Munich, oh Munich! How I wish I had more time in this city. I stayed one day/night but it was a GREAT day. I had the best host ever. Baran knew so much about the city and told me so many stories that I will now share with you. :) He was the BEST tour guide/host! He is originally from Turkey but had taken German for six years and wanted to be fluent so he moved to Munich. Such a smart guy. He speaks Turkish (obviously), English, German, French and Bavarian, a very strange dialect of German. It is such a happy dialect. I guess the way they say the 'r' is very friendly (as he pointed out lol). He's only 20! Soon he will learn Russian and Spanish. I envy his eagerness. But anyways. Onto my trip. Here are my pictures from the day. It was overcast, so on sun but it I still saw the beauty of Munich. It's a clean, safe and rich city (as most folk would say). So beautiful and full of amazing history.
Let the stories of Munich begin!
The first gates of Munich when it was called the Old City and it used to be a monastery city where the monks brewed beer. It later became known as "Salt City". Merchants used to come through and stay a few nights for rest. The streets would be covered in salt.
You can't see it very well but in the right hand corner is a monk. It is the symbol of Munich.
This baby is a sacred religious item of Munich and has been replicated by other churches. It is held in a glass case inside of a church museum (I can't remember the church name!) This is the original though.
This is why: one day this glass baby was accidentally dropped and left for the next day to clean up. The man comes in to clean it and the baby had been put together, yet no one had been in the church that evening...I wonder how it happened?!?!
Beautiful ceiling. My mouth dropped when I walked in. Baran said, "That was my exact reaction!" Every single church in Munich is beautiful from the architecture, to the stain glass, to the alter and stages of the cross and even the confession booths are extremely unique. The majority religion is Catholic, so most churches are.
I wish I could hear music from this organ.
Munich's most famous church The Dom. It dominates downtown. You can almost see it from everywhere in the city.
The devil's footprint. The story: The devil came into the church in the beginning of the architecture and there were no windows. He said to the architect, "Do not put windows in this building." He wanted it to stay dark and dungeon-like. He returned at a later date and walked in and at first he couldn't see windows, but he saw light where there was once none. He stomped his foot and made this mark.
The church covers the footprint during mass.
The magnificent ceilings in The Dom.
A replica of the Old City (before it was Munich).
The New Town Hall. Gargantuas!
The guardian of Munich, the monk.
At his feet are four angeles to protect the city from plague, heracy, famine and disease.
This building used to have eight clocks, two on each side. Now there are only four. The original reason was because the architect wanted eight people to view it at a time.
The theatre.
Ah, this lion has a cool story. The Oktoberfest King, King Ludwig, was having an affair with a Spanish dancer. Then one day he heard the rumor of the affair and sent out for the death of the person who started it. A scholar student turned himself because he was scared for his life. Ludwig not only built him two lions guarding a palace entrance but also gave him a huge sum of money. The student said "It was luck!"
To this day whenever people walk by these lions they touch the gold part for luck. I did it and I'm hoping for a little luck in my life! :)
The Residence Museum. This is where the king and queen used to live. Instead of rebuilding they just painted on the columns and detail, it's quite funny and cheap looking. I could help but be surprised to the irony of the paint.
The Oktoberfest king's church, right across from the palace
A momument to the king's brother. Ludwig was obsessed with the Roman Empire and he modeled this after his brother. The lions guarding each have a meaning.
Looking at the lion, it is placed on the right side. The lions mouth is open, meaning you can talk about the church.
This lion is on the side of the church and it's mouth is closed, meaning you can't talk about the church.
Ludwig's brother as a Roman.
Polizei on horses.
Hiltler built this museum during the war and named it the House of German Art. Now the name is The House of Art and features artists from around the world.
The House of Art.
A wave in the "Ice River".
Surfers are allowed to surf this wave! Being from florida it was super cool to see surfers in a river!
English Garden.
View of Munich from the English Garden.
In summer this place is green and full of people. The river is accessible for swimming in parts of the park. It would be a fun place to go during great weather.
I will have to visit during the summer time :)
A German/Chinese tower at a Beer Garden in the English Garden.
A cool tunnel we walked under along the river. Baran had never seen it before! He said he learns new things everytime he hosts a different couch surfer. The tunnel had different street art on the sides. Here are a few that I liked;
A painting of The Angel of Peace. This is a monument in Munich representing peace between France and Germany after their war.
Bavarian Government building.
Baran and I at the top checking out the great view of the city.
The view.
Bavarian King Maximilian monument.
King Ludwig and his queen "looking" out their window at the Residence Museum.
This is located in one of the court yards, it is called Monkey Tower because the when the first king of Bavaria was a baby, the palace had a pet monkey, that took the baby from his crib and brought him to this tower. The people found the baby here with the monkey after not knowing where he went. Haha! Oh, I guess that's the definition of 'monkeying around!'
Yay! A big tourist attraction! :) The recipe for Hofbrau has been the same for 300 years and is not allowed to be changed due to the Bavarian Beer Purity Law! It has four ingredients: water, hops, malt and yeast. Definitely tasty beer!
The dinner hall we ate in. It became full as the night went on. This was before the show even started.
Inside Hofbrauhaus!
Ah, nothing like a liter of beer! You can only get these in Munich. More please! :)
What a great day! I ate a traditional bavarian vegetarian dish. A breaded dumpling with a mushroom sauce! It was delicious. Thinking about how juicy the mushrooms were makes me mouth water :)
Later in the evening Baran taught me a Bavarian card game. It reminded me a lot like Rook, a French card game. It was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. I got pretty good and won quite a bit. :)
He also showed me this great podcast to learn French on. I can't wait start when I get back.
These are what the cards looked like, very different from an American deck.
I will definitely return to Munich one day! I need more time in this amazing city!
---->Bis Dann
-Mads
