Munich - last day

Nymphenburg Palace

I must quickly finish the story of Munich because on Friday I am going to Frankfurt and I have to prepare something about Frankfurt. In Munich we left a lot things to see. Unfortunately we didn't have more time. For the last day, we chose Nymphenburg Palace. It's like the Munich Versailles or Schönbrunn.

Nymphenburg Palace was built as a summer residence for one of Bavaria's electors. It's must see for those who enjoy viewing the the lifestyles of the aristocracy. The Nymphenburg Palace was commissioned in 1664 by Elector Ferdinand Maria, to celebrate the birth of his son, Maximilian Emanuel. The palace didn't maintain its original state for long. All Wittelsbach rulers had their hand in changing or adding to the palace. Max Emanuel, the young man for whom the castle was built, was the first to make additions, in the year 1700. He added galleries and pavilions, extending the sides of the Nymphenburg Palace.

Visitors to Nymphenburg Palace can still view some rooms decorated in their original Baroque style. The Nymphenburg palace is set in a large nicely laid out park. Originally it was a small garden, but during the 17th century it was expanded and redesigned as a formal French garden by Charles Carbonet who had worked for André Le Nôtre (designer of the gardens at the Versailles Palace in Paris). In the second half of the 18th century the garden was transformed in a landscape garden.

Feldherrnehalle

After the castle we continued casual stroll along the city to the Military Commanders Hall or The stately Feldherrnhalle. Once it was the site of a historic clash between Hitler followers and the Bavarian government. Built as a tribute to the Bavarian army that fought in the Franco-Prussian War, the 20 meter high structure features bronze statues of some of the most revered generals of Bavaria, Count von Tilly and Marshall Wrede. Two lions grace the steps.

St. Cajetan's Dhurch

St. Cajetan's Dhurch

Near Felderrnhalle is Theatinerkirche or St. Cajetan's Church . Everything about the church exudes Italian splendor designed in the high-baroque style. Theatinerkirche's architect was the Italian Agostino Barelli. In 1674 Barelli was replaced by another Italian, Enrico Zucalli, who was the individual responsible for completing the church's magnificent 71 meter high dome and for adding two 70 meter high towers. A number of members of the Wittelsbach family are buried inside Theatinekirche.

Sigerstor

Sigerstor

And finally walking through the long Ludwigstrasse we arrived to Siegestor or Victory Gate. Every city has its Arch d 'Triophe. Built in the mid-19th century, Munich's Siegestor has come to serve as a symbol for peace.

I'm finishing story here although I have much more to say but I'll leave it for the next time. Munich deserves a lot more than four or five days, and of course when we are first time in a certain town we always want to see, visit and less to experience, but each city is important to experience.I realized it recently when I was in London.

Goodbye Munich, see you soon!
Photos by: ilovetravels

Munich - Olympiapark and BMW

Olympic park

Olympic apark

Olympic park has become one of Munich's major tourist attractions. In 1972 there were held the Olympic games that are unfortunately remained in memory due tragic event,  here were murdered Israeli sportsmen. The site contains an ice rink, an indoor pool, a residential district and student residences and of course the Olympic Stadium, which was the home of the main local soccer team, FC Bayern München until they moved to the futuristic Allianz arena in 2006. The Olympic stadium can seat 80,000. Unfortunately we couldn't make the tour of the stadium, because at that time some kind of horses competition was held, but we took a nice walk through the Olympic

Olympic park

Park to the BMW Museum.
The adventurous can take part in a roof-climb, which consists of a tour on top of the roof covering the Olympic Stadium. Roof covers the Olympic stadium, Olympic Hall and the swimming pool. The roof covering the main stadium consists of a PVC-coated polyester fabric.

BMW towe and museum

The main attraction for the hundreds of thousands of visitors that visit BMW yearly is BMW tower and the bowl-shaped museum next to it. The museum showcases the technical development of cars and motorcycles and also has some exhibits about the history of the company. Many old cars and motorcycles are on display along a spiral ramp that curls along the inside of the bowl-shaped building. I recommend a tour of this vast area to everyone, especially the car lovers. Everything looks powerful!! 

I forgot to say, in the area close to BMW and Olympic Center there's a large shopping center where you can get some rest or buy and eat something.

Perfect!!!
Photos by: ilovetravels

Munich - Residenz Palace

Here I am back to Munich. Munich is certainly a very beautiful, rich, well-decorated and courteous city. During my short stay in Munich I have seen a lot, in fact I was surprised how much Munich has to show. The most beautiful thing I've seen is certainly Residenz Palace. Munich's Residenz Palace was the official home of Bavaria's monarchs from 1385 to 1918. and it's definitely a must-see on everyone's itinerary. Built in 1385 and known as the Neuveste, the first tenant at the Residenz Palace was Duke Stephan III, who reigned from 1375 to 1392.

During World War II the Residenz was almost completely destroyed but many of the masterpieces inside were moved to a safe place before the bombs hit the palace. Restoration began in 1945. and the palace was reopened as a museum in 1958. Today the Residenz Museum consists of about 120 rooms full of art, furnishings, and other treasures. The Antiquarium boasts dozens of 16th and 17th century frescoes. In the Ancestral Gallery, portraits of the royal Wittelsbach family are set into gilded, carved paneling. Far Eastern porcelain and Oriental rugs can be found in the Porcelain Gallery.

There's also a beautiful court chapel inside the palace, built in 1603 by Hans Krumpper. And one of the courtyards features a colorful grotto decorated with crystals and seashells. It takes several hours to explore the Residenz Palace. I'll show you the photos, but they aren't my best because the interior was quite dark.

Photos by: ilovetravels

Courtyard of the City Hall in Munich

New City Hall courtyard

After we had lunch, we tried to visit the New City Hall. Since we could not find the entrance, nothing seemed opened, we recorded a little film in the courtyard of City Hall, here's how it looks ...
Photos by: ilovetravels

Munich - 2012 part II

Frauenkirche

After a good and abundant meal, we decided to go for a walk and see  anther  interesting sight for us. We let the city to lead us, it's amazing how easy it was move around Munchen. The city map, which I always and everywhere carry with me, in this city I simply didn't need.

Entrance to the Frauenkirche

We started from Frauenkirche. The foundation stone of the cathedral was laid in 1468. The large Gothic building was constructed in a record time of just 20 years. The cathedral is 109 meter long and 40 meter wide. The two towers reach a height of 99 meters. By law no new building is allowed to obstruct the view of the cathedral. The building was severely damaged at the end of the World War II, when the roof partially collapsed as a result of an allied bombardment. After the war the cathedral was restored. The church was originally designed as a late Gothic church with a long central nave. At the end of the 17th century the interior was decorated with Baroque elements. In the 19th century, after the church was promoted to the status of cathedral, all the Baroque elements were removed since at the time Gothic was considered as the only pure church style.

devil's footprint

Inside the church there's the 'footprint of the devil'.  According to a legend, the architect of the Frauenkirche Halsbach promised the devil to build a church without windows. In return the devil would help him to build the Frauenkirche. But the clever architect tricked the devil, in fact he set two rows of columns that block the windows. Windows were there only they couldn't be seen from the main entrance. When the devil realized that he was cheated and that he can't enter into the already consecrated church, the devil hit on the floor with rage so hard that his footprint remained visible on the stone floor. The footprint is still clearly visible today.

Old City Hall

We continued towards the Old Town Hall. It's true that we haven't been much interested in  this building  but if I understood well even though it is called Old Town Hall, New Town Hall is much older building. New City Hall is also situated at  the Marienplaz. Today it houses a fun toy museum.

Hofrauhouse

Next we went to the Hofbrauhouse, Munich's famous place that there's more than 400 years. However, although it can accommodate about 1,000 guests at the same time, we couldn't find a place to sit and have a beer. Never mind for all there's second time.

good atmosphere in the Hofbrauhaus

to be continued......
Photos by: ilovetravels

Munich - 2012

Bavarian Parliament

Olympic center

Munich is the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria. It is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third largest city in Germany, behind Berlin and Hamburg with about 1.42 million citizens. Munich was the host city of the Summer Olympics in 1972.which remained in the memory for what happened with 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team, who were taken hostage and eventually killed by Palestinian group Black September. Horrible!

Marienplatz

But no longer talk about the bad things, it's finally time to tell my story about Munich. Even though I was to Munich before Paris and London, I've just now decided to write about it. What to tell you, there is no excuse, I should have done this a lot sooner. My trip to Munich wasn't pretentious, it wasn't even during the October Fest, which is the main reason for numerous visitors of this city, it was only a short trip of four days for a very simple reason - Munich has always been my great wish and at the moment when I found very affordable flight tickets I didn't hesitate ... I decided, we were going to Munich!

Karl's Tor

As usual, I found a hotel in the center of the city very close to the pedestrian zone. Actually in this zone and the a bit around there are the most interesting sights to see and visit. So first of all we did a nice, pleasant walk from Karl's Tor to the New City Hall which is located at Marienplatz.

Glockenspiel and Mariensaule

The large column at the center of the square is known as column of St. Mary, Mariensaule. It was erected in 1638. At each corner of the column's pedestal is a statue of a putti each symbolizes the city's overcoming of war, pestilence, hunger and heresy. New Town Hall dominates on Marienplatz. This monumental, 79 meters high town hall was built between 1867 and 1909 in Flemish Gothic style. At the New City Hall there's the famous Glockenspiel that each day performs the Schäfferltanz at 11, 12 and 17 o'clock.

Fish Fountain

Right near the New City Hall is a small fountain, the Fischbrunnen or Fish Fountain. The fountain was destroyed during World War II but it was rebuilt in 1954.

And right in front of the New City Hall we found a good restaurant. And so on the main square of Munich we enjoyed our first of lunch, the menu - only Bavarian specialties and beer of course. Yum, yum, all delicious!

Bon appetite! To be continued....!

Bavarian specialties

Photos by: ilovetravels

Hotel Wallis Munich

Karl Platz

During my stay in Munich I was accommodated in a very charming hotel Wallis. The hotel was very clean and tidy, and the staff was extremely helpful. Breakfast was also very good.
Just 300 meters from the hotel there's Karl Platz. From the Karl Platz starts walking zone and all the major attractions in Munich can be seen without using  public transport. We took a day ticket only when we went to visit the castle  Nymphenburg and Olympic Center.

From the Metro station Karl Plaz train S8 departs every 20 minutes to the airport so it is very easy to get there. The hotel is actually in a great position. I recommend.

View from the room

View from the room

Photos by: ilovetravels

I'm going to Munich!

It's been a long time since I published my last post, which doesn't mean that I haven't been working on anything. Soon I'm traveling with my husband and friends to Munich. I'm so looking forward to see this wonderful and beautiful city.  Since we are going to stay there for four days, it was necessary to make a program to explore as much of the city as possible in such short time and believe me it wasn't an easy job at all. It took a me a much time to choose what is, in my opinion, essential.
So, I'm going to Munich, yes I'm going to Munich next week and I'm happy, happy, happy!
I can hardly wait to have a beer in Munich and when I return I'll tell you about what I saw and experienced there!

 Wish me Bon voyage!!!!
Photos by: ilovetravels