Well, Patterson No. 5 has graduated from college so that means… an international trip!! Our Nutter Butter picked Deutschland! Or Germany, to us.
We arrived in Munich Wednesday morning to a much, much cooler temperature than North Carolina and to rain. We picked up our rental car and headed to our hotel to drop our bags and then we headed to find lunch. Chris and CJ had some variation of schnitzel but I had a grilled goat cheese salad that was delicious!
We were functioning on very little sleep from our overnight flight so Chris hung out back at the hotel executive lounge to wait for our room to be ready while CJ and I decided to check out a few sites. I was determined to stay awake until bedtime to try and adjust my sleep schedule.
I like to visit libraries when I travel and CJ was accommodating so I had selected the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the Bavarian State Library. I was disappointed though because much of it was off limits without a library card. The main staircase was beautiful though and I loved the details incorporated in it. We were able to see one small exhibition of German photographers' work - photos taken along the autobahn in the 1960s and 70s. I may need to find another library to visit before we leave because not seeing books in the library made it not feel like a library. :-)
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| Outside of the library |
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| Above every window was a carved relief of a literary or scholarly figure. This one was Shakespeare. |
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| I just love when there is thought and beauty put into the construction of a library - gives it importance!! |
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| Camera - if you look closely you can see my camera too in the reflection |
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| This was my favorite photo on display. It looks like a painting almost AND it has a VW bug - my first car! |
After leaving the library, we visited the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Bavarian State Opera house. This was next to the Munich Residence (one of the former Royal houses) and is still used today for programming. After the opera house, we toured the Munich Residence. This was used for the various rulers of the Bavarian region from electors to emperors to kings as the title changed. There were many royal residences used depending on the family’s needs. Quite a bit of the residence was damaged by bombing during WWII and had to be restored.
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| The walls in this room in the residence were completely covered by various shells! |
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| Vines growing on the outside walls visible from the inside. |
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| The Yellow Staircase - where the king descended. |
We were hitting our limits without sleep so my Nutter Butter and I headed back to the hotel. She instantly fell asleep and Chris and I headed out for a bit. We brought back some pizza slices and called it a night.
Thursday’s weather was a little better - cool, but way less rain! We grabbed breakfast at the hotel and then walked over to the old town area of Munich starting with the Viktualienmarkt. It was booths and booths filled with fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, cheeses and small goods. Did I mention the cheeses??? Oh my goodness! So, so many! I wanted to sample them all! They even had a green colored wasabi cheese!!
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| One side of the Isar River in Munich - it splits in the middle of Munich because there is island in this area. |
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| Other side of the Isar River |
After the Viktualienmarkt we walked over to the Marienplatz - the old city center. The Rathaus (town hall) was so large and intricate! It is famous for the Glockenspiel which looks like the animated part of a cuckoo clock. It becomes animated at certain times a day and draws a crowd!
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| Sundial on the side of the tower. |
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| Rathaus - Town Hall |
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| The green section in the middle of the Rathaus tower is the Glockenspiel and the part that becomes animated and plays music. |
In the same area is Saint Peter’s Church. The church tower is accessible and has great views if you want to climb 306 steps. We climbed them! The view was worth it!!
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| Wow - we look tired! |
We shopped around a bit in the area and then walked back to the hotel. We loaded up in the car to drive to Nymphenberg Palace. The palace was primarily used as a summer residence for the royals. Several lines of Bavarian rulers used the palace. Each adding their own additions and touches. It was in use from 1715 until 1918 by the Bavarian rulers in the House of Wittelsbach. After the revolution in 1918 it eventually became under the ownership of the state but a portion was retained by the once royal family who still lives there in a small part of the palace.
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| The front of the Nymphenberg Palace - the entire palace can't be captured in one photo! |
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| The Great Hall |
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| The ruler who began the palace |
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| A painting of the palace grounds - you can see the front area with the water and fountain and the entire park area behind the palace. |
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| The panels in this room were being cleaned but it gave you a glimpse behind at the simple brick and mortar, |
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| Hall of Beauties - contains portraits of 36 women selected by Ludwig I, I believe, and the portrait collection was open to the public for viewing even during the ruler's reign. I am not sure how he selected the women but they were from all classes of society from a shoemaker's daughter to royalty. |
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| This is the only room that had all original furnishing and it was the queen's room. |
While the palace was incredible to see, I really liked the tour of the carriage house the best. The house had a few original pieces of furniture but many of the silk walk coverings and draperies and a lot of the pieces of furniture was restored or replicated. But the carriage house was filled with original coaches, sleighs and all the decorative wear used for the horses. Originally, the horses were kept here. It was really interesting to see. Did you know that only an emperor or king/prince could ride in the carriage being pulled by eight horses? Nor did I! All other people had to have a lesser number of horses!
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| A coach made for the young prince and princesses who were expected to learn how to manage the coach pulled by ponies, sheep or donkeys. |
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| Coronation bridle for the horses |
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| My Nutter Butter and I tried our hand at carrying a member of the royal family. Sedans were used around the property to carry members from one place the another. This simulator gave you a glimpse at how strenuous that job was! |
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| Coronation Coach |
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| You can see that even the interior is elaborate - a crown is embroidered in the ceiling fabric. |
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| Sleigh - the man would stand or sit on the back seat and guide the sleigh while the woman rode in the front seat. |
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| Child's sleigh |
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| Bells the horses pulling the sleigh would wear. |
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| I loved how the carriage house had two whole walls of portraits of horses used by the royals - so pretty! |
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| Cosa Rara was a favorite of Ludwig II and was said to be allowed apples off the table. |
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| Cosa-Rara (taxidermy) - obviously beloved |
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| Ridiculously opulent coach of Ludwig II - he was known for his eccentric nature |
The palace is also surrounded by acres and acres of property that are the palace grounds and are also free to access by the public and used like a large park. There are places along the park paths though that can be visited - a “small” private residence just for the wife of the elector or king; a bathing house which is an elaborately decorated home with a large indoor swimming (bathing) pool; a slightly smaller house which was primarily used for resting after yard games similar to croquet (I mean is croquet even that strenuous?), and then finally a building used for religious ceremonies. There’s also a small lake and lots of canals and even a gondola for use in the canals! It was really a stunning property!
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| One of the canals on the property - if you look closely you can see a duck nest to the right of the photo. |
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| Ladies house - it's so feminine! |
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| Only candles in the chandelier! |
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| bedroom |
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| Great hall |
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| Kitchen - entirely tiled!! |
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| 1800s Chinese wallpaper in the bathing house - they were very fanscinated by Chinese culture. |
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| You can see the spigots for the pool |
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| M - possibly for Maximilian |
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| The palace very far in the distance from the end of the long center canal. |
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| Pagoda House - used for resting... |
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| These incredibly tiny frogs were everywhere on the path between these two stops - I truly thought they were crickets at first. They were that small!! |
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| Used for worship and religious ceremony |
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| More shells!! |
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| Back of the palace |
We headed back to the hotel and our Nutter Butter selected a place for dinner. She selected a traditional Bavarian restaurant, Haidhauser Augustiner, and I don’t think she could have made a better choice. The restaurant was packed with locals! The service was super friendly and the food was very good. She got the traditional roasted pork knuckle, Chris got some sort of pork as well and I got the kasespatzle - a traditional German egg noodle with cheese and fried onions on top. Yum! We all shared a warm apfelstudel for dessert!!
We walked back to the hotel full and happy! Off tomorrow to Konstanz with and stop along the way!
