Munich 19 Jan

Munich

Munich – so different than last time we visited.  Absolutely no snow in sight.  A typical winters outlook, grey and lots of bare trees.  After waiting an eternity for our bags we meet Erika and travelled by train back to her place = a beautiful little apartment about 3 train stops from the cbd. 

Murray and Erika as we arrived at Josephplatz - 3 stops from Munich central station

Deutches Museum

 We dropped our bags off, had delicious coffee and headed back into the city for some sight seeing.  Lots of buildings became familiar and we soon got our bearing pretty good.  It started to snow a little. We were joined that night for dinner by a friend of Erika’s friend Mathias and enjoyed a meal of goulash and baguette.  We headed to bed around nine, which was pretty good. It snowed some more over 

Residences

night. Next day visited the city again.  The Bavarian King Ludwig presence is everywhere with streets, building, castles, churches and universities etc  The architecture is amazing so intricate and it really mystifies me as to how they actually achieved these buildings in the olden days – it must have taken for ever to build.  So much history  and  many events to  be remembered, but our guide “Erika” was great.  We visited the area of the universities and the English gardens and courtyards of the residence of the king – of course being winter it was a little different with all the beer gardens empty but you could see how the areas would be humming in summer.  We visited the famous Vitualienmarkt and yum did that ever get the hunger worms moving!  A bit expensive for fresh produce, but very good quality.  A large 
head of broccoli was E 4.50 (say $9 nz), cheeses and deli meats and olives for Africa, fresh fish, flowers, butchery and bakery items – pretty much anything in the food line.  We found a nice little coffee shop on a corner and satisfied our taste buds there.  We then walked and climbed the 306 steps to the top of the St Peterskirche church tower to get a 360 view of the city.  It was pretty cloudy but we could just see the snow covered mountains towards the south.  And pointed out some other landmarks from our last trip.  Found another great coffee shop in the Marienplatz square and enjoyed Bavarian cakes and coffee and the view towards the square.  It started to snow again and huge flakes were falling – it was
 really pretty.  Sorted out our train tickets for our next leg 
of our OE, we leave Munich in a couple of days.  Bit more sight seeing then headed home for another delicious meal of salad roast chicken and vegetables – Erika is a great cook!  The next morning was
                                                            Murrays birthday, Erika presented Murray his cake in bed a beautiful chocolate marble cake. 

We  got up and had some breakfast and of course cake, packed a picnic and then headed by train to the Deutches Museum.  Murray and Clive visited this last time with George, but it is so massive that they did not see it all.  We saw an electrical display which was really good, however the commentary was in German – no English info at all so that was a bit frustrating. We had a good look at several other displays including one about things from the 1950’s which was really good. There were lots of old household goods, and of course, cars, pushbikes and motorbikes.  We headed back with the intention of going the local hot pools but never made it, we rested instead.  We went to a really neat Italian restaurant with Erika and her friends for Murrays birthday.  It was a lovely meal and with really good company.  The next morning we caught the 10.35  train from Munich to Beuron.