Day Trip to Munich

Yesterday, we went to Munich (or München in German) for the day.  We got on a train a little after 8AM and were there by 10:30AM.  We were on a different kind of train than when we went to Switzerland, so we were able to get a parent and child compartment.  This allowed us to contain Brady and he had more freedom to run around without disrupting anyone else.  This is something we will miss very much when we leave and I'm sure getting on the plane to come home will be difficult because Brady will be so used to the freedom he has on trains.

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria, a little north of the German Alps. It's the third largest city in German, behind Berlin and Hamburg.  Above you can see the city's coat of arms and it boasts a monk, as München means "by the monks' place."
 

Below are some pictures as we walked from the Hauptbahnhof through the downtown area. 

Munich, like Stuttgart has a downtown area that contains roads that are for pedestrians only.  Munich's downtown area is of course larger than Stuttgart's, but the feel of even large European cities is far more relaxed and comfortable than those we have in the United States.

We hurriedly walked from the Hauptbahnhof through most of the downtown area to reach Marienplatz, where the world famous Glockenspiel is located.

The reason for the rush was because at 11AM each day, the 32 life-sized figures re-enact two stories from the 16th century.  

The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V to Renatta of Lorraine.  In honor of the happy couple, there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white).  The Bavarian knight wins every time of course.  This is followed by the bottom half and second story: Schafflertanz (the coopers' dance).  According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich.  The coopers are said to have danced through the streets to, "bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions."  The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times.

The tower of the toy museum, which we went to during the afternoon (separate post).

One of my friends here had lived in Munich, so she recommended a few good places to eat.  One of them had traditional German food and I was lucky enough to get a bread dumpling, which is something that I was raised on with my Oma's cooking.  It wasn't as good as hers, but it was great to have a taste of "home."  Brady and I also shared an apple strudel, another of my staples growing up.

Speaking of Oma, I had to snap this picture when I saw the sign.  Growing up, no one I ever knew outside of my family had an Oma.  Here it's very common place, since Oma is the German word for grandmother.  My Oma was very excited when she found out we'd be living in Germany, and I can't wait to regale her of all our travels when we get home.

 This is a pic of the Viktualienmarkt  which is is a daily food market, in a square in Munich's city center.  We browsed a few of the stalls and got a bag of dried fruit that was an Aloha mix, so it contained pineapple, kiwi, apple, coconut, banana, and few other tasty fruits.

 Munich is much more geared for tourism than Stuttgart is, so there were souvenir shops everywhere!  I couldn't resist, so while I poked in and out of stores, Andy took some pics.

We had all day, so we decided to just walk down some random streets and explore the city away from the main drag.  This was so cool to see built along other houses.

 There were so many of these cool archways that we encountered.

 We were in a store that specialized in traditional German outfits, and couldn't resist snapping a pic of Brady with the hat.  My brothers and I used to wear plastic ones when we went to Oktoberfest in Pittsburgh every year growing up.  I can't wait to take Brady to his first Oktoberfest this fall (even if it's in Pittsburgh rather than Germany).

I took this picture for my dad.  When we went to Vegas when we were kids and there were lots of tour groups, where the leader held up a flag so the group could stay with them.  After that, it became somewhat of a joke.  When we went to Vegas, when I was 21, my dad would hold up his hat like he was one of those tour guides.  Seeing this guy leading his tour group by holding up an umbrella brought back some fun memories.

 This pic is also for my dad.  He's constantly in Germany for business and every time he goes, he asks my mom and I what we'd like him to bring back.  The answer was always the same, Hummels.  He would always come back with something else, saying it was impossible to find Hummels.  Several of those times he was in Munich.  There were Hummels in almost every store, and most of them advertised that they had them, so you didn't even have to go in stores and search.  He's so busted!  This particular store had several of the ones my mom has (she has one to represent all of her kids), and although I have one to represent Brady, there was one I really wanted, but they were very expensive there.

 Inside the new Rathaus (city hall).

 More inside the Rathaus.

 A different angle on the Marienplatz and Glockenspiel.

The world famous Hofbräuhaus.  It has since become a chain and there's on in Pittsburgh.  Andy and I will have to go there when we miss the tastes of Germany.

Our train heading back to Stuttgart was set for 7:30PM and we wanted to be at dinner at 5:30PM.  Around 2PM, we'd seen everything we wanted to see downtown and decided to explore some other options, so we headed to the tourist office to see what else we could see.  We decided that we had plenty of time and it would be smart to take a U-bahn to see both the BMW Museum and Olympic Park, which were at the same stop. 

 This is a pic of the BMW factory.  We walked through the showroom and Andy was taken aback that they actually had people buying and picking up their BMWs there.  The museum will be discussed in a separate post since there are so many pictures.

 The only hiccup we had during the day was right at the end of our tour of the BMW Museum.  I was using the restroom and when I came out, I found Andy desperately trying to clean up Brady, as he'd been sick.  We were fortunate to be right next to the bathrooms and that I'd bought him a souvenir shirt.  The unfortunate part was that since it was later in the afternoon and he was tired, we had just given him his puppy blankie.  We attribute Brady getting sick from eating three pretzels and ice cream.  He was exhausted after that and took a 20 minute power nap while we walked.  You can see his sweatshirt tucked around his legs instead of pants.

The tennis courts from the 1972 Munich summer Olympics as we walked through Olympic park.

 

 The Olympic Stadium was a bit run-down and gated off, so this is an aerial shot of it.

We had quite the adventure getting back to the Munich city center.  Instead of walking back to the U-bahn station we'd gotten off on, we followed the signs in Olympic park.  This took us 3km out of the way, and by the time we got to the station, we were exhausted and hurting from a long day walking.

It was all worth it when we finally made it to our dinner destination, the Hard Rock.  The familiar smell hit us the moment we walked in the door and I rewarded myself with a margarita.  We got the nachos and Andy got a big American burger, while I rejoiced in an entree chicken salad with real ranch dressing (something you can't find in Germany).  Brady was great the whole time and shared our food.  He even made us all laugh when he scoped out the waitress from head to toe (she laughed too).  Usually we tend to get shirts at the Hard Rocks we've been too and it just so happens that Brady already has one.  When he was 24 hours old, my dad made a business trip to Munich and got a shirt for Brady.  It says "My first Hard Rock tee," and it was the smallest size they had so it doesn't even fit him yet.  Back then, we would've never dreamed he'd be in Munich only two short years later.

I come from a very strong German and Austrian heritage as my paternal grandparents were immigrants.  I consider myself lucky that I have such a strong connection to my culture and I want to pass that on to Brady as well.  So when I found out we'd be coming to Germany, I knew I had to get Brady some authentic lederhosen.  It's been hard to find here in Stuttgart, but I found a specialty lederhosen shop for children in Munich.  I was able to piece it together myself.  He's pictured below trying it on this morning.  I also got him the knee-high socks to go with it.  

Halfway Home

Today marks the official halfway point of our assignment in Germany.  We left Pittsburgh on January 18 and our return date is currently July 18.  A lot has happened in the last three months.  We made a trip to Switzerland and Brady turned 2!  We endured sub-zero temps in February, a warm and sunny March, and now a very rainy April.  We hope to make an announcement about where/when our final placement with Bosch will be during the next few weeks.

There have been many challenges living overseas.  I can honestly say the first few months were the most stressful, trying to adjust to the new culture, and there were many times where I broke down and wanted to just go home.  It's been very difficult not having a car, even with the great public transportation system.  If it's rainy, we simply don't go out because it's near impossible to push the umbrella stroller and hold an umbrella.  That means there are many days where both Brady and I go stir crazy.  The food situation has also been very challenging.  There is a severe lack of variety and light options.  Almost everything involves carbs and there's a bakery on every single corner.  I've received lots of sympathy for our situation, but I've also gotten my fair share of criticism.  There were people who didn't understand my reluctance to travel abroad and thought I was overreacting when I got here.  I can only assume that those people have never lived in a foreign country (traveling to tourist destinations doesn't count), and certainly not with a child.  Until they've done that, their opinion of how I feel doesn't really matter too much to me. 

Now that we've reached the halfway point, there is so much ahead of us.  We made only one trip in the first half and have more than I can count to come in the next few months.  We start this weekend by making a trip over the mountains to Munich, and then next week making a four-day trip to Vienna.  Every weekend from here until the end will be packed with trips (either extended or just for the day).  We have plans to make the most out of our opportunity here to see as much as we can.  Below are some random pictures I've taken off of our phones from the last three months.

 At the Stuttgart airport when we first arrived.  We hope to take home way less luggage.

 One of the early days before we figured out the food situation.  There were lots of frozen pizzas and empty bellies between meals.  You can see Brady can't wait for it to come out of the oven.

 Brady entertaining himself before our freight shipment arrived with all his toys.

Having fun in one of the few play carts they have here.

 Hanging at the BK Lounge.

When Brady's a good boy at the store on Saturdays, he gets to pick out a pastry.  This was a few weeks before Easter, so they had more bunny themed items.  He had no qualms about taking a bite out of the Easter bunny.

 Trying on my Pitt snuggie.

 Time to build a tower on top of the tiny Lego car.

 Concentrating

 Elation at having knocked everything down.

 Playing video games on a lazy Sunday morning.

 KFC

Hanging out

The Porsche Museum

Stuttgart is not only home to Mercedes-Benz, but to Porsche as well.  Above is the logo for Porsche, and you can clearly see in the center, the city shield for Stuttgart with the horse.  The Porsche Museum is literally two blocks from our apartment and it was on our list of places to see before we headed home this summer.  We had just been to the Mercedes-Benz on Good Friday, and that Saturday, we were relaxing at home, while Brady napped, when Andy got a call.  It was his friend, Dennis, who was headed our way to visit the Porsche Museum with his American girlfriend, Courtney.  They wanted to see if we wanted to join them since it's down the road from where we live.  We said sure, and soon were on our way walking the few short blocks to the museum.

The view of the Porsche Museum from a little bit further back.  We live about two blocks down the road on the left hand side.

As the seventh-generation Porsche 911 hits the market, the Porsche Museum is honoring its brand-defining model with a new exhibition called 911 Identity.The display in the museum highlights each generation of 911, from the 1963 original through to the 2012 991, offering facts, figures and artifacts from their year of launch.

There was certainly no shortage of vehicles in this museum, but after the previous day at the Mercedes-Benz Museum, I was a little overloaded with car stuff.  I'm not as into it as Andy and Dennis, so I was more interested in the history at Mercedes-Benz.  There were more cars at Porsche, but I just walked around and took a lot of pictures.  Enjoy.

Brady along for the ride, as usual.  He was very happy to be surrounded by cars two days in a row.

This is where we started to get to the 911 series.

Keep dreaming Brady ;)

This clay model was actually sculpted by a machine.  It had grooves and looked like it had been made in the sand.

This was really cool.  It was a 911 sliced down the middle so you could see everything inside.  You can see that the engine is in the back.

Andy was getting a good look at the ABS system that Bosch was making in the Anderson plant where he worked.

An older police car.  I'm sure the police officers in the States would love to be driving around a Porsche.  I'm sure it's a lot faster than what they're driving.

Three different model types from the three different Porsches.  The original from Ferdinand (far right), Ferry (center), and F.A. (far left).

One of the very newest models.

Another Pittsburgh connection, with the PPG on the race car.  Notice the Bosch as well ;)

Andy and Dennis in front of the 911 Porsche that's Dennis's dream car.

The boys waiting to get their chance to get inside a real 911 Porsche.

Brady is such a natural with cars.  Guess he's lucky his daddy works in the automotive industry.

We had a great time at the Porsche Museum, especially going with friends.  Afterwards, we hopped on a train downtown and ate at a really good Mexican restaurant.  It was our first time eating out at a nice sit down restaurant here in Stuttgart.  Dennis and Courtney found out why it is that we eat our food so quickly ;)  Brady certainly doesn't have much patience when he decides he's done.