Munich - Day 1

It is now quiet in the house, everybody has made it back to their homes.  I have to admit it is a little weird to be all by ourselves again.  We had such a wonderful time with our family being here!!!  Though now I can get caught up on all the blog posts that I am behind on.  :-)  So here we go!

So after a couple days of rest to get their clocks changed over we headed to Munich.  We left David, AJ and Michael at home because they had a karate tournament on Saturday to be in.  I wanted to take the family to the Olympic Stadium in Munich to start our time.

We started out with a great German lunch in the beautiful weather!!  We couldn't have asked for better food, company or weather!!!

After lunch we headed over to our tour.  It started our with a tram ride around the grounds.

The lightweight tent construction of the Olympic Stadium was considered revolutionary for its time. This included large sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by steel cables that were used for the first time on a large scale. The idea was to imitate the Alps and to set a counterpart to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin , held during the Nazi regime. The sweeping and transparent canopy was to symbolize the new, democratic and optimistic Germany. This is reflected in the official motto: "The cheerful Games."

Al and Julie excited to be in Germany and seeing the sights!!



Looking out at the BMW museum.  I didn't know that their symbol was airplane propellers because that is what they first made.

The family heading into the Olympic Stadium through the VIP entrance.

I love the 70s ceilings they put in here!

This room we didn't get to go into last time we were here.  It is a private room for big companies, both for the Olympic games and for the soccer games after.

The interesting thing about the colors above my families' heads is there is no red, black or grey.  Staying away from the colors of the pre-WWII games.

This was the first games that pictograms were used.  They decided that it was easier to do pictures than have all the different languages.

Al and the girls playing at one of the longest Foosball tables that I have ever seen!!!  It was quite fun!!!

Listening to our tour guide about some of the history of the stadium.

This is one of two supports for the whole roof.  They made it so the roof can bend and sway with the wind or with the heavy snow so it doesn't break.

This is where they lit the Olympic flame!

Showing us a birds eye view of whole roof and stadium.

Julie conquering Kaitlyn on the soccer field!

Al, Julie, Gabby and Kaitlyn standing in the middle of the soccer field.

Dad trying to kick a goal!  He did a great job!!!

Mom and Dad on the field.  It is amazing to think of what all happened on this field.

Kaitlyn getting ready to race around the track!

Gabby trying to kick a goal.  She was close.

The family, minus my boys, having a great time!!!!

If you look right underneath the roof, you will see a balloon.  This helps the roof give and take during the different type of weather and loads on the roof.

The decorative flowers on the roof are also for defrosting, they heat up to help melt the snow.

These are air intake and exhaust to help heat and cool the big room.

Checking out the swimming pool - the last stop on our tour.

Here is where the snow comes down and gets melted to get water to fill up the man made lake.

This wall wasn't there during the Olympic games - they put stadium seating outside it.  Then once the games were over they put the wall in so they could continue to use it after the games year round.

A closer look at the roof.  They changed all of the acrylic glass a few years back and it took three years to finish the whole roof.

Enjoying the sunshine after our tour.  It was a great tour and I learned more than the last time.  After this we headed to our apartment to have some rest and great dinner!!!  It was a great first day of our adventures!