Hi all, and welcome back to rumblewrites. This week’s post is a little different to my usual content: it’s a summary of my trip to Munich with my boyfriend last month.
Also, I often write about European history on here, so feel free to check out my archives if you enjoy this post, and please consider subscribing for more:
Sunday
After arriving in Munich the previous evening, we spent the whole Sunday just wandering Munich. We ventured into the central area Marienplatz and the ajacent Englische Garten, one of the world’s largest public parks. The park was created in 1789 by Sir Benjamin Thompson, and was modelled after the informal landscape style which was popular in England at the time. It’s absolutely massive (with area of 3.7 km2), so we only explored a very small chunk of it!
Monopteros, Englischer Garten; a circular replica Greek temple built in the 19thC for Ludwig I
Monday
We started the week with a bus tour of the city. It was a lovely day to soak in some history! We then decided to return to Marienplatz and look around some of the historic buildings. We climbed to the top of Frauenkirche (or Der Münchner Dom), a Gothic church which has become a symbol of the city as a whole. It had excellent views:
Tuesday
It was Pancake Day, so we had to try the Bavarian version of Kaiserschmarrn (a shredded pancake enjoyed by Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I) for breakfast:
Kaiserschmarrn at Rischart in Marienplatz
We then spent most of the day at the Staatliche Sammlung für Ägyptische Kunst, or the State Museum of Egyptian Art:
In the evening, we returned to the Englischer Garten for a stroll. At the southern egde lies the Eisbachwelle, or Eisbach wave. The Eisbach is a man-made river which flows for roughly 2 kilometres through the Garten. It’s famous for its surfers, who have been using the river for over 40 years!
Wednesday
The best day! We took a guided coach tour into the Alps near the German-Austrian border to visit 2 castles built by Ludwig II (who has quickly become one of my favourite historical figures - dedicated post coming soon).
The first was Linderhof, the only of Ludwig II’s three castles to be completed during his lifetime. It was inspired by Ludwig’s adoration for King Louis XIV and the architecture of Versailles, while also drawing on elemnts of mid-18thC Rococo. While he did live in this palace, it was intended more as an homage to Louis than a residential building. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures of the interior, but there was gold everywhere…
Exterior of Schloss Linderhof
The second castle, incomplete but much more impressive, was Neuschwanstein. This was pretty much the reason for our visit to Munich in the first place as my boyfriend has always wanted to visit. And you can see why:
Schloss Neuschwanstein
Ludwig II commissioned this castle in its remote Alps location as an escape from his duties as King in Munich. It overlooked his parents’ Schloss Hohenschwangau. But it was also bult in honour of the composer Richard Wagner, whom Ludwig admired. The castle was intended as his permanent residence, but was unfortunately nowhere near complete by the time of his death.
Our view from Marienbrucke, a bridge located on the mountain opposite Neuschwanstein
Thursday
We spent our Thursday at the Residenz München, the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. It’s the largest city palace in Germany, and combines the styles of the late Renaissance with Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism.
Ceiling of the Hall of Antiquities (Antiquarium) in the Residenz München
Friday
The final castle of our trip: Schloss Nymphenburg. This served as the main summer residence for the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria, and its width even surpasses that of Versailles!
It looks pretty impressive from the outside, but once inside, the areas you can actually visit are small? Perhaps it could never have lived up to my expectations after the castles we saw on Wednesday, but it felt a little disappointing.
Luckily, we’d become so obsessed with Ludwig II during this trip that seeing his place of birth made the trip more than worth it!
Saturday
On the final day of our holiday, we checked out a couple more religious buildings: namely, Heilig Geist and St Peter’s Church.
Ceiling of Heilig Geist
We also checked out the Deutsches Museum, before heading back to Marienplatz and taking one last look round the beautiful centre of Munich. I paused for a moment to appreciate the flowers which had been draped over the statue of Juliet Capulet for International Women’s Day. A temporary change to cover the usual shine of her right breast from years of male groping.
Oh, and we ates tonnes of sausages!
I go every year - it’s a city I love. Mostly I look at art and hang out with friends around the lakes to the south west. I’ll be there at Easter. Can’t wait.
I can definitely say that you have truly experienced Munich and you were lucky also since the weather was by your side.
I live in Munich and it's an awesome place and also the surrounding.