This morning it was foggy. It’s not even officially Autumn yet. In the fog I found the missing shopping centre and the backerei therein. Here in Munich, at least, they do a great line in ham and cheese rolls. The bread is better than at home, and I’ve lived on them for two days now. While waiting for 6am to arrive I realised that BMW is here. At 9am I called them, and was told that all today’s tours were booked out, but they kept 30 places each morning. I decided to try to be one of the chosen 30 if I could, and arrived at the BMW factory at Olympic Zentrum just after 10am.
They had 17 places in the factory tour in English at 3:15pm. I took one. I’m not sure why I needed to be there in person to get it. Then there was the BMW Museum. I didn’t want to devote the whole day to BMW, so I trained back to Marienplatz, walked up to the Alte Pinakothek (old art museum). It was a priceless collection of 17th century Old Masters in a magnificent building.
I gave it 35 minutes. My 12€ also got me into the Neue Pinakothec across the park, and the Moderne Pinakothec. The new one was more to my liking: 19th century, including the Impressionists. A couple of nice Van Goghs. This is not one of them.
That one took 45 minutes, then back to the BMW Museum. I had only about 50 minutes there but I got my 10€ worth, saw all the bikes, and the car engines. Then the factory tour. Absolutely fascinating, a 2 hour walk through the 3 series (4 door) and 4 series (2 door) production line, from panel stamping through to running the completed cars up to 150km/h on rollers. Body welding by 847 robots, painting, engine assembly, final assembly and testing. One car each 58 seconds, about 1000 per day. Each car spends 40 hours on the line and receives 8 kilos of paint, 0.01mm thick, plus all the primers, fillers, undercoats. The line stops 3 times per shift for breaks and lunch, but not for shift changes. After that, I was just about done, but I won’t be in Munich again during Oktoberfest, so I went there. What a place! Hundreds of thousands of people crammed into what looks like the Melbourne Show on steroids. Huge amusement rides, food, and a lot of beer. All the breweries have vast “tents”, each with a band and hundreds of tables with people sitting and standing , carousing to the music holding huge steins. In the Lowenbrau tent it was “Mamma Mia”. Beer consumption on an industrial scale. Amazing.
Fairly heavy handed security: a couple of tents wouldn’t let me in with my tiny pack containing an umbrella. No packs allowed. Security and police everywhere, but good natured crowds. After an hour or so there I was buggered, and went home. Tomorrow I pick up the bike.