Last day in Munich

Today we repacked the luggage explosion that always appears to happen when we have been in one place for a few days, it is amazing how some well-planned packing can be undone when you have the space to spread out.

I am however, making it sound much worse than it was.  This time packing we needed to get a little smarter as to not cross contaminate.  As we have not had access to a clothes washer since London, we separated the clothes into a dirty suitcase (mine) and clean clothes in Katie's.
When we get to Tuscany our first day will be clothes washing and drying.

Today we thanked our host at Pensione Lindner, in the normal way, with cash, she was of course thankful. Then ventured out to our final chilly Munich morning and on to the underground in the direction of Munich's main station, Hauptbahnhof. 

Here we selected a baggage locker and paid 6euro to store our bags for up to 72 hours. This then allowed us to catch the tram #17 in the direction of Nymphenburg Palace, luggage free.

Nymphenburg Palace was the summer retreat of Munich's past governing family.

The rooms are well decorated, however, I could tell Munich's past may have removed some of the lustre and prized belongings over the years.

Whilst at this palace we also went for a wander through the impressive carriage collection and porcelain museum.

By now it was time to head to the pub and have some German sausage and beer. Katie had her final Munich Wiener Schnitzel.

The weather started to get a little cooler from this point so our previous plans of going for a walk through and around Munich were changed to catching an overpriced and rather dull City Sightseeing Red bus.

After we spent some time at the train station waiting for our train and chasing the elusive Wi-fi signal.

On time our train arrived and we squeezed ourselves into our accommodation and transport for the evening. 

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Munich's past is not all beer and bretzels (Pretzels)

Our first stop today was at Asam's Church on Sendlinger Str. close to our accommodation, squeezed between some shops. At first, we weren't going to go in but from past experiences, it is these little churches that can be the most impressive, and this one didn't disappoint.

I would like to assume most people would have an understanding of WWI and WWII. Katie and I too, believe we do have a well-grounded understanding of the events leading to these horrific wars.  Whilst in Munich we decided to visit NS-Dokumentationszentrum, basically, a museum dedicated to the events leading to the formation of National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi) and how they influenced the people of Munich Germany and two world wars. 

It understandably is a very sombre place and provided us with more than enough of an insight into this shocking time in Munich's past. 

We then walked around the general area and found a pub for lunch, providing another opportunity to sample Munich's beer.

We then returned to the city centre and stumbled upon Chocolaterie Beluga where Katie had a Caffe Latte and brownie whilst I opted for a Hot Chocolate.  When we ordered the waiter advised I would have to go inside to select my hot chocolate, as they have 30 flavours. Taken back a little I followed him into the pokey little store where he displayed his wares. 

Firstly the hot chocolate is made with hot milk, then a large cube of chocolate with a spoon stuck into it is stirred and the chocolate dissolves. Their selection covers both dark and milk chocolate and then there are some with little plastic additions like whiskey or baileys. 

I opted for the dark chocolate with a wee shot of whiskey. See the video below.

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Silvester in Munich - When your in the fireworks (video)

Munich does not have any obvious restrictions on fireworks, you can buy then and on New Year's Eve, Marienplatz becomes the place to fire them.

Here thousands of people congregate each
day, but on NYE it became almost insane.  The 10 minute video below starts about 5 min before midnight.

Differing from other NYE celebrations there is no countdown or exact moment to mark the new year, apart from more fireworks going off than the last hour. It is up to us as spectators to keep an eye on the clock tower to know when it is midnight.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

There is always time for culture and beer

Starting later today as we are expecting to be out on the town for New Year's Eve, breakfast was as usual in the B&B.

After crossing town Katie and I made our way into the impressive Cuvilliés-Theatre for the matinee festive performance.

Before the concert even started we were amazed by the beauty of the
theatre.

In this case, we selected pricier tickets and we got a semi-private booth up in the lofty heights of the theatre.

The concert was amazing and we followed the music along with the program handed to us on entry, or we thought we did.

It was when we went to the cloakroom to collect our coats that we were informed that we had only seen part one of two parts, we were having an intermission!
A little embarrassed we stopped for a drink and then headed back to our seats. In all, the concert went for a little over two hours.

Here is a couple of snippets from the concert.

After the concert, we walked through Hoff Garden and visited the war memorial, a fairly uncommon sight in German towns.

From here it was a short walk to the edge of English Garden to see Eisbachwelle where the locals can get their surfing fix. It is here that the river reappears after transversing under the city. engineering methods have created a surflike wave and locals queue in all weather to have a chance of surfing.

 The afternoon was spent having a little lunch and dropping in on Frauenkirche.

After a few hours resting in our B&B, we were off again to Augustiner-Keller a beer hall famous for its outdoor garden and Bavarian dishes.  I was not expecting much of a meal but thankfully both Katie and I were pleasantly surprised, it was much better than expected.
We got to the hall around 6:30pm and started our meal, along with a beer each. By 7pm it had started to fill and by 7:30 all tables were seated, by now also the band had started playing, mostly English tracks with some Bavarian accordion between.

And a snippet from the beer hall.

Around 9:30 we were feeling uncomfortably hot and as we had finished our meal decided to depart and return to the B&B for some R&R before the fireworks spectacular in MarienPlatz at midnight.

Happy 2018 to all from Katie and Shannon

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Let it snow

This morning we were welcomed to our first breakfast at Pension Lindener.  Thankfully it was what I expected, German.
Of course, it had the standard B&B items like a selection of cereal along with tea and coffee, but as I have found on previous trips there is always some items I wouldn't expect in the European bed and breakfast.  These include, cold cheese omelette, a variety of cheese and baked loaf cakes dusted with icing and sliced.

I do find it strange that someone would

like a sweet cake for breakfast.

For the morning we didn't have any particular activity scheduled, over the years I have learnt to allow time for wondering and discovery.

Katie and I decided to get out and explore the inner city of Munich on foot, with our first stop at the Isar Gate, one of the three remaining gothic gates.

It was just after this we received a very welcome dusting of snow as we passed through the alleys and laneways,

Heading back toward the centre of town we passed by Hofbräuhaus one of the largest beer halls in town. Initially, I thought it would be closed so was pleasantly surprised the door pushed open. 

Katie and I entered the massive complex comprising of three floors - this place is huge. At this time of the morning, there were a couple of men reading the paper and having a beer. With so few in the hall at this hour, we were able to explore unhindered.

Next stop was to return to Viktualienmarkt, and see it in the daylight, it is an impressive market for all types of food. You name it it's here.

Finally, before heading out of the city centre, we checked out St. Peter's Church.

Munich has a great underground service and we jumped on a train to take us out to Olympiaturm an impressive tower in the Olympic Park of 1972 with a revolving restaurant.

By now the snow had changed to rain but didn't in any way dampen our spirits.

Lunch was started with a soup each and then Katie had a main of Veal Meatballs and I had a Weiner schnitzel with potato salad.

After dining at such heights, we descended to BMW Welt (world), where we were both impressed by Mini, Rolls Royce and BMW.

Then it was time to get back on the U Bahn (underground) and return to city centre.

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