With sleek new hotels, tech spaces, and high-concept museums, Munich has become the European Silicon Valley.
Looking up from the street, however, the things you first notice are construction cranes.
Munich is a medieval city; its official founding day is June 14, 1158.
Surfers wait to drop in at the Eisbach.Christian Kain
But Munich is refounding itself all over again, and fast.
Few cities are as burdened by visual cliches as Munich.
Hes still around, bless him, hoisting his silo-size beer stein.
From left: Salsa night at the Gasteig HP8 cultural center; the BMW Museum.Christian Kain
Munich holds tight to its Bavarian traditions.
Munich holds tight to its Bavarian traditions.
Twenty years ago, laptops and lederhosen was a vague political promise.
From left: Hotel Bayerischer Hof’s restaurant, Atelier; carrot salad at Spezlwirtschaft Haidhausen.Christian Kain
Now its a brand.
The annual Bits and Pretzels start-up conference began in 2013 with a breakfast for 80 people.
In 2017, it had to cap attendance at 5,000.
“The Grocery Shelf,” an exhibit at the Deutsches Museum.Christian Kain
In 2019, President Obama showed up.
Apple has made Munich its biggest European engineering hub.
Last year, it pumped $1.2 billion into a new building on Karlstrasse.
Werk12, a mixed-use development in Werksviertel-Mitte.Christian Kain
These are just two among many examples of how the future is taking root in Munichs beer-soaked soil.
(Any passerby can grab a book or a music score off the shelves.
The designers left the old concrete floors and air ducts exposed.
The Wiener Platz Market, in the Haidhausen neighborhood.Christian Kain
Here it is done very well.
Were not some kind of UFO flying in.
I wandered in during a dress rehearsal.
I was lucky enough to get a last-minute ticket for that evenings performance.
Fish and fowl long absent have returned to share the river with Munichs summer skinny-dippers.
The Isar-Plan took 11 years to complete, but it has left an idyllic woodland at the citys core.
My stroll from the Gasteig felt more like ahike in the country.
Christian Kain
The river also generates Munichs most unlikely pastime: surfing.
It has become an unmissable Munich attraction.
And it is very German.
Even this stolid bastion of Munich high society is feeling the winds of change.
They mean that in a good way.
The floor is surrounded by 112 glass boxes with a sexy car in each one.
This would not do.
I arrived after the renovated half reopened and just before the other half closed down until 2025.
For centuries, Haidhausen was Munichs skid row the German word isglasserbenviertel,a neighborhood of broken glass.
Houses were cramped and insalubrious, and many residents lived hard, short lives.
Theres no broken glass around today.
Spezlwirtschaft serves what has come to be called nouveau Bavarian cuisine, but dont be misled.
Its on the menu as a starter but it should have been a finisher.
There was no need to keep on eating after that.
Werksviertel-Mitte is the name of the Eckarts enlightened urban experiment.
A plan was also recently approved to build a new auditorium complex.
It will one day be the home of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
In 2000, Munich set about restoring the Isar.
The Isar-Plan took 11 years to complete, but it has left an idyllic woodland at the citys core.
My stroll from the Gasteig felt more like a hike in the country.
My studio looked directly onto the roof of Werk3, the quarters flagship.
Thats Werksviertel for you.
The floor is surrounded by 112 glass boxes with a sexy car in each one.
I was content to leave my little Mazda (which I happen to like a lot!)
Whether you find that dumb or kinda cool depends on how you look at it.
Me, I went with kinda cool.
Ameron Munchen Motorworld: Dont want to be separated from your car?
In addition to traditional rooms, this hotel has three studios fitted with glass booths that shelter guest vehicles.
