Munich

May 5, 2007

Outside the city wall of Munich

Today we were ready to explore Munich.  We walked to the Marienplatz.  The plaza was filled with food vendors and people. 

We were just in time to see the glockenspiel in action.

Next we headed to St Peter's church to climb to the top of the spire.

There were 306 steps to the top with two-way traffic on a one-lane staircase.  This is not for the claustrophobic.

The view from the top was spectacular.  Much of Munich was bombed during WWII, but the buildings were reconstructed back to their original state.  There was scaffolding around the glockenspiel while we were there.  They were cleaning the facade.

We headed to the Viktualienmarkt and saw the fresh produce (lots of white asparagus) and food stalls.  We stopped for lunch--Italian again.  Mike ordered what he thought was a pepperoni pizza.  Oddly, there was no pepperoni on it but lots of peppers.

We toured the Residenz--the Wittlesbach family's palace.  They were the rulers of Bavaria.  It was beautiful inside.  When we came out of the palace, Mike spotted these little beauties.  I couldn't understand why he was drooling.  We had to drag him away.

Of course, no trip to Munich would be complete without a stop at the Hofbrauhaus.  The band was wearing lederhosen and playing oompah-pah music.  They have pretzels that have to be a foot and a half wide.  The wait staff can carry 6-7 full steins of beer in each hand.  I've never seen anything like it.  It was very rowdy and fun.  

 The typical fare at the Hofbrauhaus.

We did a little shopping afterwards.  Of course, we had to have a little gelato before heading back to the hotel.