Tourist is my middle name.

I think my eyes are going bad…too much computer usage…crap.

So this weekend was again another adventure…barely spent any time at home except for sleeping, which there wasn’t much of anyhow. Saturday I woke up and hoped on my bike to head up to the Munich Olympic Stadium. I used this architecture as inspiration for my senior car project at Art Center…so I really wanted to spend some time exploring this place I never imagined I’d be able to go to. The twisting taut surfaces and flowing canopy structure were unbelievable…they go from covering a building to a walkway effortlessly. Also being able to get right next to the support beams that shoot a hundred feet to the roof is pretty amazing. And it being Saturday…there were plenty of people taking in the sites. They have kind of a small market fair at the bottom, with a huge lake that people were sunbathing next to and getting around in little four passenger paddle boats.

Olympic Stadium from the Freeway...


Another Shot...


Up Close...


Moving on…at the top of the hill is the BMW Museum. So naturally I paid my 2 Euro and went inside. Not as big as I’d imagine…but the future home of the museum is under construction…and it’s gonna be huge. But the museum had a lot of history of BMW, from their start with making airplane engines…to motorcycle racing, to the modern day 3 series and hydrogen 7 Series. Another car I looked at for inspiration in my senior car I designed was the BMW Mille Miglia concept. It was based on this original car, called the BMW 328 Touring Coupe “Superleggera” from 1939, which I though was one of the best cars in the gallery.

M1 Procar and M3 GTR


Superleggera...


Late afternoon on Saturday…back to the Englisher Garden…this is the standing wave that people can just use at will. Surfing inside of Munich…with a crowd to watch non the less. This river flows throughout the Garden…it comes from the Isar river that passes through Munich. Pretty amazing to see how big the wave is, maybe 4 feet or so…but it’s caused by huge concrete blocks at the bottom of the river which I heard can hurt like hell if you fall on em…

Standing Wave in the Englischer Garden


Ok, so then Saturday night I went to a place called M Park with two guys from work, Reijo and Clement. None of us speak German fluently, being they are Finnish and French, respectively, so we all struggle as one to get around the city, which is getting easier by the day. If I can tackle to Munich train stations, I can get around anywhere in America. M Park is a two room dance club with techno in one room and hip hop in the other. Take your pick, both are packed, both hold about 200-300 people, and there are bars at every corner of the room in case you get lost. No pics from this place, I wouldn’t even think about taking a camera here. And since the bar is open til 6 you spend a lot more money than you would if the bar closed at two…although no one goes out until 11 or later so it’s very different from what I’m used to.

So, I get to sleep around 6 am on Sunday, wake up around 1230 and hop on my bike to the Nymphenburg Palace. This is a baroque palace in Munich that was the summer residence of the rulers of Bavaria. The center pavilion was completed in 1675 (thanks to Wikipedia for the background info). So this place is over 300 years old. When you look at a map of Munich, this place is about the size of the city center. I walked it twice front to back, maybe more, I should know. It’s very peaceful here. Many of the people inside the park area are just couples sitting on a bench, or maybe they have thrown down a blanket and are just laying in the grass. You can sometimes hear the trains in the background…but the view of the city is gone, and you can almost feel like you are in a different time. I like to imagine how people lived back I this time, no iPods…no phones….no electricity even. The main building was under renovation, so good photos were not going to be found of it on the day I went…I’m sure there are plenty online if you are interested. Well I finished out the experience by checking out a gallery with the old carriages and buggies that were used back in the day…I even came across a side view painting of a carriage that I think may be the beginnings of car design illustration, who knows.

View of Nymphenburg


Ceiling fresco in the Steinerner Saal (Stone Hall)


From the fountain on the West end...


Monopteros


Pimp My Ride Bayern


…and then…. I saw the Simpsons movie (in English)…which was pretty funny. Basing it around Homer was probably the best move, Bart is only good in small doses and everyone else are just supporting characters anyhow. Pretty full weekend for just stayin in Munich. Who knows what will happen next weekend. We accidentally bought train tickets to NurNburg instead of Nurburg for the DTM race next Sunday…and anyhow tickets for Nurburg are sold out so that plan is cancelled all together. Have to make some spontaneous trip somewhere.

Aesop Rock’s new album “None Shall Pass” comes out Tuesday…tomorrow…can’t wait to get it off iTunes at work, woohoo! And just my luck he’s touring in the states til December…right when I get back. Timing issue gone awry…

parker