November 22nd

Moving Day!

We took a plane from Munich to Prague, Czech Republic. 

Munich airport is a long train ride from the city, about 30 minutes. The airport had a skating rink and its Christmas decorations up and ready for the start of the season. 

After a smooth and quick 45 minute flight to Prague, we went to check into our apartment.    It is a big city 1.2 million, plus lots of tourists. Most tourists seem to be from Germany, Italy or France. We have not heard many that sound like they are from the U.S.  

We just went wandering around, first to the Charles bridge, built during the 1400’s. Not much bombing here during the war, so it’s bridges are old. This city is very picturesque, too bad it is so crowded, even in November. 

The one man band. 

The streets are rough cobble stone and pretty steep. This was the start of the 8 miles. It starts to get dark here really early, it is only 3:30 in these pictures and by 4:30 the street lights are on, many are gas lights.  We had to have some gingerbread cookies part way up, I was starving and they were soooo good! Praha is the Czech word for their city. 

Well worth the climb, such a pretty city from the top. 

The Prague Palace is here at the top. It wasn’t open, but the whole area around it and the church (that dates back to 1100) required a security search to enter. 

November 21st

We were up early this morning to catch a train to Dachau. I always thought that Dachau was the concentration camp only. It was a town first and now those poor folks will always have to have the stigma of being from Dachau. 

It was a cold, gloomy day here and that pretty much set the tone for Dachau. We didn’t take many pictures, not really a good place for a camera. The barracks that you wonder through begin with pre-war information and end with the liberation. Dachau was in existence for 12 long years, the longest of any of the camps. Hard to believe that it began only 80 years ago. Those who suffered through and made it out alive never want us to forget what they endured,so that it never can happen again. There were very few tourists at the camp today, most of the visitors were high school students from Germany. Victor told us it was required that all students visit the camp. 

Owen and Reid’s pumpkin carriage!

We wandered through the streets from the train station to find this palace. Nymphenburg Palace was home to many Bavarian royalty. It was built in the late 1600’s and became a museum in 1918. 

King Ludwig loved his carriages. 

Pretty tired and really hungry, we trekked back to old town to the Hofbräuhaus. It is the oldest beer house in Munich. It dates back to the 1500’s and the building that it is in now was built in 1897. I had a Radler (sweeter than we have in the states) and Bryan a dark beer. The food was good, sausages and sauerkraut.  There is a room you can see in the picture below, that keeps personal beer steins locked up for regular customers.

November 20th

The hotel breakfast this morning had lots of cheeses, breads, jellies, meats and my favorite was a tiny red pepper stuffed with cream cheese.  

We headed out for a Rick Steves walk which started in Marienplatz, a square known for its Glockenspiel. It was also full of vendors setting up their stands for the soon to be Christmas market.

Munich’s Viktuallienmarkt has been in the same spot since the 1400s. There were booths with fruits and vegetables, Christmas, flowers and a beer garden. A giant Maypole is the center of the market and is redecorated every May.  

Asam church, built by two brothers. The church is very small and connected to shops on Kaufingerstrasse. 

St. Michael’s church was totally destroyed during WWII. 

The BMW Welt
After our walk around the historical area we took the U3 to BMW Welt. This little car (above) was popular in the late 50’s and opens from the front, the steering wheel even moves forward so the driver can squeeze into the seat.  We took a tour of the plant where we started in the press shop. The  robots moved the pieces of steel to be molded. It was totally fascinating to see so many robots welding, gluing and bolting together the bodies of the cars. The cars on the line were all different models, the robots scan a QR code so they know what model is up next. The paint shop was one of the most fascinating departments. They totally immerse the car by flipping it 360, to coat with zinc and phosphate that prevents corrosion. They used only robots to spray the cars the atomizer and the electrostatic method allowed painting a black car right behind a white without overspray. Pictures would sure have been good here, but no cameras were allowed. 🙁





The 1972 Olympic stadium.