Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Exploring a New City


Guten Tag!
I am delighted with my apartment.  The bed is comfortable, and the rooms are quieter and darker than my home at night, but even so I was zonked by jet lag, I got only about three hours of sleep.  I decided to give myself a short and easy day.
I walked outside this morning to find the day humid but pleasant.  I decided to walk up to the next S Bahn stop, get tickets and go to the historic center, but I felt fine, so I kept walking.  I did get some public transport tickets and came home via the S Bahn, but in between that I had a very pleasant stroll and day.  I stopped at the main train station to poke around, because I like looking around train stations.  Sometimes they provide useful facilities.
It took me about twenty five minutes to reach the heart of Munich, and I passed several beer gardens on the way.  I arrived early enough to miss the tourist crowds.  I dropped into a lovely late Baroque Church dedicated to St. Michael where poor Ludwig II is buried and later visited Die Frauenkirke dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  The current church is a reconstruction of severe war damage, so it does not look so very late Gothic, but the Late Medieval polychrome sculptures and paintings are wonderful.  Bavaria has been staunchly Catholic since Charlemagne's time.  The Protestant Movement never gained the teensiest foothold here.
Every visitor to Munich comes to see the two Rathauses or town halls.  The new one is a Late Gothic masterpiece and boasts the famous Glockenspiel with animated figures.  It's beautiful and a lot of fun.
Then--naturally--I gravitated to the Viktualienmarkt.
Well, Pil that name seems to have the word market in it, so I can guess why YOU would show up there.  What did you see?  Did you buy anything?
I've not bought anything yet, but I'll have to go back.  There is a lot of pork on offer--in various forms, and I intend to try some of it.  If you want plant matter, you can find fruits, vegetables, and flowers all looking bright and lovely.  I was fascinated by a honey shop, and of course one can get cheese.
I visited the Munich City Museum hoping to get to know the history better and also hoping for some cool period rooms.  I got a few of the latter, and I fear I am none the wiser as to the former, but on the other hand I did not rent the audio guide, and I began to get brain buzz.
So I strolled back to an S Bahn stop and went to a grocery store on the way home.  I got pasta, so nothing German.  By that time it had turned sultry.  It may come on to rain later.
Pil!  You disappoint your faithful readers.  We want to know about the FOOD!
Ok.
Breakfast is included in the good deal I got in my room.  Since I got in yesterday too late and jet lagged to go grocery shopping, I figured I'd show up this morning.  I expected the usual continental breakfast buffet--essentially bread--in other words meh--but this is Germany, meine Freunden, and the spread was northern continental.  Hot Hundchen!  Breads of various sorts, pastry, cheeses, soft and harder sausages, hot hard cooked eggs, butter, jam, honey.  All the tea I wanted, too.  At some point I'll even dig into the granola and yoghurt.  They start it nice and early, too.  My appetite and I shall be attending each morning, you can bet.  It's worth getting dressed for.
That's better.
And two people have asked me for directions already.  I couldn't help either.  Sigh

2 comments:

  1. A good start. Now for some of those delicious desserts!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trying to decide. A lot of sugar is on offer here.

    ReplyDelete