June 25 – 27

We entered the BMW Museum on the ground floor and then worked our way to the top of the “salad bowl or white cauldron” via a spiral walkway then wound our way back down a floor or two, the exhibits here focusing on the company’s sustainability initiatives. 

From the first-floor ground level we descended one floor where the focus was on the company’s motorcycles, with a wall that contains almost every model made through its history. 

One then moves counterclockwise to the engine display, with various engines that have played a key role in the legendary performance of this brand are displayed. 

Moving on through an area devoted to motorcycle racing, one encounters an exhibit that features the evolution of the most famous BMW line of all the 3-Series. 

As one continues on that floor you enter exhibits on the company’s advertising and also its design studio, where you get to envision how the engineers use science and a load of artistic inspiration to come up with how the cars will look, now, and in the future. 

Descending one final level, you walk through aerodynamics testing and touring cars before hitting a room full of BMW’s M model’s, all known for their performance enhancements over the stock models they are derived from.  These are the holy grail for BMW lovers, but personally, I find my stock 335 is all the car I need it to be. 

As with all museums of this nature, I’m just briefly touching on all of the exhibits we walked through, spending a good three hours doing so and as a result, this will come as no shock to our readers, it was time for a snack at the first floor M1 restaurant, where we downed a coffee apiece and a delightful lemon tart topped with meringue. 

We then walked across the street to the BMW Welt, a combined exhibition, delivery, adventure museum, and event venue.  It was built from August 2003 to summer 2007 with a solar system providing 800 kW of power installed on the roof of the main building.  Hard to believe, but the Welt is the most visited tourist attraction in Bavaria.

Its operations are coordinated with the other local BMW facilities, the BMW Museum and BMW Headquarters and it serves as a showroom with the current model lineup of BMW cars and motorcycles, and the other two BMW Group brands, Mini and Rolls-Royce.  Customers picking up special ordered cars are given a dramatic “staged experience” in which they await their new car in an enormous glass-walled hall, and their cars are lifted from lower levels on round elevator platforms.  There are also shops selling BMW-branded promotional merchandise and accessories, and a restaurant.

We walked around the interior, focusing on viewing several of BMW’s electric powered cars, which like many manufacturers now are simply e-versions of existing models, but some with distinctive styling elements. 

Beyond looking at the new models there isn’t much more to see here and so we exited into the grounds of Olympiazentrum, walking through its parklike setting.  We did a much deeper dive here in 1984 and so beginning to feel a bit parched, decided to walk back to the underground station and head for a beer, this time to the Hofbrau House on the edge of the Marienplatz. 

Once above ground, it took us longer than anticipated to find it, and then when we entered the interior was packed.  We went outside to the patio where we had enjoyed the first night in Munich in 2014 with Jessica, Kris, Kim, Marty, and John and waited at a table for what seemed like a long time without getting acknowledged and then decided to abandon and return to the Premier for happy hour there. 

This is where the construction underground goofed us up, and we spent a long fruitless time of confusion trying to get to Sendlinger Tor, eventually giving up, heading above ground, and walking a mile or two back to the hotel.  There, we settled in at the bar with our two free drinks and demolished a different but delicious offering of nachos. 

After relaxing a bit, but too tired to go in search of the schnitzel we desired, we walked over to Sendlinger Tor and took a chance for dinner at Kennedy’s Bar and Restaurant.  Expecting to encounter British libations only, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they offered Augustiner beers and so we dived in with gusto. 

Along with a Dunkel and a Edelstoff, we ordered the Kennedy’s Sheppard’s Pie (Savory minced lamb with onions, Garlic, Carrots, Peas, and fresh Herbs, covered in Mashed Potatoes), served with a small side salad.  Both items came at the same time, and we fell on them with gusto, the salad anything but small with a tasty Balsamic Vinegar dressing and the pie everything one could ask for, savory, with each bite a delight. 

To finish, we celebrated with a dessert we search for anytime we hit Germany, one we first encountered in 2002 with Ric and Irene, at the end of the 16 mile day of hiking on the Ludwig’s Way when we got lost but ended up finding lodging with a local who, after we had relaxed and cleaned up at their house, took us to the neighborhood gausthaus where we had a good and filling meal, a few beers, and then the dessert.  Take think slices of apple, coat them with a spiced flour mix and then deep fry them and when piping hot, serve them with ice cream.  If memory serves me correctly, perhaps there was some caramel sauce involved as well. 

We would encounter that dessert again in Nuremberg in 2014 and without hesitation ordered it here, this time it being served with a Walnut Ice Cream that made for a delightful change of pace.  Just as good as always, but perhaps not better than that first experience in 2002.  That one more than likely enhanced by its uniqueness and also, coming as a reward for what had been a very hard day that ended up, one might say, at the end of a rainbow.  And our final tab at Kennedy’s? Just 31.20-Euros ($33).

Links

Kennedy’s Bar: https://www.kennedysmunich.de/