We arrived in Munich on Tuesday morning after our overnight flight from Toronto. It was an uneventful flight, which is always nice, and after catching a train into the city, we got settled into our hotel and headed out to see Schloss Nymphenburg, a summer residence of Bavarian rulers. It's Great Hall was pret impressive but what was really mind blowing was the carriage museum. It had many of the carriages used by various kings, queens and princes, including a few used for coronations that were really elaborate, entirely covered in gold. The grounds of the palace are really extensive and open to the public. There are formal gardens right outside the palacios, itself, but also extensive wooded areas with paths and four pavilions used by the rulers to get even further away from it all. It was raining lightly and I had forgotten my umbrella but we made it to all four. They were very impressive on their own - one had an indoor swimming pool and another was built to look like ruins and had a grotto inside.
From there, we headed back to our hotel before heading out to dinner. We landed at a packed restaurant where I had a sampling of three different kinds of dumplings and EDP had duck and pork. A kindly gentleman sitting near us advised EDP what to do with the sauce that came with his meal - and even interrupted a bit later to insist EDP put the sauce on his dumpling since it would be too dry without it. We finished with a type of apple pancake, which was quite tasty, and then headed back for a good night's rest.
On Wednesday morning, we started at Alte Pinakothek, an art museum with an extensive Rubens collection, including one painting that is one of the largest paintings in Europe. The building was actually designed to fit the painting and it hangs in the best spot in the gallery and has never been moved. It also houses the first known Da Vinci, which was exciting to see. From there, we went to Marienplatz to catch the glockenspiel before sitting down for some lunch at a cafe with a very impressive dessert selection. I took the recommendation of the gentleman behind the counter and it was delicious, though I'm not really clear what it was. As we left, he tried to convince me to take a piece to go but we still had things to see.
And that thing was the Munich Residence. We started at the Cuvillies Theatre, which was built in the 1750's but destroyed in WWII. Before the war, someone had thought to store the interior in a safe place so they just reinstalled it in another building. Sadly, there were no performances happening while we were in Munich, but we were able to go into the theatre to take a look and it was beautiful. After that, it was into the Residence Museum. And wow, I don't think I've ever been in a palace where so much of it was open to the public. It felt like every king built his own apartments and all were on display. There were some highlights - like the Antiquarium and the Ornate Rooms and the Imperial Hall - but after a while, it all started looking alike.
We headed back to the hotel after that, stopping in a shop that we thought was a liquor store but when we got inside, we decided it was like German Williams Sonoma. But then it turned into German Lee Valley. And German Staples. And German Home Hardware. And several other shops. All rolled into one. It was quite the store. We then headed out for dinner, which was pizza. We ordered a sampler pizza meant to feed 3-4 people. The waitress seemed concerned when we ordered it and asked if we were sure. We were. It had four kinds of pizza - cheese, margherita, salami and prosciutto & mushroom. It was SOOO GOOD. We polished off all but three pieces of the 36 pieces it was cut into. Then we stopped for some ice cream where I had a delicious chocolate and EDP had an amazing apricot and basil. It was a good way to end a few days in Munich.
This morning, we picked up our rental car and headed north. It's been a long day and I'm nodding off as I type so I'll have to pick this back up again tomorrow after a good night's sleep. Auf Wiedersehen!