München

This weekend Elizabeth and I were in Munich!  And yes, there was air conditioning on the trains! Amazing!  We took the train there at 7:00am and arrived around 11:00 by ICE.  Munich is in very southern Germany. I was hoping I would see some Alps as they are supposed to be nearby, but it was so overcast we didn't see a thing.

It was completely good weather until we got there, in which case it down poured probably the worst I've ever stood in.  Luckily, we had checked the weather ahead of time and brought our umbrellas.  We were disappointed to see that there was a large congregation in the middle square and someone up on a stage yelling about homosexual rights. (I'm not sure why, because homosexuality is allowed in Germany). It seemed to be somewhat of a "gay pride" day.  There was also a large parade that was blocking us from getting to one of our stops and we had to wait because we didn't feel comfortable running through the middle of their parade.

In the center square they did break their music and talking long enough for people to watch the famous glockenspiel on the Rathaus at noon.  There's little figures that dance around and even two knights that joust! (Video will be uploaded to facebook shortly). 

We saw St. Michael's church, but only momentarily, I snuck just one picture because they were having a service when we came in.  St. Michael's is the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps.  It's style greatly influenced the buildings built in early German baroque architecture.  It was made in 1583.

We also saw the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) where we heard a MARVELOUS women's choir practicing (video currently loading to facebook).  The church was built in 1468 but was severely damaged during WWII along with much of Munich as the town was very much a "seat" of the SS (Schutzstaffel or Protection Squadron).  The whole roof had fallen in and one of the two towers had been destroyed and it wasn't fully restored until 1994. Make sure you click them all so you can see them bigger!

We had a traditional lunch of Wiessbraten (whitish brats) on the little rolls.

After lunch, we got out to the Residenz.  It's not quite a palace... but it's much more than just a fancy house too.  This was Elizabeth's pick for a stop, and I was really happy we chose to go here. Not only was it right in the middle of everything we saw, but it was really really gorgeous.  Munich also has a palace, but we didn't get to see it.  I'm really happy with this one though.  I took many many pictures.  Here are just a few:

^Elizabeth was really amazed... and always in front of the camera. :) ^

They even had relic room full of shriveled body parts in fancy boxes... creepy!!!

Not to mention lots of gold fancy things in general.

I could show you pictures forever! Anyhow, we ran into the Munich Orchestra having an outdoor concert that we listened in on while we grabbed a coffee at a nearby shop.  We ran over to the Alte Pinakothek, which is an art museum.  I really loved it.  I could have spent hours and hours there, and I usually don't really spend more than minute in front of a picture at most.  They had the famous Albrecht Durer self-portrait. (Durer is a famous German painter).  I highly suggest the art museums in Munich, they all looked very promising and I really enjoyed the Alte.

Supper was some schnitzel, a bretzl (pretzel), and a bread dumpling in gravy but the gravy was really more like a broth.  It was delicious! Es schmekt ausgezeichnet!

Overall, it was a good day to stay inside.  Our walk back was very unpleasant because of still heavy rain, and after supper the winds picked up really bad.  Sunday we spent at Dachau's Concentration Camp.  I'm going to break it up and make that the next entry, as of course, there is much to say.