Wandergliding: Marienplatz & the Olympic Park

October 14th, 2023

The flight from London to Munich was only a few hours. Unfortunately it was cloudy most of the way but I did get a glimpse of a massive airport at one point, which I was able to determine later was Frankfurt.

One of the original Concorde's in it's final resting place at Heathrow:

The hostel I chose to stay in was only a block and a half from Munich’s Ostbahnhof (east train station). Wombat’s is a chain of hostels and it’s a pretty big place, 7 storeys, about 14 rooms per floor and my room had 3 bunk beds. It was a pretty new building and the facilities were quite nice. It was a Friday night and I was a bit worried what the noise was going to be like, especially since as I arrived I walked past a long line of heavy metal rockers, almost all of whom were wearing black, waiting for a concert in a nearby building. I was hoping that my tiredness from jetlag would help me sleep but it wasn’t the best night’s sleep, which was not aided by a couple of my kiwi roomies coming in at 1 am, turning on the light, talking loudly for a bit before leaving, only to return around 5 am. Such is hostel life.

My first item on my itinerary for the day was to head to the central square known as Marienplatz where there is the famous “Glockenspiel” which is high up on the outside of the Rathaus (city hall). I had seen when I was backpacking in 1995 after university so I was curious to see how well I could remember it…and I did. The Glockenspiel was going to do its “show” at 11 and 12 am, I made it there for 11. Marienplatz was not only chock full of people waiting to see the spectacle but there was some kind of exhibition for the local community, but I couldn’t tell what it was about. Everyone waited in anticipation for the Glockenspiel to come alive. It is two levels of figurines, probably four feet tall, who rotate around like a giant cuckoo clock to an automated glockenspiel playing. At first the top level moved with jesters and other figures including a couple of knights on horses with their jousts. On the first pass nothing happened but on the second, one of the knights was knocked back on his horse, much to the amusement of the crowds. Then the lower bit came to life with some dancers spinning around. The climax was both the top and the bottom in action. I’m sure this was pretty amazing technology some 100 plus years ago when it was created, but it’s a bit of a let down in this day and age.

The Rathaus:

The start of the show:

The knights' first pass:

And now the dancers:

The spectators:

The church in the background of the last pic, close up:

Inside that church:

Hold on, did someone read the instruction manual incorrectly...

One of many lovely buildings in Munich:

I had to go into this Lego store...with its Bavarian twist:

The Star Wars section:

Neuschwanstein Castle...which looks like it is straight out of a Disney movie. I hope to visit there in a few days time.

The Rathouse, lego style.

I wandered around the area and was drawn to a super tall spire, which was part of the Frauenkirche, the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady. I’m not religious so churches aren’t my thing, but you could ascend to the top of one of the two spires to have a fantastic view of the city. The spires are almost 100 meters high and Munich has a strict law that no building in the city centre can be taller than that so the view is unobstructed. At the top, there were touchscreens that you could use to find out more information about significant buildings both close by and far.

Looking at the Rathaus:

The pole in the middle of the courtyard is a cellphone tower...modern times mixing with the old.

This was the damage to the church in WWII.

The cavernous inside.

Lovely stained glass windows.

Next on my list for the day was to head out to the Olympiapark. Munich held the summer Olympics in 1972, a year after I was born. The games were mired by the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian Black September terrorists. After a memorial service for the fallen, the games resumed 34 hours later.

The Olympic Park became a Munich landmark and is still heavily used today. It has a distinctive look to it with these sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metallic ropes…supposedly quite revolutionary at the time. The main stadium was the home to FC Bayern Munich, the soccer team in the Bundesliga, German’s top football league until 2005. Many concerts have been held there as well, with the Rolling Stones having played there more than any other band. The swimming complex is still active as well. It was interesting to see pictures of how the land used to be completely flat area but over 3 years with 5000 workers, it was transformed into some small grassy hills, undulating walkways and the main stadium is partially set into the ground.

First off, I walked to the stadium which only cost 3.50 Euros to enter. It’s pretty impressive with its 75,000 seats of slightly varying shades of green. What immediately struck me was the narrow walkway, only about 2 persons wide, that rimmed the stadium. This was the only throughfare for attendees to use to enter and exit…seemed a bit crazy. For an extra cost you could walk along the roof and for even a bit more money, you could zipline across the field, from the roof down to the top of the stands on the opposite side. The place had almost a church-like silence to it, apart from the odd excited zipliner, and it was cool to imagine the cacophony of sights and sounds which must have happened 51 years ago when the Olympics were in full stride.

The mesmerizing green seats:

It is a pretty cool venue.

The crazy narrow walkway to get in and out of the stadium:

Trying out a green seat:

A zipliner:

The church-like atmosphere:

What the grounds looked like before construction:

The view from the other side:

Perhaps this is where they put all the dirt they dug out for the stadium:

The still active swimming stadium:

Mandatory Olympic rings shot:

Next, I ventured up the Olympicturm (tower). It was completed in 1968 and stands at 291 meters, although the viewing deck and revolving restaurant sit at about 200 meters. Not only is it a tourist attraction, but it also serves as a broadcasting tower. The elevator rockets up at 7 m/s, quick enough to make your ears pop. The views, not surprisingly, were great. Just like the Frauenkirche, there were signs denoting what you could see. I noticed one showing the Olympic Village (which was pretty obvious to see) but also a memorial for the victims of the Olympic Massacre. It was a bit of a backtrack to walk there but I decided to head there anyways to check it out.

BMW's headquarters:

BMW's factory complex. The close building with the black patched roof is BMW Welt.

The Olympic village. The hostage taking took place in the lower white buildings on the left.

Looking at the stadium:

The green hilly area:

Leaving the park:

The Israeli memorial with the names of the fallen.

Across a main road from the Olympiapark is the main headquarters and factory for BMW. The place looked massive from the Olympic Tower. There are two places that the public can visit, the BMW Welt (World) and the BMW Museum. The BMW Welt is free to enter whereas tickets and about 3 hours are required to visit the museum. I’m not the biggest car aficionado (unlike my nephew who sells fancy cars in Maryland), nor did I have the time as it was about 3pm at this time so I opted to check out the Welt. I had been walking for a long time and hadn’t had lunch yet so that was my first stop, a little cafeteria inside the building. Feeling a bit recharged, I had a wander around but didn’t last too long before deciding to head back to the hostel…still cool to see.