Sightseeing in Munich

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Sightseeing in Munich

We left for Marienplatz (city centre) at 9:30. We transferred at Sendlinger Tor to go to Marienplatz. English announcements were provided at the stations which had transport connections.



The tourist information centre was located in Neue Rathaus (Town Hall). We bought a 3 day group Munich Welcome card, which was €29.50.



We went to Frauenkirche, a few minutes walk from Marienplatz. Originally built in the 13^th century and its distinctive copper onion domes were added in 1525, the church was drawn in several landscape paintings. Unfortunately, one of the towers with the lift was closed for renovation work. We looked round the church.



We tried to return to Marienplatz by 11 o’clock to see the movements of the clock. We were a little shocked to see that we were charged for the use of the toilet at the department store. As expected, many people gathered to Marienplatz at 11 o’clock and took photos of dolls moving in line with the music. After that, we headed to the Englisher Garten via Residence building, Theatinekirche, Ferdhermhall with a lion statue, and Hof Garten (Imperial Garden).



Englisher Garten

Englisher Garten is one of the biggest city parks in Germany, covering 1,235 acres. We walked through the woodland, stopped at Japanese tea house garden, and saw young people surfing at the start of the artificial river on the way to the beer garden. The spacious city park has become the popular place for walking, jogging, cycling, and simply relaxing. My parents were jealous of cyclists who were moving faster and looked more comfortable than walking. It was the lunch time when we reached the beer garden. All of salads, hot meals, dessert dishes were on display. We took the hot meals, e.g. two of sausages with either sauerkraut (cabbage seasoned with salt and fermented vinegar) or potato chips. We returned glasses to the kitchen and each received 1 Euro coin a means of deposits of the drinking glass. We showed my parents Chinese Tower near the beer garden. An orchestra sat on the first floor of the Chinese Tower and started playing German music. It was quite entertaining.



After listening to the music, we headed for the Residence. We saw many people sunbathing. I told my mother that the Northern Europeans are sun worshippers, they enjoy having a sun tan despite that fact that staying in the sun can cause them to have skin cancer.



We walked through the subway, which was leading to Hof Garten. As it was warm, we avoided walking in the sun and took the footpath under the trees towards the entrance of Munich’s residence.



Munich Residence

The restoration work was carried out on the building of Residenzstraße on 23 June. We found the sign to go to the Residence Museum while walking along Residenzstraße. We showed the Bavarian Palace cards at the reception, were given three passes for museums, i.e. treasury, residence, and theatre, and were asked to leave rucksacks in the locker. The Munich Residence is the former royal palace for the Bavarian monarch which is the largest city palace in Germany. The complex of buildings contains ten courtyards and the museum display 130 rooms and houses numerous treasures. We decided to look round the treasury rooms. The Electors of the House of Wittelsbach or Bavarian rulers possessed an immense collection of precious treasure, which were used for ritual ceremonies, religious activities or personal decorations. The collections included royal insignia, crowns, swords, goldsmith work, Renaissance saint work, Emperor Charles the Bald’s prayer book, Emperor Henry II’s reliquary of the True Cross, to name just a few. English information wasn’t provided for any items at the treasury rooms, but looking at those previous collections, we could see how significant they were. We also admired the Non European artworks such as Chinese porcelain, intricate ivory work, and West Asian tapestries.



Next, we began looking round the residence museum. We followed the signposts which were indicated from one place to the other, as the parts of the residence building were closed for renovation. Nevertheless, the part closure didn’t let us down. There were plenty to see in the museum. Firstly, we were invited to see late Renaissance period’s rooms, e.g. Antiquarium, built 1568-1571 for the antique collection of Albert V. My mother was impressed with beautifully painted fresco ceilings.



We went upstairs and strolled through the Porcelain Chambers. A wide range of Chinese or Japanese porcelain and lacquer porcelain were displayed. Many plates, jars, and cups had very distinctive pictures with birds, flowers, and oriental buildings and people. We were also shown collections of silver and gold dinner set which were used by Bavarian monarchs and for ceremonial purposes. They were all beautifully polished.



We continued following the directions and it led us Electoral Apartments, Trier Rooms, Hall of the Knights of St George, Green Gallery, Ornate Rooms, Imperial Hall, Stone Rooms, Reliquaries Rooms, and Ancestral Gallery. All of the rooms had very distinctive art works, not only collections of portraits of the Electors or Bavarian rulers, masterpieces or grand tapestries, but also sumptuously embroidered wall hangings, intricately walls and ceilings. Immaculately presented artworks and opulently decorated rooms proved how powerful Bavarian rulers and those rooms were not only used for ceremonial occasions but also served for the royal family’s accommodations. Much of the exteriors and interiors were devastated by the air-raids in 1944, however, they were miraculously restored to its near originals by extremely diligent crafts people and engineers. As my mother is currently doing still-life paintings with bones, she was interested in reliquary collections which contained ashes and mummified children’s bodies.



It almost took three hours to look round the Residence Museum. My father was exhausted and we sat on the bench for a little while after looking round the exhibition rooms.



My father was interested in the authentic German peelers which were originally produced in the beginning of the 20^th century. We popped in the household goods shop like Leute or the household section in the department near Marienplatz in the late afternoon.



Weinhaus Neuner

Leonardo Hotel kept address cards of Munich’s sightseeing places and restaurants. I picked up some of the restaurants cards previous day. We decided to go to “Weinhaus Neuner” on Herzogaspitalstraße near Karlsplatz. As shown on the card, Weinhaus Neuner offered an authentic atmosphere of the old wine bar restaurant. The restaurant didn’t have English menu book, but the waiter or waitress translate the main dishes for me in English and I recommended Wienerschnizel with roasted potatoes for my parents. Mark selected chicken dish, and I ordered the monk fish with vegetables. My parents continued drinking beer, although they were moaning that they were eating and drinking too much during their trip in Germany.



My mother remembered staying in the hotel near Karlsplatz and suggested going to the fountain, which was visible from Neuhauserstraße. Some young people were playing with the water. We stood at the western side of Karlsplatz and looked at the silhouetted view of the fountain with rainbow and picturesque building around the Karlsplats. We took the underground from Karlsplatz to Silberhornstraße.





Visit to Nymphenburg Palace

We were delighted with another sunny morning on 24 June. We left our hotel at 9:15, and caught the tram No.17 for Nymphenburg from Fraunhoferstraße. The tram was running the northwest direction after leaving the central station and it took 30 minutes to the destination. My mother and I remembered the canal, pond, and the façade of the palace.



Friendly ducks appeared from the ponds when a number of tourists arrived at the palace in the morning. The front façade, the symmetrical layout of the garden, and the fountain, etc looked stunning with the blue sky so that we all started taking photos.



We showed our 14 day Bayern Palace cards at the reception, and were advised to leave hand baggage in the locker. Having carried the small bag, I was responsible for holding the key for the locker when we visited palaces and galleries.



Nymphenburg Residence Museum



Brief history

After giving the birth of the heir to the throne, i.e. Max Emanuel in 1662, the Electress was offered a summer residence. Then the Italian village was remodelled into a representative hunting and summer palace by Max Emanuel between the late 17^th century and the beginning of the 18^th century. The palace complex of Nymphenburg was further expanded and the landscape garden with cascades, fountains, and canal systems, etc was designed during the reign of Karl Albrecht, and the palace garden and buildings were further developed and added during the reign of Ludwig I.



The staircase from the ticketing office led us to the impressive Stone Hall, which was decorated with gold and white columns, stunning chandeliers, and magnificent ceiling fresco with nymphs and floras in the mythical stories. The Stone Hall received generous portion of sunlight and we were able to see beautiful gardens and it allowed us to take photos without using flash.



Having turned left from the Stone Hall, it led us to the Elector’s Apartment, consisting of Tapestry Room, Ante Room, North Cabinet, Bedroom, Heraldry Room, etc. There was a big portrait of Max Emanuel on the Ante Room. All of the fringes and wall decorations were executed in gold on the white panels, which symbolise Max Emanuel and his wife, Therese Kunigunde of Poland who already had 10 children at the age of 41. All of the North Wing rooms were furnished with the 18^th century wooden (similar to Chippendale) furniture and decorative rococo style furniture, hanging with tapestries of the nature and five portraits of ladies of the court of the Sun King Louis XIV. We also noted the paintings illustrating the development of Nymphenburg Palace and garden on the North Gallery.



Turning right from the Stone Room led us to the Apartment of the Electress. In addition to four rooms of the Apartment of the Electress, there were a number of interesting rooms in the South Pavilion connected via South Gallery. The highlight of the South Wing was the Gallery of Beauties, which were commissioned by Ludwig I. Various types of ladies, some of whom had darker complexion, were painted and shown as portraits. All of the ladies seemed to have worn their very best dresses or have done very best make-up for the occasion and designated artists painted them so attractive and beautiful that all of the portraits with golden flames matched with the court gallery. Mark was interested in looking at those beautiful ladies. We were also informed by the panel that the bedroom decorated in green damasks of the Queen’s Apartment was the place where the fairytale prince, Ludwig II was born on 25 August 1845.



Afterwards, we went back to downstairs. I wanted to buy the map of Nymphenburg Palace and park, ideally in English. One of the shop assistants helped me find the one I was looking for and I bought the Topspot guide of Nymphenburg Palace.



Marstall Museum

We went to the Marstall Museum, which was south of the palace. Understandably, the Marstall Museum was established on the former stable buildings. There were a wide variety of royal gold carriages, sleighs, sedan chairs, and harnesses, most of which were opulently decorated with statues of mythological characters, coats of arms, and paintings on the surface of the carriages. They didn’t look practical, but there were a number of historical paintings that the people were actually riding those carriages in the palace gardens and sleighs in the snowy forest. It was amazing to see children’s sleighs and carriages which were all opulently decorated. We also saw a couple of children’s merri-go-rounds which were operated manually.



We were shown modern carriages used as hearse or concert carriages in the No.2 building. They were less decorative but looked more functional.



Porcelain Museum

The Porcelain Museum was located above the Marshall Museum. Nymphenburg porcelain factory has been very famous. We saw numerous types of decorative figures featuring the mythological characters or famous actors or actresses, cups, bowls, jars, vases, and dinner sets displayed in the cabinet. Many of the plates and cups had very beautiful landscape paintings and some of the ceramics, tea sets, and dinner sets were designed for ceremonial occasions or special events. We were also shown the methods of the mass productions, using the shape of the cups, plate, and copies of pictures which were sealed on the dishes.



Palace Gardens

It was lunch time when we finished looking round the porcelain museum. We walked across the south cabinet garden and grand parterre and fountain, and reached the restaurant. Most of the tables for the café were busy. We had to sit on the different tables.



As my parents wanted to Neue Pinakothek in the afternoon, I decided to look round two buildings in the palace park.



Amalienburg

We firstly popped in Amalienburg, which was hunting lodge built by Elector Karl Albrecht, and his wife Marie Amalie. The highlight of Amelienburg was the Hall of Mirrors, which was used as a banqueting hall, decorated with elaborate carvings and opulent stuccowork. A series of hunting paintings and carved hunting trophies truly convinced us that it was a hunting lodge. It was also interesting to see the kitchen with Dutch tiles, where Amalie must have cooked game meats which had been hunt.



Badenburg

We walked through the peaceful woodland towards Badenburg, which was built with the inspiration of the luxury of Turkish baths and was built by Max Emanuel.

As well as the authentic Turkish bath, we were interested in the bedroom, cabinet room, and cloak room which were furnished with Chinese furniture, authentic oriental artworks and porcelain.



We also admired the view of the Badenburg lake with Monopteros, Greek shrine. My mother sketched the view of Badenburg and Amalienburg.



Afterwards, we returned to the main building and did shopping. I found a biography of Ludwig II written by Marsha Schad, and bought it for my souvenirs from Bavarian palaces.

After buying souvenirs and postcards, we picked up our hand baggage. A symmetrical layout of Nymphenburg palace complex misled my mother the direction for the exit. I explained to her that we had come from the ground with bigger lake and the large car park.



Neue Pinakothek

We caught the No.17 train and travelled to Hauptbahnhof. Then, we took the U2 line to Theresienstraße. We paid €1 each for the admission for Neue Pinakothek, as it was on Sunday. We were advised to leave our handbags in the locker when strolling through the gallery.



My father wanted to see the paintings of Cezanne or Renoir, however, my mother suggested following the tour route. The tour route allowed us to see modern masterpieces produced between 1800 and 1960 in more than 20 gallery rooms. The modern masterpieces included English paintings by Hogarth, Turner, Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds, and John Constable, landscape paintings of Rome, romantic and realism French paintings, French Impressionist masterpieces by Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Van Gogh, and New Style masterpieces by Gustav Klimt. We saw scores of paintings by German artists, Munich born artists and landscape collections of Ludwig I. We were all interested in the painting of the beer garden of English Garden, as we had lunch there the previous day.



It almost took two hours to see all of the paintings at the Neue Pinakothek. We were glad that it was much less crowded on Sunday than we had expected, so we thoroughly enjoyed viewing excellent collections of modern masterpieces in a quite environment.

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