Alain, Matthias and Kent at the beer garden

English Garden Pagoda Style Tower

All of us at the Beer Garden

This morning we had breakfast with Alain and Matthias at our hotel before checking out. The boys had driven from Stuttgart so they had a car and drove us to the English Garden for a walk and beverages at the Chinese Tower. The Tower is a multi-level structure that serves as the centerpiece for one of the cities most beloved beer gardens. The beer garden is the second largest in Munich, offering over 7,000 open-air seats at tables and benches surrounding the tower. During good weather, the tower houses a band on the second floor playing local tunes.

After a visit to the park the boys drove us to the airport Hilton where we were to meet up with our group for the trip to Bolzano, Italy. We arrived about 2:00pm and had to wait a short while for a room to be ready. Christine meet up with us in the lobby and helped speed up the process of getting our room.

At 7:00pm we met up with our group of 20 including Kent and Christine Zimmerman, our program managers for the next couple of weeks. The group consists of mostly Americans from California to Virginia, and a couple of Canadians We walked a short distance to a local Bavarian restaurant for dinner. We started with cheese platters and wine followed by suckling pig with potato dumplings, pork knuckles, potato salad, salmon and more. This was followed by more drinks, deep fried and sugar-coated apple slices, ice cream, plum and apricot dumplings. All delicious but way too much to eat.

City Hall and the Glockenspiel

Roast Pork and Dumplings

White Sausage and Pretzel

St. Peters Church Interior

Asam Church Exterior

Asam Church Interior

We had another restless night, still adjusting to the time change of nine hours from home. After a morning of mostly light rain it dried out and we ventured out to the Marienplatz to catch the Glockenspiel clock performance. The Marienplatz is the main town square housing the city hall. The ornate City Hall building includes the Glockenspiel in its tower.

The Glockenspiel dates from 1908 and consists of 43 bells and 32 life sized figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine. In honor of the happy couple there is a joist with life sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria and Lothringen. The lower part of the Glockenspiel shows dancers dancing the coopers dance. The show lasts between 12 and 15 minutes depending on the tune played that day. At the end of the show, a very small golden rooster at the top of the Glockenspiel chirps three times, marking the end of the spectacle.

We then visited St Peter’s Church before stopping at the Deutsche Eiche (German Oak) Hotel and Restaurant for lunch. The hotel is one of the most historical meeting places in the Munich art scene and gay village. The hotel consists of 32 rooms, has a restaurant, roof top deck and bathhouse. For lunch, Mark tried the roast pork with dark beer sauce topped with pork rind, a potato dumpling, a bread dumpling and the bacon cabbage salad. Kent enjoyed 2 Munich sausages with sweet mustard and a pretzel. The sausages were short, fat and white in color while the mustard was sweet and delicious.

Our next stop was at one of the most ornately decorated churches in the city of Munich called St. Johann Nepomuk or better known as the Asam Church. The church was built from 1733 to 1746 by brothers, Egid Quirin Asam, a sculptor, and Cosmas Damian Asan, a painter, as their private church. The church is small in size measuring only about 75 feet by 25 feet. It is extremely gaudy with ornamentation everywhere. We were not allowed to access the church as there is a wrought iron gate not far inside the church that you can only look through. Even so, it was quite a site to see.

In the afternoon our friends Alain and Matthias from Stuttgart arrived at our hotel. We headed out to a street fair where they had beer and food stands out in the street and folks gathered to have drinks with friends in the street. As it was raining lightly, we decided to stop in at a local café where Matthias and Alain had a lunch snack and we had coffees and a piece of cake. Afterwards we walked back to our hotel for a short rest before heading out to dinner.

We met Alain and Matthias on the World Cruise on Holland America Lines in 2013. We visited them in Stuttgart in June, 2013. Next, we met them in Paris in October of 2015; Lucerne, Switzerland, in October, 2016; and London in May, 2018. It is wonderful to be able to catch up with these fellow travelers whenever we can.

For dinner the four of us headed to the Viktualienmarkt in the center of Munich which is a daily food market. It features about 140 stalls and shops offering flowers, exotic fruits, game, poultry, spices, cheese, fish, juices and more. Here we dined at the Laurin Restaurant on a charming and pleasant outdoor patio. When we arrived, Kent spotted our friends and program managers, Kent and Christine Zimmerman, for our upcoming trip to Bolzano, Italy.

For dinner Alain, Matthias and Mark enjoyed an excellent veal schnitzel with a cranberry preserve and potato salad. Kent had the cheese plate with a variety of cheeses, nuts, grapes and crispy dark bread, along with regular sliced bread and butter. It was a very nice dinner and we enjoyed catching up with Matthias and Alain.

Gartnerplatz Circle

Cemetery Monuments

Lush Green Cemetery

Cemetery Monument

On this day we set out on foot to an area called the Gartnerplatz, formerly the main square of the gay and lesbian scene in Munich. Today the area is one of the trendiest in Munich and is filled with many cafes, bars, hair salons, clothing boutiques and small unique shops. You don’t see any name brand stores that you see around the world in this neighborhood. There was not a lot of evidence of a gay community here….perhaps we were too late.

At a local café on the main circular plaza we had coffees and a croissant filled with what they call nougat, a creamed filling with hazelnut flavor. For lunch we stopped at a local pasta restaurant for spaghetti carbonara and a mixed green salad with tuna. It was all very good.

Nearby we toured the Alter Sudlicher Friedhof or Old South Cemetery founded by Duke Albrecht V as a plague cemetery in 1563. It was also the burial ground of the dead from the Bavarian uprising of 1705-6 which was a national people’s revolt against the occupation of the Austrian Habsburgs during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714). The revolt lasted 75 days with the number of deaths on the Bavarian side numbering over 5,000 men. This led to the collapse of the uprising against Austria in January of 1706 when peace negotiations led to the surrender of the Bavarians.

From 1788 to 1868 this was the only cemetery for the entire metropolitan area of Munich and why it contains the graves of many prominent Munich figures of that period. Painters, philosophers, mayors, sculptors, actors, composers, architects and more have a place here.

Today the cemetery serves as an Art and Cultural history monument and is open to the public. From 2004 to 2007 most of the monuments were renovated and cleaned but today the cemetery is quite overgrown and in need of maintenance.

The weather has been a mixed bag but today was the warmest we have experienced thus far. It was clearer and sunnier and the temperature rose to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

For dinner we walked next door to the Le Meridien Hotel where they have a local German restaurant. Since we had a late lunch we were not that hungry so Mark had a salad and Kent had the local delicacy: Apple Strudel with ice cream and vanilla sauce.

Front of the New Palace

Nativity Scene

Nativity Set

Rear of New Palace

Interior of the New Palace

Interior of New Palace

Gardens behind the New Palace

This morning we headed out by train to the Schleissheim Palace Complex built by Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria. In 1597 Wilhelm purchased the isolated moorland farm of Schleissheim with its St. Margaret’s Chapel for a large sum of money from the Freising Cathedral Chapter. Wilhelm renounced the splendors of court life at an early stage, devoting himself to religious meditation and in 1598 finally abdicated in favor of his energetic son Maximilian.

Between 1598 and 1600 Wilhelm had an estate and a manor built within the complex, which was surrounded by small hermitages and forest chapels. The duke, who had no intention of altering the character of the property as a farm, extended its activities with a stud farm which supplied his stables. Schleissheim beer and cheese were also produced.

Attracted by the profits from the farming business, Maximilian I (reigned from 1598-1651) acquired the complex from his father in 1616 in return for a life annuity. From 1617 Duke Maximilian had his father’s manor replaced by a palace now known as the Old Palace. Most of it was destroyed during WWII, but in its reconstructed form is still the best example of a country palace in the style of villa architecture.

A new chapter commenced with the reign of Elector Max Emanuel from 1680 to 1726. Under his rule, a magnificent New Palace was built after 1700 and is one of the best examples of European residential palaces. The ceiling frescoes marked the beginning of a new epoch in South German ceiling painting, and the interiors, especially the carved paneling, the furniture and stucco-work decorations are some of the most magnificent of their kind.

The surrounding palace gardens, initially influenced by Dutch garden design, were subsequently extended in the French baroque style. Pools with cascades, fountains and formal planted beds created a unique design whose basic features have remained unchanged.

Inside the Old Palace we explored exhibitions by the National Museum showing many different Nativity scenes from around the world. The nativity sets were extraordinary from all over the world and ranged from simple sets of a few figures to extensive sets with hundreds of figures. In addition to the full nativity sets, there was an entire section dedicated to just figures of Jesus as a baby. Many were displayed in glass cases lying in beds of straw, cotton or some other material. Also, of interest was a collection of figurines of Adam and Eve depicted in all colors, shapes and sizes. There were also exhibits about religious Christmas decorations, hand-painted eggs and icons from Russia.

In the New Palace we toured about 40 rooms filled with original plaster details, frescoed ceilings, brocade upholstered walls, hardwood floors and extensive art from the period provided by the National Museum. The excellent condition of the palace and the sheer size of the property is mind boggling.

At the far end of the garden there is a two-story building, originally built as a hunting lodge between 1684 and 1688, that now houses an incredible collection of 18th-century Meissen Porcelain. The porcelain collection has not only dining place settings but also tea pots, serving pieces, animal figurines, candlesticks, vases and more. The collection was very interesting. Kent wanted to sit down in this building and proceeded to fall off a padded stool into one of the porcelain display cabinets. Five guards came running and appeared to be more concerned about Kent than the porcelain. No porcelain was broken and Kent is OK, too!

Also, on the property is a small chapel and stable building. The gardens are very beautiful and extensive. It was a wonderful day spent in the countryside and there were very few people visiting the palaces so it was a joy to take time and enjoy each magnificent detail.

Back in Munich we walked to a local Vietnamese restaurant near our hotel for dinner. We were tired but it was a good day.

Some Munich observations: Lots of people, especially women, smoke on the street. Many people are seen eating sandwiches out of paper bags while walking along the street. Many food stands have no place to sit, so purchasers eat on the street while going from point A to B. There are many non-Germans from a wide variety of countries on the streets. Sometimes it is difficult to find people on the street who look “stereotypically German.” They are there, but are seemingly outnumbered in central Munich.

Facade of the National Museum

Wood and Ivory Carving

Surfing at the English Garden

View inside the English Garden

Marc Fritz at Dinner with us.

This morning we had coffee and a cinnamon roll at the train station before boarding the Hop-On, Hop-Off for a ride to the Bayerisches National Museum. The museum has a collection of about 500,000 items of all types. We toured three floors of the museum where we saw collections of china, glassware, silver, inlaid furniture, statuary, altarpieces, armor, stained glass windows, religious wood carvings and more. They have the largest collection of nativity scenes at the museum but unfortunately the collection is only open from November to April.

After several hours in the museum we headed next door to the massive English Garden started in 1789 by Elector Carl Theodor who ordered a public park be established along the Isar River. Today the park consists of over 900 acres and 48 miles of paths for biking and walking, has beautiful vistas of the city, includes a restaurant, beer garden and Japanese Tea House.

We had lunch at the beer garden including a pork schnitzel, roasted potatoes, potato salad, and sodas. While we were having lunch, a thunderstorm came through causing people to find shelter under large umbrellas and a Chinese Pagoda in the park.

While at the park we also took in an unusual sight of young men surfing. There is a river lock that creates a large wave when the water flows over the lock creating an ideal spot for surfing. Unfortunately, the size of the lock is small and only allows enough room for one surfer at a time. The good news is that there is a constant wave for surfing.

The walk back from the garden is about thirty minutes. Along the walk we took in part of Maximillian Street where all of the high-end retailers have their shops. You find Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton and so many more.

In the evening we met up with one of our former German students, named Marc Fritz, who is currently working in Munich although he is originally from Dusseldorf. We last saw him in Amsterdam in 2016 before we boarded a ship in Rotterdam. We took the subway one stop to a completely different looking part of Munich for dinner. As soon as we stepped out of the subway station it was quiet, the streets were tree lined and were spotless. We had a very nice dinner at a charming restaurant with candle lit wooden tables called Hoiz Weinbistro. They served things like duck breast with quinoa, a variety of steaks, salads and steak tartar.

Aloft Hotel Lobby

Munich Architecture

BMW Museum

Statuary

Architecture

We had a quiet day as we recouped from our long journey. We had a lazy morning in the hotel before venturing out for lunch to a local Italian restaurant called L’Osteria. There we enjoyed a fresh salad with mixed greens, avocado, pomegranate seeds, sunflower seeds and quinoa. The dressing was called a creamy dressing and it was very good. The pizza was a four cheeses pizza that was the size of an extra-large pizza at home. Luckily the girl at the hotel had warned us that the portions were large. The crust was very thin and crispy but otherwise the pizza was not very interesting.

Next, we boarded the local Hop-On, Hop-Off bus operated by Greylines tours. The bus took us on a 2.5-hour tour around the city giving us some bits of history and pointing out architecturally significant buildings. The tour included places like the Olympic Park where the Summer Olympics were held in 1972. As you may recall these were the Olympic Games where terrorists broke into the athlete’s village and took Israeli athletes’ captive and eventually killing them. Today the grounds are used mostly for public events, concerts, fairs and there is a Sea Life Aquarium on the grounds.

Across from the Olympic village is the BMW headquarters and Museum. The museum shows BMW’s technical development throughout the company’s history. It contains engines and turbines, aircraft, motorcycles, and vehicles in a plethora of possible variations. In addition to actual models there are futuristic-looking, even conceptual studies from the past 20 years. The museum is one of the most visited in Munich with more than 250,000 visitors a year.

The city has a large museum district with a variety of museums, there is the large city park called the English Garden, an opera house, cathedrals, high-end shopping streets and a variety of historical monuments.

After a refreshment in the hotel lobby and a nap we ventured out to the main train station for a small bite to eat at a Chinese Restaurant. The train station was a little quieter in the evening but still a busy place with folks coming and going in every direction.

Our flight left San Diego at 2:50pm bound for Frankfurt, Germany arriving the following day at 11:05am. The flight was about 11 hours in duration. Our flight departed Frankfurt at 12:15pm arriving in Munich at 1:10pm. This was a very short flight of less than one hour. Once we arrived in Munich we had to find the S Bahn train station where we boarded a local train for the 45-minute ride into central Munich train station called the Hauptbahnhof.

Our hotel for the next six nights is a Marriott brand hotel called the Aloft Hotel. The hotel is just adjacent to the main train station so we only had a short walk with suitcases to our hotel. The hotel is a smoking free hotel which is a good thing in Europe since so many people here smoke. The hotel has a very casual lobby with a traditional bar, comfortable tables and chairs to sit at and comfortable sofas and chairs to relax in. There is a coffee and snack bar with fruit, snacks, coffee and tea all for sale.

After a short nap we ventured out on foot to the main square called the Marienplatz about a fifteen-minute walk from our hotel. The streets are extremely busy with people of all colors and ethnicities, dining at sidewalk cafes, shopping and coming and going in every direction.

Munich is the capital city of Germany and has a population of about 1.5 million inhabitants in the city and 2.75-million in the urban area. It is the fastest growing and most prosperous of all cities in the country. The city is now home to about 45,000 Turks, 30,000 Albanians, 25,000 Croatians, 25,000 Serbians, 25,000 Greeks, 20,0000 Austrians and 25,000 Italians.

For dinner we stopped at a local German restaurant next door to our hotel where we had sausages and sauerkraut, chicken schnitzel and potato salad. The potato salad is mixed with chopped cucumbers for a bit of crunch and is a bit vinegary than we might be used to. As is typical in most of Europe, table water is not served with your meal. Instead you are expected to pay for either bottled water or, as was the case today, we could get a small glass of tap water for 1 euro 20.

We were very tired from our long trip and retired about 9:00pm.