Perhaps the second most famous thing in Munich (apart from beer) is BMW, the car manufacturer has it's HQ in the city and also a huge manufacturing facility, museum and visitor's centre. The boys in the group were all mildly interested in cars and motorbikes so we decided to hop on the train out to the Olympic park and visit the BMW museum. There are two parts to the museum, a free part and a paid bit, the free part is more like a showroom, showcasing new models and new technology, it was very cool, the architecture was amazing (see picture above) and the shiny new BMW, Mini and Bentley cars looked the part as they glistened under the spotlights, just like in the brochures!
The paid part of the museum was more interesting IMO, it showcased cars, planes and motorbikes from down the ages and also had an interesting exhibit promoting the future direction of car technology. One of the most stunning vehicles was the BMW 507 from the late 50's apparently Elvis had a white one when he was doing his military service in Germany (1958-1960) although he painted his red to stop fans leaving lipstick marks on it, a problem we've all had at some point I'm sure...
Afterwards we headed back into the city to meet up with the girls and had some lunch where I tried my first Augustiner beer. Augustiner is a brewery in Munich that's probably the last surviving family run firm (i.e. not owned by a large corporation) and is by all accounts the best. I can vouch for that viewpoint, the Helles we had at lunchtime was superb, clean, crisp and full of flavour, a delicious beer. We all decided that when we visited the Oktoberfest (the next day) we would head for the Augustiner tent and try their festival beer, excitement was mounting...
More in part V
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