After a decent night’s sleep holed up in the Munich Arrabella Park Best Western, we could properly attack Munich.
Sue went for a run, first thing, to the English Garden and got a bit lost. And then lost her room key.
Breakfast was at the hotel and nice not to have to cook anything.
With all that out of the way we could focus on Munich city centre with the GPSMyCity app (started the free trial today).
Our plan was to cycle the 5.4 into the city, walk around a bit and then cycle home.
From our hotel to the centre was a breeze by bike. There were designated cycle lanes pretty much for all of the 5km or so. And these aren’t just bits of the road, so called, carved off for cyclists, these were dedicated tarmaced cycleways set to the side of the pedestrian walkways. Very impressed!
The first stop was a quick photo stop for the National Museum…
Next we came across one the oddest things ever… people river surfing. More on that later.
Then it was into the city proper where we parked our bikes under the Old Townhall – that’s now the Toy Museum (we didn’t go in). The Old Town Hall is also famous for where Goebels gave his 1938 speech – Kristallnacht
And the old Town Hall is also in Marienplatz, home of the new Town Hall and the amazing Glockenspiel.
The Glockenspiel is embedded in the front of the Town Hall building and must be 8 or so meters tall. There are two sets of movements that depict two different stories. Our guide app said they only do one at a time, but we saw both over about 10 minutes. The cockerel at the top flaps its wings 3 times to signify the end of the display.
We arrived just as the 11AM display was starting, but decided we’d also come back to see the whole thing at 12. They do 11,12 and 5 during the summer.
From Marienplatz we went to St Peter’s church. Wow! Bling or what! You can also pay to ascend the St P’s tower and get a Birds Eye view of the Glockenspiel when it does its thing. We decided not to spend the €5 each.
After being in the city centre for probably no more than half and hour, we decided it was time for a coffee… stand up affair and a basement loo.
We were then ready to head back to Marienplatz and watch the 12 pm Glockenspiel show… with a Spanish mum and son. Just the same as the 11am one.
After the 2nd Glockenspiel we headed to the Viktualienmarkt (Farmers Market). Lots of really cool stalls and of course a massive eatery in the middle with copious beer being drunk…
Then on to Maximillian Strasse and on the way stopped in the Hofbräu. This seems to marry German’s two favourite pastimes, drinking beer and eating sausages. This is where the laws regarding the purity of German beer were enshrined in 1516… no impurities. Inside the building there was an oompah band playing and lots of people swilling steins and eating!
It was then on to Maximillian Strasse to see the swanky shops, not that we’re in that league! Then off to the Munich Residence.
Just before looking around the huge Residence complex we came across Field Marshalls Hall, the square where Hitler gave his speech before the Beer Putsch incident in 1923.
The Munich Residence was the home of the royal family for over 600 years and comprises many buildings, courtyards and gardens. We stopped for an apple or two in one of the courtyards.
Much of this had been flattened during WWII and then painstakingly reconstructed
We then got half way to the Englischer Garten and changed our minds. It was about 3 by now so we decided to head back to the bikes and go to the English Gardens on our way back to the hotel.
The Englischer Garten are a huge park in the center of Munich. There were cycle ways through the park so we meandered around looking for a cafe. We then came across the river surfers, again.
Apparently the surfing happens all the time, but the water did seem particularly high today (to my eyes anyway), so we stoped and took some pictures.
There must have been a dozen or so surfers taking it in turns to ride the surf for 20 seconds-ish, and then wiping out or deciding to take the plunge. It looked pretty dodgey with all the walls surrounding the surf!
Then a coffee stop in a small cafe in the gardens…
Then a 15 minute bike ride back to the hotel. After a quick nap (at least for me), we went and got some tea from REWE again. They certainly make sure they’re well stocked with beer in these supermarkets…
And then back to the hotel to book tickets for the Brindisi to Igoumanitsa crossings we’ll be needing in early September. We’ve decided we don’t really have time now to head into Serbia and Northern Macedonia to get to Greece. So we’ve made the decision to take the ferries from Dubrovnik to Barri and then the coast for a Brindisi to Igoumanitsa return trip (returning after Corfu).
The hotel is a step up from a Premier Inn, but doesn’t look great from the outside.
We’re going to head to Dachau tomorrow and Hermione has been petrified!
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