Day 12 - Munich City Center

Day 12 was for exploring the city center of Munich.  We stayed at the Anna Hotel which was very nice and centrally located near the Marienplatz.

 

Our first destination was the Residenz which was the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs of the House of Wittelsbach.  We found these fence posts in the park across the street from the Residenz.  Aren't they cool?

 

Although it's right in the city center we ended up walking all the way around the complex before we found the museum entrance.  It is a huge facility with the royal residence, a theatre, and a concert hall for the Munich Symphony.  The complex contains 10 courtyards and 130 rooms.

 

Construction started in 1385.  This is the grotto.  Various monarchs expanded the complex over the years.

 

It was severely damaged during World War II.  Reconstruction began in the 1980s.

 

Here's another great hall called the antiquarium, it is the oldest room in the Residenz.

 

The walls and the ceiling is lined with paintings.  How do they do that?

 

The antiquarium was built to hold the antique sculptures of Duke Albrecht V--that why it is named the antiquarium.

 

There were many, many rooms just like this.  Such opulence.

 

In the 17th century Maximilian I had this two story court chapel built.

 

The Rich Chapel was built in 1607. It was the private chapel of Maximilian I and his wife.

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You can never take your eyes off this guy!

 

How's that for a bed chamber?

 

After taking the long tour of the Residenz we headed over to Marienplatz and the Rathaus (City Hall) so we could watch the Glockenspiel go off at the top of the hour.

 

It was 1:00, surely it's about to go off.

 

We waited and waited in the pouring rain, but nothing.   It turns out that it only plays at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. (as well as 5 p.m. in summer).  It chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century and consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.  Keep that in mind if you're ever there.

  

We had lunch on our minds now so it was off to the Hofbrau Haus.

 

Of course you can't go to Germany and not drink beer.

 

 

At the Hofbrau Haus you have to be friendly because you have to find your own table and the tables are shared.  We sat with this little girl and her parents who were from Portugal and a guy from Argentina.  This little girl is about a month younger than Georgie and she entertained everyone around us.  When the music came on she danced and she'd grab your hands and make them clap if you weren't joining in on your own.

 

 

I had the half roasted chicken and kartoffelsalat. 

 

 

Irv, of course, had the schnitzel. We also had a side order of kase spaetzle.

 

 

After lunch it was time to find a geocache.

 

Then it was off to the Pinakothek which is a complex of three art museums--old, new, and modern.

 

Foolishly, I chose the Moderne.  This was a mistake because I don't really like modern art even this Picasso.

 

So we left and went to the Neue (or new) Pinakothek.  This made me happy because I was surrounded by the impressionists that I love.

 

Can you believe it?  Another Van Gogh Sunflower painting.  Van Gogh did two series of Sunflower paintings.  The first series had the sunflowers laying on the ground, the second series had the sunflowers in vases.

 

Another Klimt!

 

I can't believe I got to see the above painting in person!  It is named "The Ploughing" by Giovanni Segantini.  The brush strokes on this painting are amazing.  You have to see it up close to truly appreciate it.

 

We were exhausted by the time we finished two art museums and my feet were killing me!  We made the walk back to the hotel and crashed for the evening.