This time our trip led us to the wonderful city of Munich, Salzburg and roads of Black Forest. And since I am now influenced by the British mannerisms, I have to say it was a wonderful weather today.
We took an early morning flight from Gatwick to Munich reaching Munich at about 10 am.
Munich airport is connected to the Hauptbahnhof by S8 and takes approx 40 minutes to reach. So we were ready to explore the city by 11 am.
Most of the Munich city can be covered by foot. Starting from the Munich Hauptbahnhof towards Marienplatz, it is approx 15 min walk. Marienplatz or Mary's square is a popular gathering spot for performing artists and packs a lot of interesting personality in a small spot. This is anchored by Mariensaule - Mary's column.
The neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus with its coal blackened facade dominates the square. With gargoyles, statues and a dragon trying to scale the wall, your eyes will still be drawn to the Glockenspiel. This is one of most visited tourist attraction in Munich. It consists of 43 bells and 32 figures that perform with a musical accompaniment at 11 am, noon and 5 pm daily.
The top half tells the story of a Knights tournament held in 1568 to celebrate the marriage of Duke Wilhelmina V to Renata of Lothringen. This was the marriage between a local with an Austrian princess, and the story depicts the jousting match where Munich champion defeats Austrian Knight.
The bottom half portrays the Schafflertanz. In olden days when plague had set upon the city, all the healthy people used to quarantine themselves in their houses. The economy used to suffer and the coopers were the most impacted. Coopers used to go out in the city to check if plague had left the city but they had no way of telling the people about it. They thought of putting letters in everyone's home, but not all could read or write in those days, and hence came about the coopers dance, which shows the celebration that plague had left the city in 1517.
From Marienplatz, you can walk towards the Altes Rathaus, this is the old town hall, though the original townhouse was destroyed in the WWII bombings and this is a reconstruction completed in 1970s. This now houses the Spielzeugmuseum (toy museum) and contains the largest collection of teddy bears and Barbies'.
Overlooking Marienplatz is also the Munich's oldest church - St. Peter also known as Alter Peter or Peterskirche. Don't forget to climb the tower (with its 299 steps) to get a magnificent view of the Munich city. On a clear day, you will be able to see all the way to the Alps. Munich boasts of the tower at Neues Rathaus, Olympia park and Peters church, and you will get the best views from here.
If you are tired after this walk, walk over to the beer garden crossing the street from Alter Peter. This is the Viktualienmarkt. This is Farmers market and you will get fresh fruits and veggies here. In summer this place is filled with beer gardens. Now beer garden is named only if the garden is filled with chestnut trees. It's leaves are thick and provide shade.
This beer garden also contains a maypole which is draped with Austrian flag colours.
There is a tradition in Bavaria and people are always competing with each other to steal the others maypoles. if your maypole ever gets stolen then the loser(you) would need to treat the winner party with all the beer that they can drink along with all the food that they can eat. And of course this winner party includes the people who stole the maypole, their family and friends. So all of a sudden everyone wants to become friends with the winners.
Another road from Marienplatz also leads down to Frauenkirchen. The church was built in an impressive 20 years time between 1468 -1488. It towers over Munich and no other building in central city may stand taller than its onion-domed twin towers. One of the tower is 99m while the other is slightly shorter than first.
During WWII when all of Munich was being bombed, these towers survived. The only guess that people make about why these survived was the fact that these towers were used as a focal point by the ally forces to bomb the city.
There are loads of other places to see in Munich - English gardens, Residenz, museums, etc. However I could only cover these on my first day. Will try to see the others on my last day back in Munich.
No comments:
Post a Comment