Day 25

            It was quite an interesting day!  We took our time getting going, had breakfast in the hotel (we decided we really miss the breakfasts at the Luther Hotel in Wittenberg!), then headed out for the Residenze Museum in the old city of Munich. 

It was certainly an interesting walk.  We walked along the Maximillianstrasse, which is the equivalent of

Rodeo Drive

in California or the KuDamm in Berlin.  EXPENSIVE!!!  We window-shopped at Cartier, and saw watches priced at €135,000+, and other jewelry that went way up from there.  Dea said the sidewalk in front even smelled rich! 

It was only about a 20 minute leisurely walk to the museum, but do you think we could find the entrance? We almost crashed a wedding party, but were quickly chased out.  Finally someone told us where to look for the entrance.  We chose to visit two parts of the museum, the “treasure house” and the “residence.”  Words cannot describe what we saw:  opulent, overdone, overwhelming, over-the-top, overabundance…   you sort of get the picture.  The Treasury included the crown jewels of Bavaria, all kinds of church stuff, jewels, gold, silver – I can’t even begin to describe it.  We spent at least an hour and a half in there.

Then we did the Residence Museum.  There are 90 rooms open in the palace, out of I think 130 total rooms.  Most are decorated and furnished the way they were 200-500 years ago.  There was significant bomb damage from WWII, but the 90 rooms have mostly been restored to their original appearance, and have been furnished with either the original furniture from the rooms, or copies, or equivalent pieces from other castles.  We thought we were overwhelmed with the Charlottenburg and Sansoucci in Berlin and Potsdam, but they were nothing compared to this.  Really, words just don’t do it!  Besides being overwhelmed, trying to follow the procession of Electors, Kings, and Holy Roman Emperors from the Wittlsbach family (rulers of Bavaria) is pretty nigh impossible without a fat book or a computer!  We spent more than 4 hours working through it, but we saw it all – some parts in detail, some parts just an overview.  They did have the English audio guides, which were both helpful and long-winded.  Had we listened to all the available material, we were told that there is at least five hours worth of commentary.  One can stand only so much description of tapestries, painters, etc.

We finished a bit after 4:00 p.m. and made our way to the square in front of the Neu Rathouse.  While we were waiting, we discovered that the same accordion players were in the square that we heard last night.  They played the same music, but I’m still in awe – they were very good!  Then we just hung around until 5:00, and then listened to the glockenspiel and watched the figures dance in the tower of the Rathaus, celebrating the triumph and independence of the Bavarians.  We had seen this before, and I even have a video of it at home, but it was fun to see it again.

Dea gave in to my desires and agreed to go back to the Hofbrauhaus for supper.  We didn’t go up for the show, but sat in the open-air biergarten.  She had something different from the menu from what she had last night, and said it was very good.  Me?  I have no imagination at all:  bratwurst, sauerkraut, and beer.  Oh, yes, I also had a huge pretzel.

We decided that Munich has a whole different flavor than Berlin or Wittenberg.  Very busy, bustling, active.  It appears to be a much younger city, and the Bavarian tradition is different from generic German.  It has been very interesting to watch the people.  There were quite a few people dressed obviously as Muslims – the women in particular.  Very multi-cultural, and so many bicycles!

Then we walked back to the hotel, and are going to do a little research for tomorrow’s trip, and then just crash for the evening.  It was an overwhelming day!