We slept hard and well and didn't want to wake-up, but an ancient Bavarian city was waiting for us. We checked-out of the hotel at 9:00 am and headed for the subway that would take us to Marienplatz (Mary's Square).
Marienplatz is the center of old town and tourist central. Since we arrived early, we avoided a lot of the bustle that would come along later. We also caught some soft early morning light for pictures. The baroque detail iOS impressive considering most of the town had to be rebuilt after being bombed flat during WWII.
Next we had more great breakfast sandwiches from a local bakery before starting our walking tour.
The Viktualienmarkt (Alicia told you some of these words are long), created by King Maximilian I (also known as Max Joseph - put in power of Bavaria in 1806 by Napoleon under condition that his daughter marry Napoleon's step-son), is a farmers market. It has a maypole that shows the cities six great beers and the beer being served in the Viktualienmarkt that day. Don't ask me what is was today. Water was my drink of choice.
Both Alicia and I really liked this area and spent the most time here of anyplace in Munich. I think just really like farmers markets. We picked up treats for the kids as well as their presents from is city here.
Many of the other cites along the walking tours were impressive cathedrals, including Frauenkirche, the cathedral that Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger occupied over until he moved to the Vatican and ultimately became Pope Benedict. They all were very ornate and some really took your breath away in terms of scope and grandure.
One of our favorite stops here was the very touristy Hofbrauhaus. The Hofbrauhaus is exactly what you think of when you imagine a German beer hall. The original was destroyed during the war, but this reconstruction s one of the first completed. I guess everyone has their priorities.
It is one of the few halls that has a real oompah-oompah band still playing. Don't confuse this with an umpaloompa band. That would be a Willie Wonka band and they doesn't exist. An oompah-oompah band is a traditional German brass band that is anchored by a tuba that makes an oompah-oompah sound.
We had lunch here and I think they were surprised that we didn't want any beer. But they decided to serve us anyway. Alicia had a cabbage roll with potatoes that she didn't like very much and I didn't like either. I had the weisswurst (pronounced veissvurst - a veal sausage) with German potato salad and rotkohler (boiled red cabbage). All of mine was heavenly.
Maximilianstrasse is Munich's version of Rodeo Blvd., Park Place, and the Magnificent Mile. I saw my first Leica shop here. Boy would I like to be wealthy enough to go in and buy one of those camera systems. With my backpack and travel clothes I didn't even feel worthy of going in to browse. But I think I left plenty of longings by the window displays.
Odeonsplatz was a square that we couldn't see until we rounded a corner. Then both of us stopped and quietly said, "Wow." The sun was in the wrong position for me to get good photographs or video, but I am not sure I could have done it justice. It is just impressive.
The last stop of our day was Hofgarten. Hofgarten is the people's state garden. Think of it like some of our great parks like Golden Gate Park, Central Park, and The Mall in Washington, DC. It was great to rest for a few minutes and stop by the renaissance gazebo with amazing acoustics and an incredible violin player.
After some last minute errands, we piled into a subway and headed for the main rail station for our trip back to Berlin.
Tomorrow we have planned Hanover and Hamburg. Both short distances from Berlin. And yes, I plan on eating a hamburger in Hamburg and a frankfurter in Frankfurt. I would have some munster cheese in Munster, but we don't have the time to stop there. Don't judge me, I am just silly that way.
Hey Brett and Alicia..........this is Kurt. I particularly want to make a comment about your visit at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. I, too, have visited the Hofbrauhaus in the early 1980's and enjoyed listening to the ommpah-ommpah band and celebrating with the rest of the Germans. The only difference between you guys and me was that I did actually sit down and enjoy a beer. German beer is the best in the world don't ya know. Have fun on the rest of your trip.
ReplyDeleteThat is neat to think that we shared that experience. It was a lot of fun and I think if we were staying there we would have come back often. Alicia was tempted to try the beer, she said it looked pretty good.
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