Day Two - Munich

Well we had the best row that we have ever had today! It was during this mornings session, which was held very early. We were on the water by 6:30 a.m. and we couldn't have asked for better water. After a warm up we did a 1000m piece but only holding a 28 stroke rate at 85 - 90% leg drive. The boat was sitting up brilliantly and it really did feel effortless. You could just feel the boat running well. It certainly didn’t feel as if we were working too hard and if we can have the same feeling with a stroke rate of 34-36 and 100% we will be flying!

This afternoon’s row wasn’t as good but it was much windier, but as David said there was no “punch” in the leg drive. I know that I personally row or do any exercise much better in the morning. So hopefully this was just because we are all a little bit tired.

It was certainly interesting on the water as more countries have now arrived. There are quite a few Adaptive rowers and while Lisa was at the course during the day she had a look at some of our competition in the Chinese and Japanese crews. She said that the Chinese look very strong but don’t row with much finesse and she only saw the Japanese come in to the landing. There are quite a few Arms Only rowers and boy do they look fit. We found out after our row that there are 6 countries in our category, so we are thinking that our heat on Thursday is for lanes and then Saturday is the do or die day.

We had a chat from Noel Donaldson, the High Performance Coach, and he has been observing us over the last couple of days. He advised us not to put any hurdles in our way as we have a job to do and don’t have much time to pull it together. I think we have all become a bit nervous and this has caused a bit of tension in the boat. We have to just worry about what each one of us can bring to the boat and give it our own 100% which will be different to everyone else. If we do that we can finish our race on Saturday knowing that we have done all we could do.

Between our rows today, Gene, Pete and I decided to take the train into Munich. Brandie had to see the physio and Lisa was meeting with the Cox of the Australian men’s eight to talk about the course.

It was a 15 minute train ride into Central Station and Gene had his trusty map from the reception at our hotel. I don’t know what it is about men but they don’t like asking for directions! Once out of the train station we had no idea where we were on the map and they didn’t want to ask anyone, so I took hold of the map, walked into a shop and the lady pointed to the spot. With this information we headed towards the Town Hall area.

We walked through the Old Botanical Gardens and came upon the Fountain of Neptune which was right across the road from the Justizpalast or in english Palace of Justice. What an absolutely beautiful building. The Germans must have spent an enormous amount of time rebuilding some of these buildings after the war. It is nice to see that they didn’t just tear them down and rebuild.

Fountain of Neptune

Palace of Justice

Palace of Justice side on

We walked further through the Karlsplatz and through an arch known at The Karlstorand this area was what I expected Germany to be like. There were open space areas where people were sitting around with friends, eating lunch or just enjoying the sunshine. There were food stalls everywhere you turned that sold beautiful looking fruit. Having come from Australia where we are just going into winter, it was wonderful to see cherries and strawberries. The cherries were so cheap that Pete bought a 1/2 kilo and Gene bought the same amount of strawberries. Talk about a treat!

Karlsplatz

The Karlstorand

We then went into St. Michael's Cathedral, which had been devastated during World War 2. It was rebuilt to its original state, talk about absolutely beautiful. We were told that we had to see the Town Hall clock at 12 noon, so we slowly made our way past another church called Frauenkirche or Church of Our Lady. It had two massive towers both with clocks, these towers are visible from practically any spot in Munich. It is known as one of the finest Gothic constructions in the entire country.

St. Michael's Cathedral

Church of Our Lady Towers

We then ended up in Marienplatz which has in the centre a pillar called Mary's Column. This pillar was erected at the order of Maximilian 1 in 1638 in homage to the Patron Saint of Bavaria. Talk about history! But the most amazing building in Marienplatz is the Gothic Revival "Neues Rathaus" or New Town Hall. It took 42 years to complete this building and the tower house one of the greatest attrations of Munich. It is the famous "carillon". It houses 43 bells and 32 copper figures and from May to October at noon a mechanism is started up which allows you to enjoy the sight of two dances at once. We sat and had lunch while watching this and it was amazing to see how many people stopped to watch. After lunch we were able to actually go up the tower of the New Town hall and the views were spectacular.

Inside New Town Hall

New Town Hall

View from the top of the Tower

We then just walked through the small streets in the area taking in the atmosphere and came upon the Viktualienmarkt or Food Market. One of the numerous shops was a deli and the guys just stood in the shop revelling in the smells. They would have loved to have any number of delicacies and wash it down with a beer from one of the many beer gardens around. Alas this won't happen until after our final! We even came across a May Pole in this area.
Food Market Deli

Gene trying some raw veal

May Pole

Pete enjoying the sunshine

By this time I had been on my feet enough so we headed back to the train station and made our way back to Dachau where we were picked up by Adam and the crew. We had about an hour and a half before our afternoon session.

What an absolutely beautiful city Munich is and obviously there is a lot more to see which unfortunatley most likely won't happen this trip.