Germany- Munich- Day 1

10-06-2011

All ready for a new day in a new city.

Combined two walking tours from Frommer's and with a good map in hand we started.

Marienplatz, the busiest square in Munich, flooded with various tour groups and tourists all eagerly awaiting the show at 11. I was glad we were there too as it was a lot of fun to watch the mini tournament enacted in the clock tower (Glockenspiel) of the new town hall (Neues Rathaus ). The jesters, the nobles and then the knights, in the second round one of them gets knocked out. This is followed by the dancing in the second row.

Went to quite a few cathedrals/ churches, a lot of them were destroyed in the war but were restored quite quickly. Frauenkirche, the domed towers are part of the Munich skyline, not as impressive inside. Peterskirche, beautiful inside, a lot of white and gold. Theaternikirche and Michaelkirche are quite unpretentious on the outside but gorgeous interiors surprised us.

Viktualienmarkt ( Munich's stomach) , is a wonderful market. There was a shop selling olives, mushrooms etc in barrels and had huge bunches of dried red chillies hanging above, a very attractive look. We had a seafood lunch there and came back for dinner, soup from the soup kitchen ( name of the restaurant).

Visited the Hofbrahaus, first it's massive second floor hall which also contains a niche with a history of the brewery. Then sat in the sprawling beer garden, Jeevan had the liter jug, didn't down it in the 3 minutes in spite of all my encouragement .

On our way to Feldherrnhalle passed Alter Hof and Munzhof , two small palaces, as well as Max Joseph Platz, undergoing a lot of construction. At Feldherrnhalle there are two lions on the staircases. One facing the church has his mouth closed, symbolizing that people should not speak against Christianity. While the other lion faced the government building with his mouth open, so people should question the governing body. This was built by Ludwig I, well the people spoke and he had to resign from the throne for his affair with Lola Montez.

Spent a little time in the garden nearby, Hofgarten. An interesting contraption passed us by, a beer bike. 8-10 people were pedaling with a man directing , there was a table in between loaded with beer.

Crossing Maxmiliansplatz , well shaded, Karolineplatz ( inspired by Paris' Place de I'Etoile) we reached Konigsplatz. It is surrounded by grand buildings , we had lots of fun trying to capture ourselves with the buildings in the background each time the road was car free ( a lot of running and laughing involved ).

Spent the evening in Maxmilianstrasse, window shopping at the lovely stores lining the street.







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