In the second weekend of August, we made a short trip to Munich, again by road. It was a good two and half hours by road. We were to meet my brother's family there. It was a blazing hot weekend. In Europe when the sun comes out, it doesn't just shine!.. it burns!.
With just an hour left, we rushed to the topmost floors which housed the "Astronomy" sections. This place was so informative. Disappointedly, the planetarium was closed that day. On the terrace of the museum there were some super collections of sundials and clocks, down the ages. The terrace was worth the effort to reach, just for the view it offered of the Munich skyline!.
We reached Munich a little after noon. After parking our car in the hotel garage, we took public transport to reach our first stop- the Deutsches Museum. In Munich, like most European cities, parking is hard to find. In fact the museum website warns you the "there is no parking for private individuals"!. But pubic transport is top-notch!. A day ticket, especially for a group is quite affordable.
The Deutsches Museum is Germany's top science museum, spread over an area of 73000 square meters!. It has six floors and covers more than 50 fields of technology.
We started of at the ground floor, starting with the shipping section and then moved to the aviation section. One striking memory of that section was the imposing model of the fuselage section of a passenger aircraft.
Next we headed to the basement where they housed the "Kids Kingdom". With three kids in tow, we spent the maximum time per exhibit here!. But it was great to see and learn even for an adult!. It had a wonderful section of musical instruments. For the first time, I got to visualize how a piano makes music!. It also had a informative section on eclipses- simply explained solar and lunar eclipse models.
We were famished by the end of it and headed straight for the lunch room. Lunch was unexpectedly awesome!. This museum had one hell-of-a restaurant!.
After lunch we had just 2 hours before closing time. We rushed through some floors, glancing as we went at textiles, printing technology and photography. The next most exciting section was "Technical toys"!. Fantastic demos of how things as simple as wipers work!. There was a model brick factory near by. Also there was a neatly explained section on "Glass making".
With just an hour left, we rushed to the topmost floors which housed the "Astronomy" sections. This place was so informative. Disappointedly, the planetarium was closed that day. On the terrace of the museum there were some super collections of sundials and clocks, down the ages. The terrace was worth the effort to reach, just for the view it offered of the Munich skyline!.
As we made our way down, another great exhibit that comes to memory was the tunnel making section and some superb information about how the Eurostar was built.
At the end of it, (and like I feel about most museums), I felt, I needed to see this place again! sometime!.
Heading out of the museum, we walked down (quite a distance!), to the famous Munich English Garden. We walked along the Isar river, that was dotted with white islands of sand, full of weekenders lazing along the waterfront. In the English Garden, we watched surfers ride the popular "Wave"- artificial rapids. For dinner that evening, we headed to an Indian restaurant close to the park. Although, the ambience was friendly, the food was disappointing!.
The next day, we left for the Olympia Park and BMW Welt. The BMW Welt was super!. The show stopper was a magnificent Rolls Royce "Phantom" proudly displayed under a banner which read "Strive for perfection in everything you do". The Welt is home to the first permanent RR exhibition outside of the UK. There were also enough BMW race cars, cabrios and hatchbacks to make one go gaga.
Next we headed towards SeaLife that was housed in the park premises. I have never been to a SeaLife and was keen to explore it, as were the kids. The tickets were slightly pricey! but once inside, you are lost in the world under water. They even let you touch a starfish!. The best was last (always planned that way!)- a live session of scuba divers feeding the shark, fish and turtles!.
We had lunch at one of the numerous restaurants outside and the food was not bad at all!.
After lunch we hopped onto a little toy train which went around the park and gave you some insight about the place. The park itself was built for the 1972 Olympics. and was mostly built under the ground!. There was a nice little amusement arena that was heaven for my toddler. The older kids were not disappointed- there was an interesting "Bubble walk on water" ride for them, on the lake.
Our Munich weekend was time well spent!.
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