin to leather. I did look at some lederhosen as I passed by some shops, but I'm not going crazy for €130+.
The Deutsches Museum is a huge complex with dozens of exhibits focused on the history of technology, from primitive to modern. Of course, with nearly all of the museums I visited (or tried to visit!) some of the exhibits were closed for refurbishment, including the planetarium and the chemistry department. I understand that the exhibit featuring my brother is not quite ready.
But otherwise the museum was comprehensive and awesome. Here are pics of a few of the exhibits:
Exhibits featured the history of electricity, piston and water power technology, and wind power.
There was also a large aeronautical and astronautical exhibit, some of my favorite stuff. Here are some more pictures:
The space stuff was especially neat, even though several of the objects were reproductions (they obviously didn't have Sputnick in their collection). It was also interesting, from an American perspective, to see how the emphasis here was on the European Space Agency's contributions to specific scientific payloads aboard the space shuttles, and to the German contributions to the European module of the International Space Station.
There wasn't too much on early German rocketry, which surprised me, except for the V and V-2 rockets from World War II. They did have, however, one of Dr. Goddard's early liquid-fueled test rockets, so there's a tie back to Worcester for you.
I spent almost four hours perusing the exhibits, which also included an extensive maritime exhibit. Interestingly, in the section on the inter-war period, the placards explaining the models were at once apologetic and frustrated, with several references to how Germany had been limited at the conclusion of WW I to the size and scope of the navy it could have. The information also disclosed, however, some of the advances Germany had made to get around the interregnum restrictions.
After the Museum I walked to the Viktualienmarkt and had some dinner - a Paulaner Heife-wise bier along with a Kartoffelsuppe mit brochen (potato soup with bread). I treated myself to dessert, too - apple strudel with vanilla sauce and creme frais - yum!!
Following dinner I walked throughout the Marien-Platz and took in the sights, sounds and smells (sometimes the body odor can be horrific!) of the old part of the city.
Tomorrow will be Oktoberfest and my last full day in Germany. My flight leaves Munich at about 9:20 AM on Thursday, so this will be it. I'm unsure whether I'll post my Oktoberfest report tonight after I get back to the hotel, or after I land back in the US, but in either case I promise you'll have it!
Location:Baaderstraße,Munich,Germany
Hi Uncle Ken,
ReplyDeleteThank you for answering my questions! Why did you get the best hotel room ever?:-) Did you get to see a lot of the city from your balcony?
--Andrew
Hi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteThe hotel was the best one I had stayed at because its location was great -- I was close to all of the things I wanted to see: the Deutsches Museum, the food market and the old city square. I wasn't too far from the Oktoberfest grounds, either.
The room itself was immaculately clean and had new furniture and a new carpet. It had a little refrigerator in it and was quiet. The balcony overlooked a little square in the city. I couldn't see too much (like I could in Heidelberg), but I was able to sit out there and watch and hear a lot of people go about their lives, walking and catching a tram and sitting down at the cafe across the street -- sometimes it is fun to watch what other people are doing!
Uncle Ken