This was part of our Southern Germany (2010) family vacation.
(Click here to see all our trips.)
We arrived in Munich a couple days ago and did some side trips to Nymphenburg Palace and Salzburg. We’re spending today exploring Munich.
After breakfast, we walked to the Marienplatz. There’s a famous clock, which would put on quite a show when telling time at 11 am and 12 noon. Since it was still too early, we decided to visit the Residenz first.
The Residenz was a reconstruction after the original one was demolished during World War II bombing. Towards the end of WWII, the German knew that Munich was going to be targeted, so they spent a tremendous effort to photograph the city. The Residenz and other buildings were later reconstructed based on the photos. The Antiquarium was my favorite room of the Residenz. It was so amazing!
We spent a couple hours in Residenz checking out various rooms and art displays. The rooms were lavishly decorated with intricate furniture and beautiful paintings. There were also many shelves of plates, vases, candelabra, etc.
The primary church inside Residenz, Court Church of All Saints, was badly damaged during the WWII bombing. It was not fully restored yet. We couldn’t enter the church and could only take photos from above. There were pictures outside showing the comparison of the church in its previous glory and the current state.
We also visited its treasury, which had a rich collection of jewels, crowns and other royal regalia. Overall, Munich Residenz is a marvelous museum that you can spend several hours browsing.
After we left the Residenz, we headed back to the Marienplatz for the 12-noon clock show. The place was crowded with visitors. It seemed to me just like another Disneyland attraction!
The kids’ activity for the day was a visit to the Deutsches Museum. Germany was famous for its science and technology, which showcased in many of the exhibitions in the museum. The highlight for the kids was the mines, which showed the German mining history. It was a thrill to walk inside the dark mines!
Afterwards, kids returned to the hotel to rest, and Rei and I went out for more exploration. The first stop was the famous Munich cathedral, Frauenkirche. Unfortunately, part of the cathedral exterior was covered for some restoration work. However, the interior was not affected. The cathedral had many amazing stained-glass windows.
We also managed to stop by the Bavarian State Opera to take a few photos. Though not large, this was a very beautiful opera house. It was very quiet inside, and we didn’t see many other visitors.
Of course, Rei would have to go to the famous beer hall Hofbräuhaus to have an authentic German beer there! (Our younger son Cutie was too young to drink beer at the time, but he would manage to return to Munich several years later with friends to have his share of the German beer!)
This marked the end of our Germany trip, though we still left a large portion of Munich unexplored due to the lack of time. Hopefully we will have a chance to visit Munich again in the future!
Amy 'n Rei 