The morning is spent having breakfast at the hotel and packing up our bags and loading them into our car. As it is a convertible and luggage space is limited, we have a bit of a struggle to make all the stuff fit into the boot and back seats (we want to make sure that we can take the top down whenever we want to). It takes some time to fit everything in in the optimal way, ut we are soon finished. We check out of the hotel, but leave the car parked in the garage for now. We then spend the next four or so hours wandering the streets. We first run some errands and then go and have a light lunch at the Viktualienmarkt (or main market place) in the heart of old Munich. We find a table at one of the beer gardens and as the sun has begun to shine through sit outside. We have a couple of beers and plates of wurstel.
To work off some of the vast amounts of beer and food that we have been consuming, we wander the streets for a while. We head down to the river Issar and the island on which the Deutsches Museum is located. It is a shame, but we did not have time to visit this wonderful museum. Lars visited it a number of times on school trips during High School. Anyway, from here we have to start to make our way back to our hotel and car.
But first we make the time to stop off at a small cake shop that we had discovered to try out some of the Apfelstrüdl that we had seen in the window. And at only €2, it was a great bargain - very delicious. We then need to rush back and run some errands, like buying some picnic plates, cooler box and some food for the next few days. Back at the hotel we load our purchases into the car and soon are on our way.
We drive up north to the Olynpiapark. We have scheduled a tour of the BMW factory in Munich and the factory is located near the park. We have been instructed to park our car at the Olympiaturm parking lot. After a few hassles (there is another BMW function going on there), we are able to find a spot for our car. As we have some time to kill, we decide to wander around the park. This is another trip down memory lane for Lars - the last time he had been here was during the actual Olympic games that took place here in 1972.
It is a wonderful setting for the games and the stadium and facility still look as impressive as they did back then. The large, transparent canopies that cover the stadiums and swim hall are an amazing architectural achievement. And right in amongst them is the Olympiaturm that soars 290 meters into the air above them.
It is soon time for us to make our way over to the nearby BMW factory for our tour. It is about a ten minute walk to get there and we make our way to Tor 1 and join a growing group of people. Shortly after 6 PM our tour starts. After a brief, glitzy film, we put on our headsets and protective glasses and make our way into the factory itself. It is quite an amazing process that we get to witness, the way they take some pieces of metal and cut, form and weld them all into the shape of a car. At this point, each car is tagged with a special infrared barcode that allows it to be followed and customised to the buyers specifications. And most of this is done with robots, rather than humans. And it is totally automated. A cool thing to watch. After we have seen the bodies put together, we move onto the paint shop. Again, another amazing, automated process where we see the car bodies go through various coats of paint and other protective layers. Then it is onto the engine shop - not much to see other then engines moving around on conveyor belts with workers attaching bits and pieces. Unfortunately the assembly line is closed visitors as it is under going construction work, so we have to settle for watching a video tape of the process by which the cars are assembled with the seats, interior, etc.
The tour lasts a bit over two hours and once it is over we make our way back to our car and head on our way. We are leaving Munich tonight and we need to find a place to stay as we make our way to our next destination - Neuschwanstein. We head off on the Autobahn towards Landsberg am Lech and then turn south on route 17 as we did yesterday. But this evening we do not turn off to Andechs, but rather carry on route 17. We soon come to a small little village called Römerkessel, where we find a traditional looking Gasthof called Gasthof Römerkessel. We decide to stop here for the night. They have a double room available and we are soon settled in our room. For dinner, we have a small picnic meal in our room from the supplies we had purchased earlier in the day. Then it is soon off to sleep.