Hofgarten

Another one of these quick shots, pretty much done with about one second preparation. I usually stroll with my camera in my hand, simply carrying it with a hand strap rather than with the usual neck strap (which is not even attached to my camera any more since a long long time).

The Spirit of Ecstasy

"Strive for perfection on everything you do" Sir Henry Royce

Just by chance I was wearing a polo shirt from work when we went to visit BMW Welt. I got to talk to one of the guys who are there to make sure nobody puts his hands on these pretty expensive examples of British engineering (albeit BMW owned). After a while he nodded to a colleague and we were given the chance to enter the glass barrier, where we were given a thorough tour of this Phantom II. We were allowed to sit down inside (me and my wife hoping that the children don´t break anything in the back seats!) and, to top it up, the guy took a couple of family photos.

I made it clear that I don´t work for the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (in which case I would not have been as impressed by the car), but rather for the aerospace sibling. Maybe they thought I was an executive coming from Goodwood to check the courtesy standards!

Whatever the case, it was highly enjoyable.

Picking up your car with style

Hats off to BMW for a truly impressive place to pick up your car (not mine!).

Hill in Olympia Park

I don´t like this photo. But I like misleading weather forecasts even less. So here is my rant for today...

We organised the day around a forecast saying nice weather in the morning (mix of sun and clouds), with showers in the afternoon. Good, that means park first and museum later. What happened was that the rain was actually in the morning, pretty much all the way up to the top of the hill, and all the way down. It only stopped when we decided to get some cover in a nearby Imbiss. The moment we ordered, it stopped raining (so up again for me to take this greyish photo!) and the sun came up through the clouds.

We ended up the day in BMW Welt (the small tower to the right is the BMW headquarters) but we should have really done it the other way round if the forecast had been a bit more accurate. It would have been a much brighter photo. I guess people in Madrid do not have this sort of problems in July. And to compound pain with misery, the stitching did not work very well anyway...

Munich Olympic Stadium

Another impressive example of architecture / engineering which is doing fine after 40 years.

Piscina olímpica

Al día siguiente de hacer esta foto vinimos a bañarnos a esta piscina. Una cosa que me impresionó es que había una piscina para que los niños aprendan a nadar y la profundidad se podía regular moviendo el suelo de la piscina! Muy interesante.

Al fondo se pueden ver las plataformas y los trampolines y, como dato anecdótico, decir que diez metros son muchos metros. Yo me subí al trampolín de 3m (que era el más alto desde el que estaba permitido tirarse) y después de pensármelo un ratito me tiré de pie. Repetí unas cuantas veces y me fui tan feliz como si hubiera dado un salto en las Olimpiadas.

Olympiapark München (i)

Rathaus München