We were in Munich for less than 24 hours, but we enjoyed everything we were able to see in that amount of time.
Our first stop in Munich was Schloss (Palace) Nymphenburg. It is a very large palace surrounded by yellow servants' houses, which are now privately owned and very expensive. The king's wife was from Venice, so the king had a canal dug, so that his wife would not feel home sick. The canal went a long stretch both in front and behind the palace. There were swans and ducks in the canal. There were also beautiful gardens with statues behind the palace.
Schloss Nymphenburg
Canal in front of a wing of Schloss Nymphenburg
Servant's House
Phil and Julie and the back of Schloss Nymphenburg
Wouldn't it be nice to have a house like this?
Then we drove into the city and headed to Marien Platz, the main square of Munich.
The National Theater
We visited Die Frauenkirche (The Church of Our Lady), Munich's largest church. It has onion-shaped domes on the top of both towers, which are typical of Bavarian churches. The inside has high vaulted ceilings and white walls, which we also think is typical of Bavaria.
The Church of Our Lady
We went inside another church that also had white walls. It had a beautifully painted ceiling.
Inside of Bavarian church
The New City Hall
The Old City Hall
The Glockenspiel on the Old City Hall
Each day, the Glockenspiel plays a couple of times. A musical tune is played on bells, while wooden figures dance around. A rooster sits above the king and queen, who are circled by people carrying flags and two knights who joust one another until ones falls off his horse. These are above a conductor and dancing soldiers. The show goes on for 10-15 minutes. We took several videos, which you can watch below.
Video #1 of the Glockenspiel
Video #2 of the Glockenspiel
Video #3 of the Glockenspiel
In the evening, we went out with several people from our bus tour to get dinner and to go to the Hofbrauhaus, the beer hall for which Munich is known. We walked to the outdoor market for dinner. We decided to try a traditional German meal. Julie had Weisswurst (white sausages made from veal) and a soft pretzel. Phil had Munich beef with potato and cucumber salad. Our waitress could carry a bunch of large beer mugs in each hand. We were trying to guess her name and decided on Hilda. It turns out her name was Margot.
Margot, our friendly German waitress
After dinner, we walked to the Hofbrauhaus. It is packed full of long tables and benches. You are seated wherever there is room, which generally means sharing a table with a bunch of strangers. There were men there in Lederhosen, and the waitresses wore traditional dresses. There was a band playing music, and people sang and clapped along. The smallest beer on the menu is 0.5 Liters. Most of the people in the photo below were from our bus tour. However, we were randomly seated with the German couple on the right. Nevertheless, they seemed to enjoy our company and wanted to take photos with us.
The group at the Hofbrauhaus
Phil and his "tiny" beer at the Hofbrauhaus
Band playing at the Hofbrauhaus
Today was our bus driver Slavek's last day with our group, so we took some pictures of Slavek, our tour guide Eszter, and the group. We must have had the best tour guide and bus driver. They really made the trip. Eszter is Hungarian. She was very friendly, always had a smile on her face, and was very knowledgeable about the cities and countries that we saw. Slavek is Polish. He was very jolly and was a great bus driver.
Our bus driver, Slavek, and our tour guide, Eszter
Eszter in action leading the group with her flower
Slavek and the Titanium Bus
The Titanium Group
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