Our stay at the resort at Oberstaufen ended today and we headed for Munich and then to visit family in Regensburg. The train to Munich was quite full. We shared compartment with 3 older German ladies. They were sipping champagne and giggling uncontrollably.
We stashed our luggage in a locker at the Munich train station and embarked on our city tour. We made our way to the Marienplatz with a very few photo stops along the way because we wanted to be there in time to see the famous Glockenspiel. To our dismay, the main section of the Rathaus was covered with scaffolding, but the Glockenspiel was still visible. A few minutes later the clock struck 12 times and colorful figures emerged. The show lasts about 15 minutes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century Munich. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke and knights' joust held in honor of happy couple. The bottom half and second story is Schafflertanz, or "Dance of the Coopers", and commemorates the end of the plague in 1517 when barrel makers performed a big dance to cheer city residents and coax them to come out of hiding. There are 32 figures and they are life-sized.
After watching the animations of the Glockenspiel we explored other sites on Marienplatz. The Rathaus with Glockenspiel is actually a New Townhall or Neues Rathaus. It was built from 1867-1909 in Flanders Gothic style. Even with some parts being covered we could appreciated elaborate stone ornamentation.
The Old Townhall is also located on the square and several impressive churches are nearby.
Still only a block from the Marienplatz, we found ourselves at Viktualienmarkt, main marketplace and "the" place to sample some of the local food.
We then made our way to Asamkirche, small but very ornate church.
From there we worked our way back through Marienplatz to Frauenkirche where we learned Richard's identity. There is a footprint in the floor near the entrance that was supposedly left there by a devil. People were trying their foot for a match, but none were close. Richard tried his and it was a perfect match. It definitely caught some attention with someone commenting "that can’t be good luck" and someone else asking "are you the devil?" to which Richard promptly replied "It certainly looks that way".
We continued to Max-Joseph-Platz named after the first king of Bavaria and visited the the Residenz, the official residence of the rulers of Bavaria from 1385 to 1918. It sports some spectacularly extravagant décor.
The Ancestral Gallery is designed like a hall of mirrors, except that instead of mirrors, there are portraits of the Wittelsbach family, set into gilded, carved paneling.
The Antiquarium (Hall of Antiquities) is the oldest room of the Residenz. It was built in 1568-1571 to house collection of antique sculptures that gave the room its name. It is over 200 feet long and has the largest and most lavish Renaissance interior north of the Alps.
We ended our Munich visit with a walk in the park. The park is called English Garden. It starts almost at the center of the city and runs alongside the river Isar to its northernmost border. It is the largest city park in Europe and is larger than New York's Central Park. It has a Chinese tower, Japanese tea garden, Greek style temple, artificial lake and four beergardens. It also has an area for nude sunbathing. On warm and sunny Saturday afternoon quite a few people opted out of their clothes. It was interesting how they were just part of the crowd, no big deal.
We caught the metro back to the train station, picked up our luggage and continued on to Regensburg where we were met at the train station by the family.
