Ein Prosit (a toast)!

Thursday morning in Munich we woke up to embark on a very ambitious mission; visiting the Deutsches Museum. This gigantic structure houses the world’s largest science and technology museum and sits alone on an island in a building that looks a lot like an old power plant. Before we get into that adventure though, I must say something about the breakfast at our hotel.

I have never seen a free breakfast like this. In many ways it was a traditional German breakfast, this includes sausages and a variety of pastries and breads. What was crazy  was all of the extra stuff they had from real jams to mimosas and espressos. I have to say, it was a good way to start a day.

But enough about food… We hopped on a tram after breakfast and made our way towards the river. Once we got off we had to cross the single bridge that leads to the island and enter a giant courtyard where we were faced with the huge decision of where to begin. You must understand that you could never see this whole museum; Keegan and I estimate that we actually saw 20% of it and maybe glanced at another 15%, all of which took us about five hours. As horrible as spending that long in the museum may sound, we hardly noticed the time flying by and were pretty shocked when we finally got a look at a clock.

The Deutsches Museum with the river flowing by

The main area we focused on was flight which was perfect for one future pilot and my own lifelong fascination with space. Also, lucky enough, the floor of that wing had a large nautical section as well. It was like it was a wing designed for the Department of the Navy. We began by looking at some very interesting ships, some of which go back to very early in human history. We then checked out a couple of subs which were, appropriately enough, in the basement. Any good student remembers Germany’s rich history in submarines. Their actions were the reason the U.S. entered WWI and a major annoyance for the allies during WWII. Let me tell you, looking at those subs made me very grateful to be in the Navy today.

At the helm, have to keep practicing!

VERY VERY early submarine, you are pretty much looking at the entire thing. This is now what I see in my nightmares.

WWII German U-boat (I'm trying to hold it back)

From there we headed upwards. The next four floors had every type of flying vehicle you can imagine.  They claim the first flight, a man on a very simple glider, which preceded the Wright brothers by about a decade. They also had interesting information on all of the Zepplins including the tragedy of the Hindenburg.  The planes from the World Wars were on display including some American ones. I noticed something strange as I was looking at the set from WWII, there were no Swastikas. I asked about this and, strangely enough, no one was quite sure but they thought it may be illegal and knew that even on historical artifacts displaying them is strongly discouraged. Each plane had been repainted with a cross where the swastika would have been.

Keegan practicing for his future pilot photos

The hall on early flight with the ships mast sticking through

The final floor focused on space flight and was pretty fascinating. Germany as a nation was not a huge space power but many of the American scientists at NASA were born in Germany and emigrated around the wars. They also have been the largest funding source to the joint European Space program. We finished at the museum by checking out a couple of other things on our way out. The highlight of that was seeing Albert Michelson mentioned, the first American Scientist to win the Nobel Prize and a graduate of the Naval Academy.

Michelson's legacy

Moon-rock present from the U.S. to Germany

By the time we were done we just had time to get back to our hotel to clean up (ok and stop at a small outdoor beer garden for lunch) for a while before setting out in search of one of the world famous Bavarian beer gardens. We decided we would head towards one that was located within Munich’s version of Central Park (Englischer Garten). We walked alongside large crowds of Bavarians who were out enjoying their afternoon but saw very little to suggest that a huge beer garden would be somewhere inside. Finally we saw it, there was a large structure known as the Chinese tower with hundreds of long wood tables surrounding it. Around the outside are food and drink stands. We both got a variety of meets, a pretzel, and a beer so big it could be a struggle to lift. It was a bit like how I Imagine heaven to be.

Dinner at the Chinese Tower beer garden

The beer garden from afar 

Sitting there eating and drinking and just watching such a large mass of humanity interacting around me was pretty cool. I have found every time that I come overseas that I quickly switch from relying on language to communicate to simply picking up on emotions and expressions. Even though I understood none of the German around me, I still very much felt a part of the party. It was pitch black as we walked out of the park that night but there were people everywhere, it felt like a great sense of community.

Even after hitting the liter beers hard the night before, we woke up Friday morning to try to do another museum. The BMW brand is beloved in Germany and their museum is legendary. It is far out from the center of the city but it does sit right next to the 1972 Olympic Park which gave us two reasons for going. The BMW museum was good and I think though we both enjoyed looking at the new models more. The BMW brand also owns Mini and Rolls Royce (a personal favorite) so there were plenty of vehicles to look at. The architecture of the buildings was very modern and sleek. The one negative, not that this should come as a surprise, but the whole “museum” really felt like an advertisement for BMW. If someone would ask me, I would say don’t pay for the museum and just go to the showroom (which has all of the new models and a ton of cool interactives about the state of today’s company).

My future ride

My less-distant future ride

One of the cool architectural design elements of the building

Concept Car

Really cool motorcycle demonstration at BMW

Thought this was impressive, these little balls form all different shapes eventually combining to create the BMW car body

When we finished with BMW we took a walk into the Olympic park complex. The actual facilities were not very accessible because the X-Games are coming to Munich this month and they were setting up. I did jump over one fence to try to see where Pre ran but it was way too boarded up to get in. Quick reminder on the ’72 Olympics; this is where the infamous Israeli athlete hostage crises occurred (known as the Munich Massacre). After many deaths, the Olympics went on but some athletes walked out. Steve Prefontaine was one of the athletes participating at this Olympics.

Olympic Park

We finished up there and headed back to meet an old friend of Keegan’s in old town. Julius had exchanged in Sheridan, Wyoming for a semester and now is working back in Munich. He took us out to one of his favorite bars and we met a female friend of his for food and drinks. We had fun socializing all night and talking about our cultures. Julius also introduced us to an old Bavarian drinking game called "nailing" where you compete to hammer a nail in with the back side of a hammer quicker than your opponents. This combined with Julius’s assistance in beer selection made me feel like a true Bavarian by the end of the evening.

Keegan and Julius after many rounds of nailing

Our time in Munich was done before we knew it. Saturday we headed to the airport to catch a flight to France. We had to connect through Paris but our final destination was Lyon. Due to some delays, we didn’t arrive at our hotel until late in the evening. Lyon is a good size city with the old town sitting on a small peninsula that sticks out into the water and is considered by many to be the culinary capital of the world. There are bridges everywhere and plenty of grand old buildings that line the water. It would compete with Prague (may even beat it) for the most visually stunning of our destinations.

The iconic Lyon sign

After dropping our bags in our room, we stopped by the front desk to ask about a restaurant that would still be open at 10 PM. They assured us we would find plenty and were sent to a “restaurant street” a short few blocks away. What we came across was a compilation of so many good looking restaurants that it made my tired mind spin. After perusing for quite a while, Keegan decided on this very hip looking restaurant that was completely open to the street and was filled with younger people.

The restaurant street

 What was really unique about it is that they only served salmon. There were about 20 choices for ways you could have your salmon served. Mine was baked in tinfoil with oranges so all of the juices stayed inside and marinated with the citrus; it was pretty incredible. Keegan went with salmon shish kabobs that were grilled with vegetables and looked equally delicious. Each came with unlimited frites. Nothing wins my heart like good food so I was immediately calculating how many more meals we had there to try various restaurants. Bon Appetit!