Münchestein

Greetings, fellow Society members!

This time I shall report about Bawaria, Tirol, und Liechenstein. Recently an esteemed school-mate from the past called up, and asked if I would accompany him to Münich. After checking my calendar, and realizing I've never been to said city, I replied in the affirmative.
So early one morning we found ourselves outside München, acquiring ourselves a rental carriage:

Sir Eppu behind the wheel

My main goal was to check up on some contemporary architecture. On the top of my list was Ye Olde Olympic Stadium, and a brand-new BMW showroom, as well as a new Synagogue. We thence set out to explore the town. In the rather thick fog we stumbled upon the odd, distinct hanging tents of the Olympic Stadium:



It was too foggy to even see the top of the Olympic Tower!
On the other side of the road, the Bayerische Motor Werke had just last month opened a state-of-the-art showroom facilities:

The old(er) BMW HQ tower in background,

the new BMW Welt in foreground

Outside the "tornado"...

...meanwhile inside, Sir Eppu
inspects a carriage...

Münchestein pt. II: Onwards and Upwards

The next day we got up and going bright and early. In fact, we left way before sunrise. We headed down towards the Alps, and run into our second Olympic Stadium:

The one at Garmisch-Partenkirchen had
somewhat more old-fashioned pomp!


Pastoral beauty in the Lower Alps


Driving down towards Innsbrück got interesting, as the fog intensified: we could see barely 20 yards on the steep switchback road! Fortunately it wasn't slippery. Once in Innsbrück, we run into our third Olympic Stadium! Who would have thunk it?!

Finally, at around 2000 metres up, we briefly broke through the fog & clouds:

Our trusty carriage at 2000m and sunshine

The descent got interesting, again. The map informed us of 18% decline. As we had summer tyres on, some snow was unwelcome news :) At times we could see nothing but fog past the road railing, into what was obviously steep and deep drop in to the valley far below... But sometimes we caught a glimpse of some more pastoral beauty:


Somewhere along the way, in Western Österreich, we drove through the longest (14 km) and most expensive (8.5 euros) tunnel I've ever driven through:




To our great surprise, our passports were actually checked on the Österreich-Liechenstein border! Due to some misunderstanding and driving error, the Border-Guard was somewhat curt, and we dared not request a stamp in our travel documents... But onwards to the capital of all of Liechenstein, Vaduz. This rather sleepy hamlet was somewhat underwhelming in the winter and Sunday grayness. The Prince of Liechenstein's castle, Schloss Vaduz, sits right on top of the town. We rode up to it, but nobody seemed to be home, nor was there any kind of guard precence...

Yours truly in central Vaduz
(photography by Sir Eppu)

By now it was getting late, so we drove directly to München for some Sauna and dinner. 4 countries* and 2 Olympic stadia in one day is enough, one must say!

*incl. about 15 minutes in Switzerland