Munich
Germany
2002
The Marienplatz is on the
town square area. It is famous for its clock with moving figures
drinking beer and having a
party. Large crowds gather on the hour
to see this show.
The figures are located in
the green section of the tower at the 5th floor level.
The clock figures are
visible in this photo.
One of the most famous
tourist traps in Munich is the Hofbrauhaus.
When you see pictures of German Fraus bringing armloads of beer
mugs to thirsty crowds at Oktoberfest, this is the place. Now, they have some competition. Notice the Hard Rock Café just across the
street! Old meets the new.
Inside the Hofbrauhaus, a
live Polka Band adds atmosphere.
Of course, they took a beer
break about every 15 minutes.
Enjoying a Hofbrauhaus beer
with Jeff and Jim, a couple of friends from the states.
After all that beer, we decided
to walk it off by climbing the tower of St Peter’s Church.
Up the narrow staircase in
the tower of St Peter’s Church.
A nice view of the
Frauenkirche from the tower of St. Peter’s Church.
Many say the two towers of
the church were designed to resemble beer mugs.
How appropriate for Munich,
home of Oktoberfest.
After enjoying the view from
atop St. Peter’s Church, we went inside
to enjoy the magnificent
sanctuary.
The Market Square at
Munich. Lots of fresh fruits and
vegetables.
Munich Market Square. “Kartoffel” – potatoes.
The Germans take their
potatoes seriously, as you can see by the variety for sale at this vendor.
OK, Spencer, I’ll buy you a
Nintendo!!
This guy was at the seafood
vendor’s tent.
The Munich Market Square and
Maypole.
The Europeans are somewhat
less inhibited in their advertisements.
Munich Technical
Museum
The Deutches Museum
highlights many technological areas of development from printing presses to
space travel, with automobiles, airplanes, ships, computers, clocks – anything
mechanical – thrown in.
The main foyer of the
Deutches Museum features ships and planes.
Some early planes featured
in the Deutches Museum, including a
replica of the
Wright brothers plane and a
German Fokker triplane from WW I.
A close-up of the German
Fokker triplane from WW I.
A Messerschmitt Me-163
(top), the only rocket-powered fighter in WW II.
On the floor is the
Messerschmitt Me-262, the world’s first jet powered fighter.
1898 Benz Velo. The first
car in the world to be produced in series.
1200 were built from
1894-1901.
An early BMW sports car.
1938 Adler Diplomat. I originally thought this was a steam-powered
vehicle, but was corrected by a very nice gentleman named Matthias. He sent me the link to the following site
about the interesting science of creating gas vapors from burning wood. Thanks, Matthias!
http://www.green-trust.org/woodgas.htm
Fuel shortages during WWII prompted searches
for alternative fuels in England, Germany, Scandinavia and many other
countries. One of the most unusual solutions involved the modification of
vehicles for use with wood, charcoal, or coal. Typical modifications included
A) a gas generator; B) a gas reservoir; and C) carburetor modifications and
additional plumbing to convey, filter, and meter the gas into the engine. The gas generator was an airtight vessel into
which was introduced a charge of wood, charcoal, or anthracite coal. Heat was
applied to the fuel either internally or externally to initiate a
self-sustaining gasification of the fuel in an oxygen deprived environment. The
resulting "woodgas" was piped to the reservoir, or in the case of small
engines, directly to the engine carburetor. Wood-gas modified vehicles were
therefore technically a "dual fuel" vehicle in that a self-sustaining
gasification of the wood charcoal, or coal required another fuel to start the
process.
1922 Rumpler Tropfenwagen
This was an aerodynamic
design unmatched for 65 years by a production automobile.
The drag coefficient was
.28, a number matched today by cars like the Audi A6 and the Corvette.
The top speed was 68 mph,
quite impressive for 1922.
What self-respecting German
car museum would not have a few VWs?
Of course, there was a
Beetle, but there was also this beautiful Karmann-Ghia.
Here’s an opportunity to see
the insides of a large V-10 truck engine at work.
There’s even a section
devoted to automotive safety.
Here is one BMW you could
probably buy for a slight discount.
Besides cars and planes,
there are also lots of other displays at the Munich Technical Museum.
Here are a couple of
examples of early typesetting machines.
Munich at Night
Before leaving Munich to go
back to the hotel,
we caught once last view of
the Marienplatz at night.
Another scene in Munich at
night.
Hope you enjoyed
MUNICH.