München

Days 28 to 32 - 11 to 15 June
Let me start by clearing up one minor misunderstanding. The people of München (Munich in English) are not called Munchkins. Munchkins, shown in the picture below, are from The Wizard of Oz. We found the people of Munich to be rather normal.

Munchkins

Munich has a lot of charm, and it also has the area that we stayed in. We stayed in serviced apartments near the main train station and close to the old city. It wasn't a particularly pretty area, but the apartments were excellent and there was an interesting ethnic mix, with many immigrants living in the area. The area was vibrant and we always felt safe. Some of the charm is captured below.

Charming building in the 'old city'

Charming bridge between buildings in the old city

A charming Munichian rabbit

One can only take so much charm before needing food. We bought some essential supplies from a local ALDI store, where we saw the following item.

A München steak - all 0.766 kilograms of it!

We needed some real food so we found a restaurant in the old city - it's speciality was schnitzels.

Our dinner - note the blurred knife and fork in the top left - Lea was too busy eating to pause for the photograph

Lea thinking: "If I'm quick I can probably sneak some of John's food off his plate"

The BMW Experience
Day two in Munich featured BMW - we visited BMW World, where they display their newest cars (BMW's, Mini's and Rolls Royce's). Man heaven, and the girls enjoyed it too. A win-win for John and me.

BMW World

Multiple levels of awesome

That would do me

John pretending to like a sensible car

Motorcycle mama

John and Lea give chase - my money's on Rhonda

Looking at fantastic cars was hungry work

The BMW Museum - not the tall building in the background

Balls on wires - they moved up and down to form shapes

A 1934 motorcycle prototype - very stylish

Something a little more modest

A 1936 convertible

John made some helpful suggestions: "Stick a turbocharger here and it'll go faster"

A bit more modern

Perhaps too modern

Very nice

Some interesting insights into the BMW design philosophy

One of the quotes on the wall in the design area

After a tiring but interesting day we returned to our apartments to rest, before picking up a hire car and heading out to Schloss Neuschwanstein (New Swanstone Castle in English).

The Schloss Neuschwanstein Experience
John and Lea hired a car and we started the day picking up the car. Driving in Europe is very stressful, given unfamiliarity with the roads, road signs and, in particular, the annoying tendency of Europeans to drive on the wrong side of the road. John kept us safe, with only a few missteps - none of us could have done better.

The hire car - good size, but it's not a BMW

The drive to the castle became progressively more impressive as we approached the mountains.

Starting to look good

We stopped at the town of Füssen. As we left the car park we saw an interesting vehicle.

Very cute

First on our list of priorities (actually it was only on my list) was a bite to eat and some genuine Black Forest Cake. Yummy!

It doesn't get much better than this

We then had a short stroll around the town. It was beautiful, and the views of the mountains were inviting. Below are some of the things we saw.

They smoke the biggest pipes I've ever seen

John being friendly with one of the locals

View of the distant mountains spoiled by a building

Then it was on to the main event - Schloss Neuschwanstein.
Wikipedia states:
"The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner. Ludwig paid for the palace out of his personal fortune and by means of extensive borrowing, rather than Bavarian public funds.
The palace was intended as a personal refuge for the reclusive king, but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his death in 1886. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. More than 1.3 million people visit annually, with as many as 6,000 per day in the summer. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle and later, similar structures."
Seeing is believing.

Sorry. This isn't it. This castle was viewed from the carpark

The hills are alive with the sound of music

OMG! The castle seen from a small bridge, nearby but covered with feral tourists

Worth another view

Getting closer

Some tourists didn't think clearly about the need to walk up to, and around the castle (after getting off the bus)

A courtyard

Unfortunately we couldn't do a tour inside the castle - you book them when you arrive in the town below the castle. Numbers on the tours are limited and we would have had to wait over two hours to get inside. A small pity, but the outside of the castle is the main event.

Another courtyard

View from the castle back to the bridge (in the middle of the picture) from which we took our first photographs

That was it for looking around the outside of the castle. We decided to walk back down to the carpark where we had left the car.

Final view, as we started the walk back down to the carpark

On the drive back to Munich we stopped to take a closer look at a pretty green lake.

A pretty green lake. Also a pretty-green lake

After that we decided to stop for dinner during our drive back to the apartments. We chose a small town beside the northern part of the lake (or, it might have been another lake), had dinner and then went for a short walk to take in the sights.

A boat

More boats

Boat houses

A children's play area, shaped like a pirate ship

The Eagle's Nest Experience

Another day, another amazing place to visit. As Wikipedia states (edited):
"The Kehlsteinhaus (known as the Eagle's Nest in English-speaking countries) is a Third Reich era edifice erected atop the summit of the Kehlstein, a rocky outcrop that rises above the Obersalzberg near the town of Berchtesgaden. It was commissioned by Martin Bormann in the summer of 1937 as a 50th birthday gift for Adolph Hitler. It was presented to Adolf Hitler on his 50th birthday as a retreat and place to entertain friends and visiting dignitaries. Today it is open seasonally as a restaurant, beer garden, and tourist site."

Spectacular view of the mountains from the Eagle'sNest

After arriving at the Eagle's Nest we decided to have lunch before looking around.

Rhonda feeling quite pleased with her choice of sausage soup - it was delicious

Lea looking a little perplexed by her choice of a baked potato - or it might have been a soccer ball (actually soccer balls aren't usually that big). It tasted good despite the possible application of growth hormones during the growing process

After lunch it was time to look around.

Awesome view of the rather modest building

Some interesting footwear on show

John and Lea enjoying the view

John plotting world domination

Selfie of me with a large wooden cross growing out of the back of my head

Final stunning view - apparently some people actually were stunned by the view - but they all recovered fully

That was it for the Eagle's Nest, next stop Salzburg in Austria. John and Lea were abandoning the increasingly-erratic, and alarmingly-dwindling group in Salzburg. Rhonda and I explored a little of the city with John and Lea, and then caught a train back to Munich.

Colourful flower box at John and Lea's hotel

Another clever business name - CUP&CINO

Rhonda finishing a stint as a figure model for a sculpture

The Gallery Experience
Our final experience of Munich was an art gallery. We chose the Neue Pinakotech for two very good reasons. Firstly it housed a very interesting collection of art. Secondly it was just about the only gallery open on a Monday. The website states:
"Today’s Neue Pinakothek opened its doors in 1981 and replaces the previous building dating back to 1853 that was destroyed in the Second World War. Ludwig I. had commissioned the construction, which was designed by Friedrich Gärtner und August Voit and to stand on the site opposite the Alte Pinakothek, as a gallery for his collection of contemporary painting."
The gallery was very interesting both architecturally and for the collection it held.

Architecturally interesting bit

Rhonda in the background admiring the paintings

More architecture

View of the outside - unfortunately it was raining for much of the day

A painting - more interesting than you might think, as you'll see below

The information plaque, note that the painting dates from 1860. Below is a close up of the girl

I swear she's texting. Clearly smartphones have been a problem for longer than most of us imagine

Another interesting painting

The Temple of Poseidon in Paestrum, painted in 1844

Close up of the temple - note the pigeons. We can land on the moon, but we can't stop pigeons from using buildings as toilets

Rhonda in another room in the gallery

That ends our time on Munich. Apologies for the delay in posting this, but wifi has been a problem in London. The next post will be of our time in Haarlem, where I got to meet more of Rhonda's relatives (they were incredibly hospitable and we regretted only having a week there to catch up with them).