We stopped quickly in Munich for a few days before taking off to Vienna. Munich was vibrant, lively city filled with a lot of multiculturalism. We enjoyed the scenery and of course the beer! Who could forget about the beer! At any time of day the old town was packed with massive crowds.

 We also checked out the BMW Welt (Museum). There were two parts to the museum, the showroom where you can pick up your brand new car straight from the factory, as well as marvel at the new cars for BMW, the second part is the actual museum, describing the history of the BMW brand and showcasing their old/new inventions.

The showroom was very much like being at the auto show, but only for BMW, and better since a number of these cars will never make it to North America. Ali fell in love with the latest 118d hatch. All the accoutrements of the 3 series, but smaller and more efficient. Than we saw the Mini section as BMW owns Mini. This is when Anna disappeared for a time. When we caught up with her she was seated in her Mini of choice, "The Baywater" and backup "The Hydepark". Back in Canada they have very different names so I'm hoping we can match them up.

We resisted the urge to buy BMW and Mini souvenirs like luggage and golf clubs, but it was hard. It turns out BMW makes motorbikes as well. They had an extensive display showcasing their motorbikes. They look very different from other motorcycles on the road, still sexy of course, but different.

From the show room we made our way to the actual museum. This is a fascinating building that is any architects dream. Huge walls of thick frosted glass with projections of images all over them. It is practically an art gallery. They did a great job of telling their story here. Turns out BMW started in 1918 building motorcycles well before making cars. The cars didn't come until the 1930's. They displayed many artifacts of their history here in such a creative and modern way that we were truly impressed and blown away by the execution. The interactive displays showcasing engines, their marketing over the years, their creative process and milestones in their designs and history. The best part of course was interacting with all these cars. The Z8 from the late 90's to the 1938 327. But wait!

There's more! BMW also owns Rolls Royce. The Rolls Royce museum is on top of the main one. We

made our way to see the history of one of the premium car brands in the world! We saw the origins of the brand and learned how they managed to get a lady in an elegant nightgown to be on the hood of all their cars, and who she was…scandalous it is!! Everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Winston Churchill have been part of the history of this upscale British brand.

After navigating bike lanes nicer than car lanes back home, a subway and train system that looks like colored spaghetti we can say we managed to have a good time in Munich.

Off to Vienna!