Photoblog - Olympiapark

Frau A and I went recently to Munich's Olympiapark to take photos.  We got up at 4:30am to make it there before sunrise and came back later at sunset (with a nap in between, of course).  We'll show some "natural" photos here, with some HDR/tonemapped ones in a follow-up post for sure.

The Olympiapark was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.  Of course in Germany, it was designed NOT to be dismantled, but to last.  And it has stood the test of time very well.  Today it continues to host 200+ events each year:  concerts at the Olympic Hall, outdoor movies and theater in the summer, and formal & recreational sports year round.  You can see below where Olympiapark sits realtive to "downtown" Munich, as well as previous photoblog post locations from Nymphenburg castle/gardens and the English Garden.

 

Here's a map of the park.  I added a pointer to the theater which is not labeled (edge of the lake, towards the middle), ands put a box around the "Olympiaberg" (towards the bottom-middle).  Notice that near the Bus/U-bahn symbols in the upper right is the BMW center and museum (labeled as #19).  This will be coming in a future post, since we already saw the Mercedes and Porsche museums in Stuttgart!

 

And here is a photo-map from the Olympiapark home page (but beware, the perspective is from the opposite direction in the two maps...).  The park has about 3 square kilometers of space in what used to be just open meadow.  The Olympiaberg ("Olympia mountain") is 60 meters high with a lookout on top.  It's a nice place to see the sunrise/sunset, and some of the famous churches downtown are clearly visible from there too.  On the best days, you can see the Alps in the south!  Many of the following photos are from that lookout.

We took this photo from the Olympiaberg around sunset.  On the left is the Olympiastadion (stadium), the largest venue.  In the middle is the Olympiasee, a large artificial lake.  On the far right (closest to the water) is the edge of the swim hall.  Behind this is the largest indoor facility, the Olympiahalle... these two can be difficult to distinguish from each other at a distance because of the similar architecture.  In front of the swim hall on the right, on the edge of the lake, is the small outdoor theater (notice the tent-like structure above the stage at the water's edge).

This photo zooms out to the Olympiastadion.  The stadium can hold 69,000 spectators, and was the home of FC Bayern Munich until 2006 when they moved into the fantastic Allianz Arena.  Like the other buildings, it is characterized by acrylic glass and steel cables -- the artistic intent was to imitate the alps.  I find that these look much better from afar than near, but not to say that they're ugly up close.  Interestingly, construction started in a pit leftover from Allied bombings in World War II, and rubble from the city was used to shape the park landscape.

Now looking right from the same place on Olympiaberg, we get the rest of the swim hall and the Olympia tower.  The flat building behind the tower is part of the BWM complex.

The next photo is a little after sunrise (lighting is a bit better), and we had walked down to the lake level.  The Olympiaturm (tower) is overall 291m high, with the observation platform at 190m.  Below the outdoor platform is a revolving restaurant (a full revolution takes 53 minutes).  As of 2004 the tower had registered 35 million visitors.  It was not open so early in the morning, so no photos (yet) from the platform or samplings from the restaurant...

We continued walking along the artificial lake, with some nice morning reflections...

... there are few visitors so early in the morning.  Very peaceful.

 

As you descend from the Olympiaberg, you get better views of the venues and the lake.  Notice the paddleboats - there is a huge swan-shaped one on the left!

 

Close up, we noticed that other paddleboats are in the shape of cars.  This one is a Porsche, of course.

 

Finally, we made our way towards the U-bahn to go home.  This final photo was taken from the pedestrian crossing over the autobahn, looking back at the Olympiahalle.  The hall seats up to 14,000 people.  This is where many large acts put on their music concerts, such as Bon Jovi, U2, and the Meisterin Tina Turner who has performed here 23 times!  It's not the most acoustically accurate venue -- great to rock out, but was not my favorite for Night of the Proms.

 

Frau A and I are ready to get back already.  Olympiapark is a nice space to walk around, jog (but no swimming in the lake), see a concert, or just take photos.

Springtime in Munich

I've always loved spring (and summer and fall), but I think it takes living somewhere with a real winter to truly appreciate how wonderful spring is.

Seemingly overnight we go from dark and cold to late evening sun, beautiful skies, flowers everywhere, and of course, baby ducks. I love the baby ducks....and swans and geese.

 The Mariensäule (Mary's Column) in Marienplatz, in front of the New Rathaus. It was installed in 1638 to honor Mary (she's the patron saint of Bavaria) after the "miracle" of Munich being spared destruction by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War.  As Herr J previously discovered, the four cherubs at the bottom are represented slaying the four plagues of humanity (represented by animal forms) - war, pestilence, hunger, and heresy.  I'm looking forward to the day that the Frauenkirche (domes in the background) restoration is complete. Since I've lived here, one dome or the other has been covered. My dream is to one day be able to take a decent picture of this Munich icon!

Lovely wisteria in the Schloss Nymphenburg gardens. Though I have a bit of a prejudice against wisteria (it strangles the lovely oak trees in the south, where I grew up), it does have beautiful flowers and can be a lovely decoration if it's kept tame.  One of the perks of having a full-time staff of gardeners, I guess!

Some early season goslings out for a morning nibble (and nap).

Spring is a great time for walks and for feeding the birds in Munich's many gardens. This boy feeds the swans and ducks in front of Schloss Nymphenburg.

 

Sadly, not everywhere let's you feed the animals.

A late tulip and colorful flower beds in the Alter Botanischer Garten ("Old Botanical Garden").  These gardens date back to the beginning of the 19th century, but were replaced in 1914 when the New Botanical Garden was built adjacent to Nymphenburg Palace.  These small gardens are now an open park by the Lenbachplatz.  The Park Cafe is a lovely bar and biergarten (Löwenbräu) that opens onto the gardens and is worth a visit.

A lovely golden green tree in front of the Salvatorkirche, a Greek Orthodox church on Salvatorplatz (behind the Fünf Höfe and Theatinerkirche) and next to the Literaturhaus (nice cafe/bistro and a program of speeches by visiting writers, such as David Sedaris and Brett Easton Ellis).  This church initially was the cemetery church for the much larger Frauenkirche, but since has been used by a variety of parishes and denominations, as well as for a depot and granary after the secularization of Bavaria. Luckily its use as storage space saved it from destruction and it still stands today on a small square amid the city center.  

    A mother goose teaches her goslings how to have fun in the lakes of the English Garden. 

More tulips, in front of the Neptune Fountain in the Alter Botanischer Garten.  Here, they've planted mainly red and white tulips and white daffodils.

Someone enjoys a warm afternoon read (before the rains arrive) in the gardens in front of the Bayerische Staatskanzlei (Bavarian Chancellery).

And back to the adorable baby ducks...   

Photoblog - Munich figures

If you look at the results of a Google image search on "Munich" you'll see a lot of cityscapes, specifically the Rathaus (town hall), Frauenkirche (the most famous church here), and then a smattering looks of the BWM tower, sports stadium, etc.

I took a photo-walk of the city (in Summer) with the intention of looking at more detail -- the figures carved in / placed on buildings, rather than the whole structure.  I soon realized that an afternoon is much too short -- so many buildings have intricate designs, and some literally have dozens of statues on top or figures along the side.  In this post I'll share a few things I found along the way.

I espeically like the fountain in front of the Rathaus.  Dramatic scenes of battle, probably telling the story of a myth or stylization of a biblical event.  I should look this stuff up -- there's probably books dedicated to such details...

In this shot you can even see the Glockenspiel in the background.  (Note:  There is really deep focus because I was using a compact camera -- can't get much bokeh.)

My fifth grade English teacher would want to know all the symbolism here.  Until then, I'll just appreciate the visuals.

Update (19 April 2011):  I did finally find info about these figures.  As usual, Wikipedia to the rescue.  It says that at each corner of the base of the Mariancolumn (the column is in front of the Rathaus on Marienplatz) is a statue of a putto (cherub).  Each of the four putti are slaying a different beast, representing the city overcoming adversity of war (a lion), pestilence (a cockatrice), hunger/famine (a dragon), and heresy (a serpent).  None of my Munich friends knew this and were happy to learn with me.

 

As you walk more into the shopping district, the figures get less serious and more colorful, fun.  This guy represents a traditional cooper, or barrel maker.  You see the ring in his hand, which presumably would become part of a barrel.  (Probably beer barrel in Munich!)  At the bottom reads:  Schäffler Eck., or "Cooper Corner".  There are others figures about in this style that represent other trades or roles (I think there's a town jester somewhere out there too... got to find him).

 

I don't remember where I shot our friend here, but he stood out because he is so simple and rustic.  Has a very different feel than the usually ornate carvings and figures found in Munich.  He's also found along one of the main shopping streets... and who doesn't want to be blessed while searching for the perfect jacket?

He is the one figure in the post that I never could find the background on.  Will keep looking.

This last one always amuses me.  It is right on the main shopping street Kaufinger Strasse.  This guy is 2 stories up, and on the end of a long beam.  I have no clue as to who he might be or represent, but he's been watching over shoppers for as long as I've been in Munich.  It looks like he has a security camera on him!

Update (19 April 2011):  Again, I finally figured this one out too.  This is the "man with outspread arms" created by the artist Stephan Balkenhol.  The Kaufingertor group of shops opened in 1994, but this guy went up in 2007 as an invitation to 'relaxed shopping'.  It appears to have worked -- on Saturdays the Kaufingerstrasse is completely packed, and is the home of Late Night Shopping festival!

Sometimes one gets immune to the things you see every day.  In Germany/Europe, it is the old churches and buildings, but day in/day out one tends to gloss over the details.  It's nice to take a fresh look at the little things.

Photoblog - Munich through a zoom lens

We blogged earlier about trying to look at your home city from a new, fresh perspective.  In that case, it was actually paying attention to the detailed figures on some of Munich's fountains and buildings rather than take the typical touristy wide-angle skyline photo.

With a nice zoom lens (in this case, the simple 10x on my now deceased Canon SX200IS) we can also look up, to find more detail in places where the eyes don't travel as often.

The first pic is the front-top of the Justizpalast (justice building), home of the Landgericht (judiciary system).  It's located at the popular Karlsplatz where people like to sit by the fountain and enjoy nice weather like the blue sky we see here.  As in the prior post, I rarely know the meaning behind the statues or relief, but we can make out a figure with the scales of justice, and another with a caduceus representing commerce and trade (probably the desire for fair dealings).

Now that I have my Olympus micro-four-thirds camera, I will definitely be back for more of this building. 

The next building is a poor thing -- the Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus) on Marienplatz.  Because the New City Hall (Neues Rathaus) is so famous with its glockenspiel the Altes Rathaus almost never gets any attention!  The sun reflecting off the clock caught my attention, and it turned out to be a nice subject.  Many town halls in Germany have a clock with astronomical symbols (signs of the zodiac) and I think that's what we see here as well.

Staying at Marienplatz, I then tackled the column that is "in the way" of tourists getting an unobstructed photo of the Neues Rathaus -- the Mariensaeule (Marian column), right in the middle of the square.  As Wikipedia explains: the column is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary standing on a crescent moon as the Queen of Heaven.  I'm guessing it's her royal sceptre that she's holding in the hand opposite the baby Jesus?  And that's quite a crown too...

Finally, I went after another gold & gleaming piece, this time atop the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Ghost).  Of course there is the mandatory depiction of Mary again (bottom, with a similar crown and sceptre).  But at the top, I believe this is the Eye of Providence, which represents God watching over humankind.  Remind you of something?  A version is also on the Great Seal of the United States and also on the U.S. One Dollar Bill.

It's funny... you see something new, and then realize it's been around you in other forms all the time.

Photoblog - Munich's English Garden

Warm weather has finally come to Munich.  (At least the Springtime version -- inconsistent, and still chilly in the shade, but the air has changed.)  That means everyone will be spending a lot more time in the English Garden.

We're really looking forward to this and pulled out a few photos from last year to tide us over until our first 'Saturday in the park'.  (Yes, the English Garden is physically larger than Central Park in New York City, but they have completely different auras.  More on this in a later post...)

From Odeonsplatz downtown, you can walk through the Hofgarden to the south entrance to the English Garden.

This building below greets you just before entering the English Garden, and I've always loved its yellow against a blue sky.

The same water (it's an artificial stream) seen above runs through the English Garden, and the walking path follows it for a while from the southern entrance.  Sometimes it flows lazily, other times it is swift with runoff from the melting snow in the mountains.  There is even one point where people can surf!  (more here)

 

One of the most popular parts of the Garden is the Schoenfeldwiese (Schoenfeld meadow) -- partially because it's a huge open space with lots of sun, and partially because nude sunbathing is permitted here.  Many a tourist have had a memorable cultural experience/shock!  I organized a game of American football here once, and that drew funny stares from the Germans!

From the meadow you can look back towards the city and see the two spires of the Frauenkirche (middle/right), the yellowish Theatinerkirche (far right), and the Bavarian State Chancellery (Bayrische Staatskanzlei, left). 

 

Here's a zoomed view of the two churches: 

Both of the prior photos were taken at the far end of the Schoenfeldwiese, at the top of a small hill where the Monopteros sits.  The Monopteros is a Greek-style "temple" that replaced an older wooden "Apollo Temple".  It was completed in 1836 using leftover material from the Residenz.

How safe is Munich?  I've taken early walks to this point and seen people "camping" out -- overnight with just a sleeping bag.  They enjoy watching the sunrise from here and therefore just crash.  No worries.  Now that's different than Central Park.  I don't have a photo of sunrise yet, but this is what they see (below).  Now you know why Frau A and I will do more photoblogging from here this Summer.

 

Macro Photography, This Time Bigger

Herr J's post on Macro Photography with Compact Cameras inspired me to give a try with a larger camera. So, while in New York last month, I picked up a Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

Getting the lens turned out to be a bit of an adventure....per my usual luck, I was only in the city for one weekend. After a 45 minute walk to B&H, I discovered they were closed for Purim (and always on Saturday). OK, I thought, this is a good excuse for a first visit to Adorama. And, Purim strikes again. Luckily, Herr J in his dual roles as personal electronics guru and source of all NYC knowledge, found that J&R had the lens and was open that weekend.

Fast forward a month, after getting home and trying to get back into the routine of having a job, I finally had a chance to try it out this morning in the little shopping passage across the street. Much fun for us, and amusement for the waiters at the Italian restaurant.

The verdict: I think I'm going to love this lens. Great on macro, beautiful bokeh, great colors....Not sure how it compares to the Nikon version, but all reports are that it's pretty similar quality...at half the price.

The Asam Passage area is lined with cafes and planters full of tulips, daffodils, hydrangeas, and tons of colorful spring flowers.  

Love these unusual daffodils! 

The ferns are just now coming out to join the tulips in the sun.

 

Another of the striped tulips - it was such a cool surprise to see all the pollen collecting in the bottom.

This one, along the Isar river.  

Though we didn't come across many cool insects to photograph on this outing, it was fun to stop and smell the roses - or at least to look at them in detail and notice so much that we usually miss when hurrying by.

My high hopes for the lens were definitely met on the macro side of things. But what I didn't expect was that it would be such a nice lens for "normal" use. And being a prime lens, it definitely makes me work a little bit more to compose the picture.

Here on the left, two girls relaxing in the afternoon where the city is renovating a part of the Isar River. What I love about this picture, is that is does NOT look at all like Munich - with the light stone and pale blue water, I would place it more a winter day in Spain or Turkey.

And on the right, the beautiful golden late afternoon light. I love this city in the spring!

Crowdsourcing Fireworks (New Year's in Munich)

Frau A and I returned to Munich, from our holiday trip in the States, on the morning of New Year's Eve (called Silvester in Germany).  We decided to spend most of the evening quietly with nice filet steaks and warm goat cheese-topped salad for dinner, followed by a movie.  However, we headed to Marienplatz around 11:30pm, brought a half bottle of champagne, and toasted the new year in the shadow of the Rathaus (home of the Glockenspiel).

It was one of the most interesting New Year's celebrations we've experienced...no celebrities counting down, no Waterford crystal balls descending, and really no formal, organized activities of any kind by the city.  (Note:  I would have linked to ABC's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark, but their web page will NOT let you stop the video advertisement.  I hate that.  So it's a boycott.  Anyway, 39 years with Dick Clark is enough, right?)

Instead, a large crowd showed up with their own fireworks, putting on a show as impressive as any municipal display we've seen.  So they weren't the absolute largest ones (need a license for those), nor were they synchronized to music (better in theory than reality), but the length and energy of the experience were fantastic.

Through the window we could hear occational firecrackers go off starting at 6:00pm, but things really started getting crazy around 11:40pm.  "Small" fireworks are legal in Germany, and sold in many stores in the weeks leading up to Silvester.  It appears that sales were strong this year.  There was a constant stream of light and sound for almost the whole hour we were there, ranging from small bottle rockets to booming M80s (or the German equivalent).  It appeared people were aiming at the Rathaus too -- you would frequently see rockets or roman candles hitting the facade - one guy even had the aim to hit the clockface.  By the time we left, the entire plaza was filled with smoke from the pyrotechnic activity.

Check out the viedo we took:

There were probably a few people who were injured in the chaos, but we didn't actually see anyone get hurt.  Amazing.  Especially since open alcohol is allowed in Germany, and most people brought their own drinks for a midnight toast.  Glenn Reynolds posts frequently about crowdsourcing - perhaps this is the way to go for fireworks too, if the people are as motivated as the Müncheners were.

Update on Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 13:23 by Frau A

Now that I've learned how to rotate video....here's the longer one showing the full extent of the fireworks over the crowd and just how full of smoke the plaza became...you can barely see the Rathaus now.

Happy New Year!