After leaving Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site we headed to the Munich airport to switch out our rental car. Please don't ask why we had to do that. The story is far too long, tedious, and boring.
The car swap out took far longer than I had anticipated (which I should have expected), so by the time we reached Munich, parked our car in the parkplatz, which was blocks away, and schlepped our luggage to our hotel, it was well after 8 in the evening. We were so wiped out from the heat and the emotional day at Dachau that we didn't have the energy to have dinner.
We arrived to find out that our fourth-floor rooms in the hotel didn't have air conditioning. It was as hot and humid in Munich as it had been at Dachau (topping out at 92 degrees that day). I was hot and cranky so before going to sleep I got online to see if we could move hotels (since we were going to be there four nights), knowing it was most likely futile. A huge soccer match was scheduled in Munich while we were there so I knew there would be nothing available. Most of what I found was way outside the city except for one five-star hotel in the city center for 8000 Euros per night. That settled it, we were going to have to tough it out in the heat. The rooms had only one fan each, which hardly sufficed, but we made the best of it. The weather was forecasted to be cooling off in the coming days, so there was releif in sight.
Luckily rain came the next day and things cooled down significantly for our three days and four nights in Munich. With much to see and do, we walked for miles each day and stayed busy nearly every minute we were there.
We started our first full day by visiting the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, which is a large mechanical clock located in Marienplatz Square, in the heart of Munich. Famous for its life-size characters, the clock re-enacts scenes from Munich's history twice daily. We then spent a good portion of the day meandering around the city, window shopping and getting a sense of the city. In the late afternoon, we visited the Documentation Center of Munich which is a museum that focuses on the history and consequences of the National Socialist regime and the role Munich played in the Holocaust.
We started our second full day visiting the Residenz, which is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and displays from the former royal collections. For lunch, we went to the Viktualienmarkt, which is a food market and a square in the center of Munich. Except for Sundays and holidays, it has been held daily since 1807. The Viktualienmarkt developed from an original farmers' market to a popular market for gourmets. We spent the rest of the afternon and early evening in the spectacular Englischer Garten, which is a large public park in the center of Munich, stretching from the city center to the northeastern city limits. It was created in 1789 for Prince Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. The gardens are fabulous for walking or biking and believe it or not, there are even bona fide surfers in the river!
On our last day in Munich we spent time outside the city center. In the morning we visited the Nymphenburg Palace, which is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, The Nymphenburg served as the main summer residence for the former rulers of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach. We enjoyed seeing the well-preserved palace and took our time strolling through the expansive and lush grounds. From there we switched gears (no pun intended) and visited the BMW Museum with its futuristic architecture. The museum opened its doors in 1973, shortly after the summer Olympic Games. It is part of a shared complex with the BMW skyscraper, BMW Welt, and the BMW Group’s home plant near the Olympiapark. The museum covers an area of 5000 square meters and has 125 exhibits, including cars, motorcycles (both vintage and new), and engines, which illustrate the company’s 100-year history, tracking milestones in BMW’s design from its roots to the present day. In 2008 the museum was expanded with a new flat building to house the permanent exhibition. The historic round building designed by architect Karl Schwanzer is now used for visiting exhibits. It was a nice change of pace from the traditional palaces and historic sights we had been visiting and lots of fun for the kids!
Other than Frankfurt, Munich was the largest city we had visited thus far on the trip. Large cities have their challenges in that they are more difficult to navigate and more tiring to get around, but they also have a lot to offer. Up until that point we had consumed our fair share of Weiner schnitzel, but the best we had was in Munich at a lively Biergarten about 20 minutes walking from our hotel. We loved it so much that we returned there on our last night in the city to have it again.
Remembering Fitzy...
These photos of Fitzy were taken in 2014 when Fitzy was four and the twins were a year and a half. My dear friend Shlomit took these and I will be forever grateful to her for the indeliable memories of our beloved pug.
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