A Collection Worthy of Royalty

Guten Tag!
I am still not over the jet lag.  I slept well but not nearly enough last night, so needing some stimulation to keep me alert, I determined to visit the Alte Pinakotek--that's the Old Museum of Paintings to you.  So I had a pleasant longish stroll to arrive early.
The problem was that every other tourist in Munich seemed to have had the same idea.  The place was a zoo.  My heart sank because on top of the tourist crowds, I saw several school groups of various ages.  I know these school groups.  They park in front of the most important works while the docent explains at great length, so there's no getting near what one wants to see.
And my visit did not begin well. After climbing the stairs I opened the door to one of a salons and barged in on an adult tour group.  One of them kindly moved aside to let me pass and set off an alarm.  Whoops.  Then the museum guard said I couldn't have my bag with me, so I had to go all way back down and check it.
Well, phooey, I thought.  I'm not going up there to share paintings with tour groups and kids.  I began in another part of the museum.  Then I began to be very glad I came.  The collection is superb!  You would have to go to Vienna to find one as good and to Paris or London to find better.  And I managed mostly to dodge the kids and tour groups.
I saw many of my "old friends" and as always the works are even more wonderful in person.  I gazed raptly on Altdorfer's amazingly detailed Battle of Issus and then moved on to Durer.  I was just about to immerse myself when a loud, penetrating, and seriously ugly American accent smote my ears and the owner swooped by in between me and the painting saying (loudly) that she was just looking for names she recognized.
The woman appeared to be an Art History teacher in charge of a small group of students, but if she was in fact an Art History teacher, she was terrible.  She ignored Durer and dragged her group around for quick looks with no analysis or interpretation.  I could feel my blood pressure rising, so I quickly went on to the next room.  Fortunately when I came back they were gone, and I did not encounter them again.
Back to the art.  I get a kick out of Albrecht Durer.  I mean he painted himself as Jesus and got away with it.  His Four Apostles are in Munich along with quite a few other works I'd not seen.  I could go on and on listing artists and works.  The Wittelsbachs had outstanding taste, and this is their personal collection thrown open to the public in the mid nineteenth century.  I would point to the Rubens as the most spectacular part of the exhibits.  I especially liked the charming double portrait he made of himself and his first wife.  But every notable painter of the Early Modern Period is represented.  They even had some panels by Giotto.
I took the long way back dropping in to the famed Food Hall Dallmayr.  It's like a smaller version of Harrod's Food Hall--just as elegant--and just as expensive.  I drooled but did not buy.  I strolled by Konigsplaz to admire some Neo Classical architecture.  By that time the afternoon had turned a little humid.  I walked back this time rather than taking the train and went to the grocery store.
Ok!  This is more like it.  I mean art has it's place and all, but . . .
Shall we start with the beer?
Finally!
I chose a venerable Munich brand called Augustiner since I pass their beer garden on the way to town and a style called Helles, which is a pale lager.  It's delicious and refreshing without pronounced hops. After a bowl of vegetable salad, I proceeded to my second course--left over Leberkase, but this time with a difference.  At the grocery store I got some sweet mustard, a popular and indeed characteristic German condiment.  Mustard is an emulsifier.  The French use it in their vinigarette, and mustard has some property that helps humans digest fat.  Tastes good, too!  I had never had sweet mustard before, but at first bite I realized it was the perfect accompaniment to the rich Leberkase.  I learned to say Lecker! in Amsterdam.  Fortunately the expression is the same auf Deutsch!