Munich

Over Martin Luther King Day weekend we drove down to Munich. We had a few bumps along the way, but we really enjoyed our trip. We become more and more grateful for our GPS every day. On Sunday we walked around downtown Munich and took in the sites. It was nice because no stores were open and there were relatively few people around. We weren't looking to buy anything so this was perfect for us. Much of Munich was rebuilt after World War II since the city had been bombed and destroyed during the war. Today the city thrives and it's rated as one of the top ten cities for quality of life in the world. While downtown we visited the Marienplatz (St. Mary's square) so named to protect the town from a Cholera epidemic. The town hall in the square is a beautiful building. In the building's tower you can watch carved figures perform the Glockenspiel or Carillon. The Glockenspiel is a dance originally performed in 1517 at the Marienplatz to commemorate the end of the plague.

We spent a good part of the day in one of Munich's many museums, the Deutsches Museum. The Deutsches Museum is a museum of Technology and Science. We highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you have children. We wandered through the exhibits on astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, energy and transport to name a few. They have large displays of aircraft, boats and even rockets. One of the best things about the museum is the children's section. Jay had so much fun playing and I can only imagine how much more fun he would have if he were older. They have mechanical models that kids can experiment with as well as a water-wave pool with little boats and plenty of things to push, pull, and turn. They also had a huge area with giant Lego blocks, a music room equiped with drums, a piano, a giant guitar and a huge xylophone. They have a giant fire engine, a projection room of lights and shadows, Apple computers to play with, and a giant model of a working camera. Mike and I had as much fun as Jay! I must admit, Jay's favorite part of the whole place was a little ramp he could walk up and down. He is only 1 after all. You have to go check out this place though if you have young children and you happen to be in Munich.

Speaking of things to do with your kids in Munich we found an awesome kid-friendly restaurant while we were there, Hofbraukeller . We really hope something similar opens up in the States. The restaurant has a kids play area with all sorts of games, toys and movies to watch. You can drop your child off, tell the workers where you're sitting and leave them there until you're done. It's free of charge when you eat at the restaurant and they have plenty of tables next to the play area so you can keep an eye on your kid. What a great idea! When the kids get board they can play. When it's time to eat they can eat. And for us, with a little one, it was so much easier to eat when Jay was occupied elsewhere. It has become increasingly more difficult to eat out the older Jay gets.

After eating at the restaurant and a quick nap for Jay we headed out to the Olympic complex to try to go swimming. The Olympics were held in Munich in 1972, when several members of the Israeli Olympic team were murdered by the group Black September. Such a sad story. We weren't actually able to go swimming there because the pool was closed. We considered going to the hockey game but thought better of it when we considered Jay. Instead we went to a shopping mall so that Jay could wander around a little. He had a great time watching a frog fountain and playing in the water. Mike found a huge sports shop and chatted it up with an employee about snow conditions. When the man found out we're from Salt Lake City he said, "Why are you skiing here? The snow is way better in Utah!" Yeah, that's right. Even the Germans know the truth.

Some of our favorite buildings to see at night were the giant Allianz Football Arena and the BMW Welt building (BMW has their headquarters in Munich). More about our Munich trip tomorrow.

A few more pics...