When I think of Munich I associate the city with Oktoberfest and of course steins of beer. The only guys we saw drinking out of those huge glasses were a bunch of British lads but we found there’s so much more than just the beer to entice you here.
Again we were on a campsite outside of town but with easy access via a bus and a train right into the central square, Marienplatz.
Here is where you find the Rathas (town hall) with its Glockenspiel which chimes daily at midday. Large crowds gather to watch the figures play out their story.
We went into the town hall
As we came out we noticed that an old guy had dressed up as a soldier and was standing in the guard box.
There was a large crowd gathering and they were all looking up
At 12:00 the bells chimed and a tune was played which seemed to be picked up by the churches in the near vacinity and they all played their own chimes. By 12:15 I’d almost given up on seeing anything when the marionettes began to move.
This is a long video and not very good quality as it was raining. Hint: Watch the jousters 👌
Then it was the dancers turn. (this one isn’t so long)
We wandered around Marienplatz and just took in all of the buildings, if you looked above the shop fronts there was so much beautiful architecture. That is if you could stop yourself from looking in at shops like Chanel, Dior, Gucci, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Tiffany, Cartier, to name a few, we had found Maximilianstrasse, THE place to shop if you have sqwillions of dosh. I didn’t go in to any shops as they had huge bouncers on each door, they would have taken one look at me a waved me away 😂🤣
So we moved on to find the Cathedral (always our first port of call in a city). We came across this fountain in the shade and watched as children (and some brave adults) tried their luck at walking along the mushroom foot pads (nobody fell in).
The Cathedral or the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Dear Lady) has two towers topped with copper so the green domes stand out above the skyline of the buildings around it. As it was Sunday we were limited to what we could see as there was a private service going on. However, we did manage to glimpse some of it.
One shop that caught my eye was selling traditional clothing/costumes. They were beautiful but very expensive. Soft leather lederhosen for my OH would have cost well over £1600 Eek!!!
You could clothe the whole family for around £5k. Maybe when I win the Euro millions lottery 😜
The following day we went to the Residenz, the former Royal Palace of the Whittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. This is a huge complex of buildings including the Treasury, the National Theatre, the State Coin Collection, Academy of Fine Arts and the Egyptian Museum and a few more. Far too many to visit in one day.
We chose to visit the Residenz and the Treasury, which had been rehoused as the original had been bombed during the war (where have we heard that before!)
it will bring you good luck!
So here are a series of photos of the royal apartments in all their glory.
Then we moved on to the Treasury
These are all Order Medals worn by aristocrats who served the King.
Here are some lovely, gorgeous things that I randomly took photos of.
These are all carved rock crystal
Sumptuous jewellery
Ecclesiastical bits n bobs
Then there was a section which included gifts which had been given to the Royal family over time.
The following day we jumped on a hop-on-hop-off bus and took loads more photos, here are a few
There is so much to see we hardly scratched the surface over 4 days. A good reason to come back!!!
We stayed at Camping Platz Muenchen, Lochhausener Strasse 59, 81247, Muenchen. www.campingplatz-muenchen.de
After the first 2 days and all the football fans had gone the site was lovely and quiet, no shop but a bar which did basic food. The bus stop was right outside, only 3 stops to get to the train station then a quick change and straight into the city. Download the MVGO App for bus tickets and MVV App for trains and you can buy tickets on your phone.
Off to Vienna next.
