9 Sep: Munich Day 5

We set out to do two things today, and it turned into three or four, but a very successful day in several ways.

Deutsches Museum

Out of the several large museums in Munich, the Deutsches Museum of Science and Technology was top of David's list. Never mind the three large art museums, the Egyptian museum, the Kunst & Gewerbe (arts and crafts) museum, the crown jewels at the Residenz; the Deutsches is the world's largest sci-tech museum in exhibits, visitors, everything. So that was thing #1.

We went via tram. Berlin has three modes of public transit: U-bahn, S-bahn, and Bus. Munich adds a fourth layer, an extensive network of trams (like the SF Muni rail), and we rode one around to the Deutches.

Already a crowd at 9:30am.

We spent 3 hours and had time for only a cursory walk-through of this place. It has thorough, informative exhibits on every kind of technology. There are full-size artifacts like machine tools and ships, and gorgeous models and dioramas. Everything is nicely explained in German and in English. Here are a few pictures that may give the feel of the place.

All about wind and water mills in the early-tech section.

Diorama of a medieval ox-treadmill.

Full-size sailing vessel, cut away to show below-decks.

One of dozens of fabulously detailed ship models.

Model being appreciated. There were lots of parents with kids.

Full-size section of an airliner.

German car designs from the 1920s in the transport hall.

By the time we left, the place was packed. Many of the visitors were high-school kids. School hasn't started in Germany.

We mentioned about scarves being in style?

There were exhibits on robotics and nanotechnology but in hindsight, there was not a specific exhibit on computers! Hah! And there never will be, because the Computer History Museum copped all the old Zuse computers for Mountain View!

Lunch

Thing #2 was across town, but now we needed lunch and that turned into a thing by itself. First we took a look down Munich's river, the Isar.

Then we grabbed a tram back to the center and walked through the ViktualienMarkt, the open-air food market we zipped through with Herbert Monday. After checking everything we bought strawberries (erdbeere), fresh-squeezed orange juice, and a half-kilo of brown bread, and picnicked.

As in Italy, vendors always make their veggies look like still-life paintings.

Shoulda got a hunk of cheese, too.

Lots of people eat lunch in the market.

The New Coat

But another thing happened on the way to the market. Marian has been unhappy with the coat she brought from home, for various reasons, and had started looking for another, but not really expecting to find one. But a few steps from the market we passed a clothing store and on a whim, turned in, and shortly found a coat that fit, looked good, had the practical pockets and a good color—and was discounted to only €90! What a coup! Here's Marian looking at fruit in the new coat.

Jugendstil Houses

By now the sun had come out. This was unexpected; the day started drizzly and the forecast was for no better. But there it was, sunshine. Thing #2 was to visit another museum, but now something else called.

Our friend Wally had written to say he remembered that one time on a trip to Munich he had been shown a neighborhood with a number of Art DecoNouveau buildings. He didn't know where but suggested we look. Nothing is hidden from Der Google, and Marian quickly found an article telling just where to look. Now, with the sun out, we decided to go and find them.

The buildings were the same, three- or four-story cubes that are pretty standard residential units in Munich, but with Art DecoNouveau decoration on them. There were not a lot of them but we found some and had a nice walk through a very pleasant area of town. Here are a few pictures of some details.

A typical block in this area and in many other parts of Munich.

And so to Supper

That was quite enough for the day and after a well-earned capuccino we headed home via bus. But the day's successes were not over. After a rest we headed out again to find supper, to a neighborhood we hadn't visited, Sedlinger Tor.

Something we've been wanting is a small, portable, German/English dictionary. We have a phrase-book but it's been pretty much useless. We'd checked three buchHandler shops with no luck. But here, while nosing around for a restaurant, we found another small bookshop and asked and ta-daa, a nice little dictionary, just right for carrying with us. So we sat at an outdoor table and used the dictionary to decode the signs around us.

As always, there are more pictures of the Jugendstil buildings, the market, etc. in the gallery.