Last night we returned from a trip to Munich. It was a work trip for Jay and the kids happened to have the week off from school (fall break 1) so we figured it was perfect timing. We had a wonderful time. Here are some of our adventures (not in any specific order).
ENGLISH GARDEN
We rented bicycles one morning and rode to the Englischer Garten. We felt very "German" as most Germans are accustomed to commuting on bicycles every day. It felt awkward to me at first (especially riding beside traffic on our way there), but soon got the hang of it. It was probably one of the funnest things we did while in Munich.
The English Garden was began about 1789 and was expanded over time. It is one of the world's largest urban public park - larger than Central Park in New York. It is called the English Garden because of it's style of landscape. It is informal and reminded the German's of the British style.
Have a look at our brief journey in the park:
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| Here we are just entering the park from the Hofgarten. |
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| Onward in our travels we came across this beautiful creek with a waterfall cascading under the bridge. |
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| The sunlight through the fall leaves made a perfect frame. |
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| Happy to be at the park. |
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| Emily captured a bicycler in action. I love this shot. |
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| We were geared-up to climb this Chinese tower to the top to get a great overlook of the park, but, sadly, it was closed. |
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| Moving on.... |
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| coming closer.... |
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| be careful not to run me over!!! |
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| Emily sets out on her own. Me and Ivan need a rest at a park bench. We need more exercise! |
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| Off she goes. |
(Side Note: the day we went to this park it was a bit chilly. (You can't tell from the pictures.) However, the following day was very warm. I was thinking we went on the wrong day for our bike ride (especially since we didn't bring our jackets), but when Jay came back from work that evening, he told me we picked the right day for our bike ride. As he was crossing through a corner of the English Garden on his way to the train, he noticed some people - older men - in the distance. Jay thought they were all wearing orange clothing. However, when he got closer to them he realized they were all buck naked!
Well, you've been warned. Steve Ricks warned me, too, in his tour guide book of Germany. I'm glad we didn't get an eyeful on our funnest day in Munich. I'm such a prude. What can I say?
THE HOTEL
Jay booked us into a quaint hotel. It was established in the early 1970's by a nice family. It was comfortable. It had free breakfast.
I enjoyed getting up each morning and sitting at a nicely decorated table to enjoy a very simple, but delicious morning meal. There was always scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit salad, variety of breads, variety of spreads for bread (Ivan discovered liverwurst here...he likes it!), cereal, etc... It is the usual "hotel" fare, but so nice.
Jay was very pleased with this "dive" overall (and so was I).
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| Here is a little glimpse inside our hotel room. |
MODERN ART MUSEUM
(Pinakothek der Moderne)
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| On our way to the art museum we discovered these interesting bales of long, colored, plastic straws. |
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| They seem comfy enough! |
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| We had fun taking photographs. |
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| More colorful, artful bales of strangeness. |
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| We did finally make it to the entrance of the museum. |
I always love it when you can take photographs inside a museum. The following are a few of our favorite paintings. Others that just make you say, "huh?"
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| We've finished our art museum tour. We can't leave without playing one more time on the colorful bales! |
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| Good-bye Pinakothek der Moderne..... |
GLOCKENSPIEL
Now for the attraction I have been waiting for. Mr. B. from JAIS (Emily and Ivan's school in Jerusalem) told me about seeing this clock in Munich. Ever since then, I have been hoping to go to see it. Thanks Mr. B.
A glockenspiel is a carillon. I will describe this special glockenspiel with the help of Wikipedia. You can find this clock in the heart of Munich. It is located at the Marienplatz (Mary's Plaza). It is part of the "New Town Hall" (Neue Rathaus). It has 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.
The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine. In honor of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (Munich) and Lothringen (I'm assuming the place his bride-to-be was from).
After the mechanical performance of the marriage and joust, the bottom half tells the second story. The story is of the cooper's (barrel makers) who are said to have danced through the streets "to bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions" during the time of the plague (yr. 1517).
The coopers remained loyal to the Duke and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority during difficult times.
The whole show lasts 12 to 15 minutes. It plays 3 times a day (11:00 am, 12:00 pm and 5:00 pm). At the very end of the show a little golden rooster cock-a-doodle-doos 3 times. This little bird is difficult to hear and see, but it is perched at the top of the marriage scene. I about got a permanent kink in my neck straining to see it. Everyone else thought the show was over and were walking away. An impatient Ivan kept pestering me to go, but I was determined to keep my eye on that bird. Yes, I got to see it flutter it's wings and I barely heard it's sound, but, hey, I may never go there again!
Have a look at the old "glock"...you may get tired of all the pictures I took of it and some are not posted.
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| Can you see the moving figures up there? |
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| Ahh...a slightly better view of them. |
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| Neue Rathaus |
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| This gives a better view of the New Town Hall building. You can see where the glockenspiel is in relation to it. |
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| I was able to get this close-up because across the street was a bookstore the kids and I went to. On the 3rd or 4th floor we were right across from the tower. I was able to zoom in. |
HOFBRAUHAUS
This is a "famous" restaurant in Munich (or infamous because Hitler ate here and gave some of his speeches here to muster support for his campaign) Of course, though, this is not the actual building itself. Most buildings in Munich were demolished during World War II. It was rebuilt in the same style as the original.
It had a noisy, fun and festive atmosphere. I thought I was going to die of thirst, though. They bring all the beer drinkers out HUGE mugs of beer and anything else were small glasses in comparison. I kept thinking, please bring me water in one of those great big beer mugs...and then I won't be thirsty anymore. Ha! I ordered water and I about croaked when I saw the wimpy little bottle. Gotta love Germany.
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| One of the reasons it was so noisy in the place....the Oompah band. It was fun music, though. |
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| More of the Oompah band...you go boys!!! |
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| Here we are at our table. Jay is drinking Apfel Shorle (just thought I would clarify that). Apfel Shorle is basically apple soda. It is plain apple juice mixed with fizzy mineral water. There is no HFCS (high fructose corn syrup, sugar or additives...so, healthy by our standards, I suppose.) |
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| Ivan goes for the gusto...a pig knuckle with a knoodle. (A knoodle is a dumpling stuffed with mashed potato.) BTW, you pronounce the "k" - such cute words. |
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| Jay has goulash with mashed potato balls (probably liverwurst bits inside it, too). |
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| I play it safe with half a roasted chicken and German potato salad. Yum. |
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| To be honest, nobody really knows what Emily ordered, but the mashed potatoes are identical to the ones on Jay's plate. |
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| This is the "bread" lady. She came around selling pretzels and gingerbread cookies with lots of crusty old icing on them (about broke our teeth :o) |
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| What will it be? |
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| We're Williams...of course we go for the sweets!! |
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| What a concept...cookie necklaces. (I like it.) I wonder if it would work for school lunches....hmmmm...... |
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We sat at the Musician's Table (that's what the sign says anyway).
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WEISSBRAUHAUS
While we are on the topic of restaurants, I'll take you to another restaurant we went to the last day of our visit in Munich. It is the Weissbrauhaus (White Brew House).
It was my favorite restaurant if it is between it or the Hofbrauhaus. The food was only half a step better, but the people there were more down-to-earth, friendly and we could hold a conversation with each other! Probably the biggest thing I liked about this restaurant was the big glasses for non-alcohol drinks! Yeah! You don't leave thirsty - in other words.
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| Check out Ivan's big glass of Apfel Shorle. Another reason to love this restaurant :o) |
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| The variety grill platter - sausages fit for a king. There is sauerkraut and boiled potatoes to go along with them. |
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| Which one would you like to try? |
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| Or, you can have a vegetarian dish (if you are tired of brats and potatoes). This is crepe with roasted vegetables. |
JODLERWIRT
This is the Jodlerwirt (translated as: yodeller host) restaurant. I read about this restaurant in Rick Steve's tour guide for Germany. It sounded really fun and interesting and we decided we had to go.
It would take far too long to explain how our evening went - how we waited an hour walking around Munich just to be able to go upstairs to where the yodel dude played and entertained (we arrived at 6:00 pm and the "show" began at 7:00 pm) - how we waited at the top of the stairs because the hobbit door was still locked (we arrived too early) - and still waited only to be told it was only for 18 years and up (sorry kids).
Oh well. It will forever be the restaurant we will have never eaten at. I'm not too sad about it. We ended up at a much nicer place (Weissbrauhaus).
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| The restaurant we never ate at. |
VIKTUALIENMARKT
This was one of our morning adventures. We went to the open market near Marienplatz. I love open markets. Just take a look at all the tantalizing produce (not to mention crafts and gourmet offerings)!
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| Such amazing color! |
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| Emily and Ivan are enjoying the market. |
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| Great smells, too. |
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| Ivan doing a taste test of various dips. |
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| dragon fruit |
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| nice smelling hanging crafts |
MICHAEL JACKSON MEMORIAL
(Yes, you read that right.)
If it wasn't for the tour guide book we never would have known about the Michael Jackson Memorial. Why is there a memorial here in Munich? Well, as the guide book said, when MJ came to Munich for tours he often stayed at the same hotel. This hotel is located just behind the statue of Orlando di Lasso (the statue which became the Michael Jackson memorial). His fans would wait outside this hotel hoping to get a glimpse of him and MJ would sometimes accommodate them by standing at his window. (Note: this is not the hotel where he showed his baby at the window and created the famous "baby dangling" controversy - that was a hotel in Berlin.)
When he died his fans created this memorial and have diligently cared for it since then. While we were there a woman came and was tidying up a few things around the memorial. I must say I was touched by his fan's loyalty and their sadness at his death (as expressed in writings posted around the memorial). I am not a big Michael Jackson fan, but I do think he was a talented song writer and singer.
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| This statue happens to be of one of Jay's favorite composers (Orlando di Lasso). A guess there's a little irony in the fact that it has been hijacked by Michael Jackson fans. |
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| Such strong feelings in this poem (if you can read it). |
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| Four sided statue and four sides to Michael Jackson memorabilia. Lot's of sadness and love here guys. |
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| More Michael Jackson love! |
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| How long has he been gone? Look how the flowers are kept fresh. |
Here are the sorry saps that have been eclipsed by Michael Jackson's memorial (they are all in a row on this plot of grass):
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| Isn't this a cool statue? I thought for sure it was the MJ memorial when we first arrived. Seriously, doesn't this just say "MJ" all over it? Anyway, he was once a king in centuries gone by. |
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| Here is the name of the king. |
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| Emily and Ivan up close with the cool king Maximilian. |
Spielzeugmuseum
(Toy Museum)
Can't resist going to a toy museum at the Marienplatz. Everything great and wonderful can be found at the Marienplatz!
The museum wasn't what I expected, but Emily and I enjoyed taking our time and carefully reading the plaques about the history and story behind the toys.
Ivan enjoyed it, too, but I think we took far too long for his liking.
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| Entry is under the archway and into a tall skinny tower. The toy museum itself was a bit "squeeshy" and small. |
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| This was my favorite doll #1. |
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| My favorite doll #2 - doll #1's brother :o) |
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| I voted this toy the most creative. It is a whistle, but it also makes bubbles - so, while you whistle (it is actually a bird call) the bubbles float around. Aww, cute. |
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| Hands down...the ugliest and creepiest toy (in my opinion) in the museum. It's name is Snookums. It probably wouldn't be so ugly and creepy if it was new and had hair. |
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| This toy won Emily's vote for the ugliest and creepiest. Hmmm...she has a good point here. |
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| This baby doll walked and said, "ma ma." Ivan gave this toy the "creepy" award. Yeah, if it was dark and coming at me...I might think it creepy, too. |
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| An old timey wind-up mouse. |
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| No toy museum would be complete without a train set! |
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| A huge barbie collection - Wow! I love, love, love their clothes. |
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| Check these fashions out - aren't they great? My favorite? The one in the middle with the white glasses and red and white striped jacket. |
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| Wouldn't you love to wear a gold coat like that with fur on the arms? So beautiful :o) |
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| A menagerie of stuff! A hoarder would have a blast in this museum....uh, that would be me! |
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| Check out the soldiers...there were lots of toy soldiers in the museum. They were popular! |
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| Check out the bellowing sea creature. He seems a bit out of place here - poor guy. |
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| You will be happy to know that these are martians from Mars. Don't they look friendly and reasonable? Well, except for those nasty bayonets! |
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| This is the sad state of an aged toy - decapitated and lonely. |
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| This figure looks familiar, but I can't quite place it. Any ideas? |
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| The famous Steiff bears. There is an interesting history to the making of these bears. You should Google it sometime when you need some "down time." |
INSIDE THE NEUE RATHAUS
Again, with the help of Rick Steves, we read you can go up the tower of the glockenspiel and look out over the city. It took some searching and we came very close to not finding the way to the elevator but, thankfully, we didn't give up and found it! You have to walk to the 4th floor and then the elevator (there wasn't a single sign to point the way) takes you up the rest of the 5 levels.
In the meantime, check out how beautifully built and decorated the inside of the New Town Hall is:
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| Here we are about to enter the glass doors and take the big stone stairs. |
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| Looking back from the glass doors. Aren't those arches gorgeous?? |
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| Such a beautiful building. Here we go...up the stairs.... |
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| So many stairs. They are big and wide as you can see. |
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| We stop on the stairs periodically to glance out the windows. |
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| Taking a breather on the 4th floor. Isn't it beautiful? |
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| More views from the 4th floor. |
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| Look at the tiles. Wouldn't it make a nice quilt pattern? |
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| This is the hall (unknown to us) that will lead us to the elevator. |
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| One of a handful of beautiful stained glass windows. |
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| Finally at the top of the Glockenspiel! |
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| dizzying heights |
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| The people look like ants. |
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| Here's my brave girl. Ivan opted out and waited for us on the 4th floor. |
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| This may be my favorite photo from the top of the "glock." The tower you see with the red pointy top is the tower that houses the toy museum. The building it is attached to is the "Old Town Hall" (rebuilt after WWII). |
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| Gawkers gawking back and forth between tall towers. |
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| There is a little "pocket" window on each of the corners of the tower. |
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| One last photo before going back down. |
A note of interest here, while we were gawking our eyes out on the top of the tower, it struck 11:00 am and the tower bells went off. It was loud, but wasn't deafening (thankfully). So, we missed the first showing of the glockenspiel, but we did get a nice "earful" of it. Just so you know, we also missed the 12:00 pm showing. We barely made it to the 5:00 pm show (whew!).
FAREWELL MUNICH
The following pictures are of our meanderings around downtown Munich.
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| Do you see the photo bomber in this picture? Another funny note about the boar statue...for some reason, every time we walked by this statue (day and night) men were taking their picture by it. Hmmm... could be a case study of something, maybe? (ha ha) Emily and I were very amused! |
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| Where in the world can you go to see a dragon crawling up the side of a building? In Munich, of course! |
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| We were looking for some public relief stations and we found them here, in this fairy tale restaurant. |
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| Take your time...I don't mind waiting :o) |
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| Emily's turn to wait... |
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| Every day after work we met Jay at the Marienplatz and we hunted for dinner. |
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| This picture happens to be taken on our hour long walk waiting for the Jodlerwirt to open (the restaurant we never ate at). |
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| They know how to make buildings beautiful here. |
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| Posing in front of the book store (it's the one on the end with the red writing on it...if you can see that). |
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| These pictures are Emily's gems. She took pictures of those funky window display people. Take a closer look...they are watching people go by - way creepy! |
Seriously, people, how is this going to sell clothing!!!???
THE BMW MUSEUM
On our journey homeward bound, we stopped at the BMW Museum which is right in Munich :o) My original thought was that this excursion would be for Jay. He worked the whole time we were in Munich while the kids and I explored the city and had fun. It turned out that we all enjoyed the museum very much. Of course, Jay made the museum more interesting by sharing what he knows about cars (which is a lot!).
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| Inside the showroom. |
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| Walking across the street from the showroom to the museum. |
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| My personal favorite...you enter from the front of the car. |
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| Watching the moving display. |
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| It is very mesmerizing as the "floating" balls move in space and create patterns. |
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| Ultimately the pattern will be a car...of course! |
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| Leaving the museum and walking back to the showroom. |
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| The end of our BMW museum tour and the end of our Munich vacation. We had a wonderful time :o) |
