Where am I?

It's been here for sometime.  Maybe older than some of you.  It's got global relevance.  There's current and historical reference.  Okay, I'm not doing very well on the guessing game.  Look at the building on the left.  Can you see the logo on the top?  These tents are made from plates, together they appear to be flowing.  The tower is multi-functional.  Part restaurant, part communications tower.  It's the site of the XX summer Olympiad.  Remember Mark Spitz? Seven gold metals?  Olga Korbut and gymnastics?  Not to mention the unmentionable massacre of the Israel team members?

This is a view from the communications tower.  We ended up having dinner here.  Below you can see the BMW headquarters building and the edge of the BMW museum.

For BMW fans, here's the whole shooting match.  lower left huge building is the new gorgeous BMW museum.   We had no time to visit, but it looks fantastic, and huge.  Behind it, is part of the BMW factory.  Mid right is the BMW headquarters building.  It's called something like the quad tower or something.  Off in the distance, top center is the sports arena, in glowing red and almost looks like it's floating.  The color changes every couple minutes.  Our dining experience rotates.  I think we made 2 or so revolutions. 

I liked this divider light wall, made of wire and lighting embedded in the restaurant.

Of particular interest to me is the Olympic pool, from 1972.  The Germans take pride in the facility and the event altogether.  It was exciting to visit, and swim here.  I actually swam in lane 4, as did Mark Spitz, for a number of his amazing metal flurry.

What does this say?  This is the Spitz lane.

Aerial view of the pool and aquatic area.

Artistic view of the dive pool.  In the background is the 50 meter pool.

This is the official symbol for the XX Olympics.  It's actually a flat weaving, but somehow the photo created this 3D view.  It did not look this way directly.

Our hotel is just across the way from the Olympic center.  This shows a tiny view of some architecture, everywhere around us.

I vaguely remember these concrete dorms, and vividly remember the tiered dorms in the background from the Olympics.  They continuously showed these during the hostage crisis.

So, did you guess?  Yes!  It's Munich.

Jib Jab with Tim
As much as we were on the edge of Munich in this location, we did get a good flavor of some highlights in our short visit.  We actually had two really good meals.  One, a traditional Bavarian meal just on the edge of Munich in a neighborhood area.  The other meal was in the communications tower, and the food was actually quite good!  Who would have thought?!  I really enjoyed our German visit.

I just finished my expense report and found the receipt for an awesome place we ate the first night, called Osterwaldgarten.  It's a great regional beer garden with a very local feel and delicious food.  We had the ox, which was a delicious steak.   We meandered around this area, about 4 stops on the metro from our Olympic village hotel, and only found pizza and beer places.  Finally we stopped a local heading into his apartment, and he pointed us to this place for a local Bavarian favorite.

Here's a photo of the awesome fare.  This is delicious ox, and of course some nice root vegetables.  The steak is on a bed of a noodle type thing, with the crispy delicious onions on top, and the stellar juice/gravy/goodness underneath.  I asked if they had a veggie side, and that's where the wok-cooked bell peppers come in, on the left...kind of the Californian adaptation as it were.  The beer, of course, was delicious, and a highlight here.  Yes, it's a beer garden, but it was way cold and late to be eating outside while we were there.

I wish one of these was my mug.

 It's a fun, Bavarian place inside.

Yes, I'm pretty obnoxious, always taking pictures with the camera.  I wanted a working picture, but didn't want to interrupt, so this is not necessarily an ideal candid moment.  None-the-less, here we are, looking professional.  This is Joerg and Mark, ready to head into our meeting.  As you can see, it turned out to be a nice day in Munich.