As we mentioned at the end of our last post, after our little sojourn to Salzburg we returned to Munich and our hotel for the conference – the Hotel Motel One Deutsches Museum, just a short walk away from the Gasteig where Animago was taking place.
The hotel was nice and cozy, virtual fireplace and all.
Changed leaves in the courtyard below our room. We don’t see that color much in SoCal!
After breakfast, Brandon ran through his talk one last time and then headed to the conference. His talk was the last one of the day before the big awards ceremony, so he spent a little time checking out other talks and booths before heading to the big theater. His talk “The Art and Tech of Zoomania” (that’s the German title) covered the process of and his involvement in building the title city for the film. The audience seemed to enjoy the talk and there were no technical glitches, so I guess you could say it was a big success!
The main event at Animago is really the awards ceremony at the end of the first day. We saw a lot of amazing work from students and VFX studios alike. They even had live English translation, so we were the dopes sitting in the crowd with headphones on so we could understand what was happening. All in all, the conference was a really wonderful experience, even though it was a scary proposition at first to be the only person representing Walt Disney Animation Studios in a foreign country.
The next morning, after another hearty breakfast at the hotel, we took the U-Bahn to Olympia Park München to see the stadium, park, and other facilities that were constructed for the 1972 Olympic Games. We wandered around the park and goofed around taking pictures in front of the tower.
When park playtime was over we grabbed a quick lunch and strolled over to the BMW museum (visible from the top of the hill in the park), which was celebrating the company’s centennial with a special exhibit! They had cars, parts, and documents from all the way back to the company’s founding as an aircraft engine manufacturer during World War I. It was a very thorough and (of course) meticulously-designed exhibit that was fascinating even for non-gearheads like us.
This little guy was Savannah’s favorite. He was so tiny and cute!
After spending a few hours at the BMW museum, we walked back over to the Olypiapark to enjoy the sunset.
Next, we hopped back on the U-bahn for a quick trip to the Olympia Einkaufszentrum so we could pick up some Christmas presents for our family.
We dropped off our gifts back to the hotel and then hit the final dining landmark on our checklist – the famous Hofbräuhaus. In case you’re not familiar with the place, it’s a beer hall and restaurant the size of a city block, originally built in 1589. It’s one of Munich’s biggest attractions and you better believe it’s crazy on a Friday night in late October!
After our visit to the Hofbräuhaus, we headed back to our hotel, marking the end of another full day. It was hard to believe that our trip was so quickly nearing its end. There was still so much to see and do and hardly any time left to do it!