The Stellplatz at Bayern Munich, Munich City and the Olympic Park.
Moving from Caravans to Motorhomes after many years we often get asked why ?. The truth is it took only one trip to Europe to convince us to move over for the lifestyle we now have. The reason was the significance of the Stellplaz or Motorhome Aire as its commonly generally referred to albeit the latter is the name for the French variety ( there are other national names). We travelled through France to Spain for the winter in 2017 and were convinced of the ease that Motorhomes could park over night. Caravans are not allowed on Aires of course and we returned from the trip and immediately bought a motorhome. There is no right or wrong answer to this question of course but simply one of personal preference based on planned usage. For us it was simply one of mobility.
Finding Stellplatz, which means parking place in German , has never been easier with apps to help , Camper Connect, Park4night and CamperStop and when in France we also use the Camping -Car Park App. We also carry the hard copies of the Bord Atlas and All the Aires books , but use these less and less as the apps have got better and data signals more reliable. There is a link here to buy these books if you still require a paper copy. https://www.vicarious-shop.com/products/reise-mobil-bord-atlas-2021-stellplatze-germany
This Blog is about our stay over at one such Stellplatz , at the Bayern Munich Football Club.
FC Bayern Munich Ingolstädter Str. 272, 80939 München, Germany
Fc Bayern Munich
Munich was on our agenda for two reasons, Football and the Olympics, so when we found the Stellplatz at the Bayern Munich Football Club a warm sense of satisfaction came over us. Typical of the efficiency with which European nations facilitate motorhome travel , on non match days the Stadium Car Park becomes a StellPlatz, complete with a number of Electric Hook ups. There was a 24 hour parking fee of about €10-15 range. It’s very convenient as the Stadium opens its restaurants most days , especially for people undertaking the stadium tour. For those without football knowledge this is Germanys most famous and successful club. Their devoted fan base means that it is unlikely that any one other than season ticket holders would get a seat.
The Stellplatz location is ideal for catching the train into the City of Munich or to cycle using the safe cycle lanes. We decided to take the stadium tour as we are both football fans and former season ticket holders of Manchester United. Munich holds significance for any supporter of the Reds, as it was the location of the Munich Air Disaster which took the lives of a number of the Busby Babes, support staff and Journalists. Although not the location of the disaster the Club here do have a memorial plaque.
Being Football fans, touring football stadiums with a history of winning domestic and European championships is always a delight and of course our team beat the mighty Bayern Munich in extra time on the 26 May 1999, to win the Champions League in the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona. This was arguably the pinnacle of the Alex Ferguson era against a worthy adversary and a location two Manchester United supporters could not resist. The most interesting thing about the stadium is that in its outer construction there are 300,000 LED lights embedded into the structure and when turned on offer a really impressed sight, as the colour of the stadium turns through pink, as the sun goes down into the Bayern red during the night, before moving back through pastel pink to white as the day break comes. All viewable from the Motorhome. Any colour can be used and when the National Team play here the black, yellow and gold tri-colour flag is lit up on the stadiums structure.
Deciding against the train we set off on bikes to visit the City Centre and the Olympic Park as the cycle ways were mainly off road and through glorious parks, full of cafes and places to relax for the locals. No wonder it is consistently voted the nicest city to live in Europe , it also has a real safe and clean air feel about it. We stopped in the city for some traditional Munich lunch and a beer of course.
Here are some fun facts about Munich.
Munich is further north than any major US city (excluding Alaska).
There are over 60 beer gardens in Munich.
The local name for Munich is “Minga” although the proper German name is München.
Also the sound of the Bavarian Dialect might be hard to understand for many other Germans. ( like being in Newcastle 😂)
At Munich’s Technische Universiät (Tech University) 4-stories high slides help the students to get to classes faster.
The major streets of the old town of Munich were pedestrianised for the Olympics in 1972 and have stayed pedestrian-only ever since.
Most of the famous Oktoberfest is held in September. But the Oktoberfest ends the first weekend in October.
An interesting fact for beer lovers everywhere is that there are six major breweries in Munich: Augustiner Bräu, Hofbräu, Löwenbräu, Hacker-Pschorr Bräu, Spaten-Franziskaner Bräu, and Paulaner Brauerei.
Beer is considered as a food in Bavaria officially. YEA !
The English Garden in central Munich has dual attractions for many visitors. There are beer tents for refreshment and a nudist area where local office workers sunbathe during summer lunch breaks.
We declined the last point and adhered strictly to the British tradition of remaining clothed while drinking our beer.
We missed the Octoberfest by a week and have mixed feelings , it would have been some occasion but the City would have been very crowded and we may not have been able to move around sight seeing as easy.
Munich City Square
Standing at midday in the City Square was a delight , the sun shone on a glorious day and the bells rang out across the city.
From here we set off cycling to the Munich Olympic Park. The Games of course will always be remembered for the terrorist attack on Israeli Olympic team members at the 1972 Summer Games by members of the Palestinian militant group Black September. The attack started at 4:30 AM on September 5, 1972, when eight Palestinian militants took a number of Israeli nationals hostage and demanded in return for their release, the release of Palestinian and Red Army Faction prisoners. The attack was brought to an end but not before eleven Israelis had been killed, along with one Munich policeman, and five Black September terrorists.
There is now a permeant memorial to the Israeli Citizens who died in this atrocity.
The Olympics had returned to the City for the first time since 1936 , where one Adolph Hitler attempted to use the games as a worldwide platform for his ideology but was upstaged by Jesse Owens who made a sweeping blow to Hitlers master race philosophy in the most public way possible.
Copyright - https://www.world-architects.com.
The permanent memorial Munich Olympic Park
The Olympic Park was a delight and we were impressed to find that the facility, its lake and walkways had a legacy value with the people of Munich. Still very much used for sporting events , in fact the Munich Marathon was taking place the day after our visit , but the local people had embraced the facility for social and family gatherings.
After a delightful few days were moved further into Bavaria after filing Munich in a special area in our hearts for places where we have lasting affection.
To visit our Munich Image Gallery click here https://www.behance.net/gallery/106570031/Munich
