Munchin' in Muchen

Today we were thrilled to have Emmy with us for the day to tour Munich. We packed up after breakfast and Bob drove us all into the city. We walked from the parking lot down Maximillion street, the Park Avenue of Munich. Any high dollar store imaginable can be found on this street. We chose to visit the quintessential German gourmet food store – Dallmayr.

In Dallmayr you can sit down and have an incredible meal choosing from the incredible food in the cases. The food is VERY fancy in appearance and quality. Everything is beautiful in this store. You can also buy chocolates, candies, pastries, liquor and liqueurs. Some of it is shockingly expensive – cognac for €1755 for one bottle.

From Dallmayr we visited King Ludwig II in his tomb underneath St. Michael’s Church. Many other members of the Wittelsbach dynasty are buried here. Emmy says that you cannot see Munich without visiting the last King of Bavaria.

We stood on the Marienplatz at 11 am and watched the Glockenspiel in the Rathaus (city hall) perform an incredible dance. It shows the story of a big wedding that took place in the square including dancers and jousters on horses. Very impressive clock indeed.

In the square we joined a “free” bicycle tour of the city. Our tour began with the history of the city (begun by monks – hence Munchen) interspersed with many beer jokes. For example, any time a building took more than a few years to build they must have been having a beer in between each stone they laid or cut. Emmy was amused by the jokes and said that now she understands why all Americans think that Bavarians do nothing more than drink beer. I think there might be another reason. Our first stop was the Hoffbrau house. Case closed.

During the tour we saw Feldherrnhalle where Hitler attempted to seize power in 1923. Also, we saw an alleyway that Germans resisting National Socialism took to avoid saluting the fuhrer. They have honored these brave resisters who were sometimes shot for disrespecting the Reich by lining the path in bronze. We also visited St. Cajetan’s Church that has a beautiful dome and understated artistry.

We rode through the sprawling Residenz that was occupied by royal family members and is being continually restored since WWII. It has many plazas and wings as it was expanded over the years starting in the 14th Century. We visited the site of the American troops’ barracks during the occupation.

We visited the English Garden and enjoyed the lovely buildings, statues and vegetation. We cruised by the “naked meadow” where locals bare all or most, laying in the sun and drinking wiessbier. Stopping at the Chinese tower we shared a beer and pretzel and rested in the shade.

Afterwards we stopped to watch the river surfers ride their boards on the artificial waves produced by concrete structures in the river. We continued over the river and back to near Marienplatz to return our bikes.

The four of us then sat down for a great beer and lovely food at a famous restaurant in Munich, Andechser am Dom. I had chanterelle mushrooms cooked in a cream sauce served with a bread dumpling, Bob had an assortment of sausages and sauerkraut and Crystal had hot potato salad and what looked like SPAM but apparently tasted like a really good sausage. Emmy ordered an assortment of Bavarian appetizers for us to try, cheeses, chives on bread, a cheese spread.

We left the restaurant full and toured the church it faces, Frauenkirche, or basically Church of Our Lady. The church is very tall, gothic style, and very large. The most famous thing about it is that supposedly the devil’s footprint is in the stone at the back of the church. Apparently the place made him angry… hulk smash!

Afterwards Bob drove us back to Thomas and Emmy’s and there was another night of food, beer, pear schnapps (not sweet but they could easily start a campfire) jokes and conversation. We went to bed full and tired looking forward to the next day.