U1 Stiglmaierplatz - 1/96

Well, that was a cold experience!

Saturday, January 25th 2014, marked my first adventure of many to come. My mission: to visit every stop on the U-bahn (subway) and find something special in its surrounding areas to draw. 

Passed the Löwenbräukeller, a stone's throw from the Stiglmaierplatz U-Bahn station my husband and I discovered a small, empty and rather dreary looking platz (square in English - I don't speak German yet, but I've been here long enough to feel strange when I call a 'platz' anything other than a 'platz' =P). The platz takes the form of a triangle and is almost entirely outlined by long reddish concrete benches. To the side was a sketchy looking casino, a closed restaurant and a building that's being torn own. We dawdled around for a bit before we noticed it. On the benches, in the concrete, were game boards! For Chess, Go and er... another game we don't know. Do people ever play on those? What's this sad looking platz like in summer? Further inspection revealed a larger chess board on the ground with the nearby bench containing the large chess pieces! Unfortunately it was locked, but I bet it's open in summer =D

  It wasn't right to just settle for the first cool thing we saw, so we set off to see more. 

Stiglmaierplatz looked quite upmarket, but just a street further on in the direction of the circus, it took on another feel. Dead plants were standing on cracked porches and paint were chipping from dirty looking walls. It wasn't long before we came to the Krone Circus 'caravan park'. I think it's where the circus people stay, like.. their home. If I have it right, they stay in Munich during winter and travel during summer. Such a different way of life. When you are on stage it's glitter, glam and glory, but when the stage lights go out you return to a small caravan without much of the luxury I am used to...does it even have an oven?...hmm. It does have a strange appeal though. I can just imagine them all dancing and singing around a fire on a warm summer's eave. Everybody's family :) 
 

Krone Circus is one of the largest circuses in Europe and definitely seems worth a visit. According to Wiki, Krone Circus is still in possession of the family who founded it - fourth generation and going. Wiki also says the circus has a hippo and a rhino in the show! Wait what?!

I'll go see a show and report back!   

They also have a zoo that is open on Sundays and public holidays. I will include more info on this at the end of the post.

After that we went back in the direction of Stiglmaierplatz and tried to find the entrance for the Löwenbräu (the actual brewery), hoping there might be something like a beer tour. I want to know where the beer grows, what it looks like as a plant and how long it takes to become beer... but what we thought was the entrance to all this wonderful information, turned out to be the entrance to the Triumph factory outlet! (Not a bad find either! Although the number of sexy items were low, the amount of underwear was staggering with prices about 11euros for a piece. There was also a mens' section and swimming outfits.)     

I looked online to see whether there are brewery tours at Löwenbräu, but unfortunately not at the moment. (I did find this interesting site though. Should you be interested in beer and tours of such in Munich :)
We continued on to the Löwenbräukeller (restaurant) and had a look at their small beergarten, but due to the cold there wasn't much going on. They also have an inside area for events like Bavarian dancing, acts and festivals like the upcoming Strongbeer festival.     

Finally it was time to sit down and draw! We grabbed a couple of hot chocolates at Natale's, the pizzeria nearby, and made ourselves comfy on one of the reddish concrete benches in ... er ... it was something like Rudl-Kierl-Platz (please correct me if I'm wrong.. I tried Google earth, but on there it's nothing more than a parking lot 0__o) 

A big part of this 'visiting every u-bahn stop' challenge is to also improve my drawing. I've never done environment drawings from life before and on the very first outing I already learned a couple of valuable things:

1 - in winter, remember to take fingerless gloves... dead fingers don't draw.

2 - draw from the ground up

3 - a view finder might be a good idea... My plan was to draw the actual platz.. but when I was done with the drawing I realised I had almost missed the platz entirely! I'm not sure how it happened, but a view finder might help XD 

I also drew one of the game boards. If you want to explore the Stiglmaierplatz surroundings you can print this card and do the challenge to mark your city exploration :)

 

Places of interest:

Krone Circus

The zoo is open from 10am on Sundays and public holidays. Entry costs 3€ for adults and 2€ for children.

http://www.circus-krone.com/de/
089/545 8000 (probably better to call - website outdated when I last checked | English site under construction)
Zirkus-Krone-Straße/Marsstrasse 43  
Google maps

Löwenbräukeller
http://www.loewenbraeukeller.com/en/

Directly on Stiglmaierplatz
Google maps

Triumph factory outlet

Marsstr. 46  
Google maps

   

Also noteworthy near Stiglmaierplatz, but was not visited on this trip, is Cinema Munchen. They show only (I think) English films and have cheaper screenings on Friday nights at 12 - except, you won't know what you will be watching beforehand! It's usually something new. They also sell nachos and Ben & Jerry's at the popcorn counter. And Coffee. And there's a few tables for sitting down while you sip that coffee.

http://www.cinema-muenchen.com/

Nymphenburgerstr 31
Google maps