The Munich Residence

Behind this group of Bavarians is the street facade of the Residence where the Wittelsbach royal family lived from 1508 to 1918.  Many large additions during hundreds of years make this castle a labyrinth of buildings with several courts open for short cuts from street to street.

With no trees it looks not very inviting and therefore it is such a surprise to visit and then see the inside exploding in a splendor of golden Rococo decorations.

Not only one room  but so many that one loses the orientation and forgets to count.

More information: http://www.residenz-muenchen.de/englisch/residenc/index.htm

Bavarian lions

It is cold in Munich too and therefore we visited the large city castle - the Residence - in the middle of town to stay inside.  One perceives that it is large from the outside, but the golden splendor inside is astonishing and the walk from Grotto Court to Antiquarium to the Black Hall to the Portrait Gallery to the Porcelain Cabinet to to the Queen's and then to the King's Apartment ......  made our Sunday walk of two hours. With famous steps up and down, we did not mind that the Nibelungen Halls were closed.

Posts about the Munich Residence will come,  today just an introduction of the lions at the entrance:

They face on to one of the liveliest pedestrian streets and to rub the snout of the lions in the 'finial' will give luck and prosperity. One could say a Bavarian Ganesha's belly.  If one is observant one can see people walking by and without stopping quick rubbing, continuing to the second lion and rubbing again. Quickly and preferably in the morning before going to work.

It seems to work because here we hear more often laughter of well being then in Paris.

Do you have an iPad?  You may touch the lion virtually and wait for the results.

A Green Town

To all our Irish friends: Happy St. Patrick's day! 

Today the breweries in Munich will get some competition with stout by Guiness. A parade is planned at noon on the Ludwigsstrasse (the Champs Elysee of Munich) ending on the Odeonsplatz.  There this morning enthusiastic St. Patrick believers got ready to make green the dominant color.

A nice promise to paint the town green.  Spring which comes on Thursday will continue the paint job  slowly but thoroughly.

Stepmasters

 It is wonderful to have the best museums, universities and libraries just around the corner.  A short walk  and we are there. But then, over and over again, palatial stairways have to be conquered.  In the Alte Pinakothek  (www.pinakothek.de)  this is the one to the right and its twin is to the left. One can choose!

Here the central stairway leading to the large reading room of the Staatsbibliothek 

(www.bsb-muenchen.de) and

 

the large concert hall in the conservatory (www.musikhochschule-muenchen.de) can be reached using the marble staircase.

Very impressed entering any of these institutions we start climbing while admiring the architectural feat.  In the middle on the way up we are caught.  Too late to ask where the elevator is!   Next time.

Late winter in Munich's English Garden

Not as high as the Eiffel tower, with just 27 yards the Chinese tower (Chinesischer Turm) nevertheless is easy to find when walking in the English garden (Englischer Garten).  Remember that this park is with 910 acres the largest city park in Europe and even larger then Central Park!

Between these photos one week has gone by.  Two more weeks and Spring will be back -

today was a sneak preview of guests in the beer garden.  With 7000 seats a very popular place to go.  Good beer, good food, good company and always a table - enough reasons to go to the chinesische Turm.

http://www.aviewoncities.com/munich/englischergarten.htm

Instead of walking

 Walking in Paris is both a pleasure and often the fastest way to go from point A to C if you are good on your feet and the weather is pleasant.

Children prefer to use their rollers when going to school with their heavy rucksacks.

For grown ups they are somewhat too small and perhaps a bicycle more appropriate.

"Take a bike and return it where you like" as Velib announces.  Velib, the service in Paris of quickly renting a bike.  Sounds great if you are courageous.  No helmet, unfamiliar bike and lots of cars - 

je ne sais quoi. 

The new idea then is to use an ELECTRIC car for 30 minutes to reach your destination.  http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Features/2013/Feb13/02-12autolib.aspx

Changes are necessary to reduce car traffic - not only in Paris but in all large cities.

If you can't walk be open to new ideas even if it takes a while to get used to them. 

The Seed Cathedral

Not only paintings and sculptures are exhibited in the Centre Pompidou, the National Modern Art Museum of France, but models of exceptional modern architecture.  This is an exceptional beautiful model and I first thought that it was just a phantasy model.  

With the help of the label I then found out, that it was the UK pavilion built 2010 for the World Expo in Shanghai.  A storage for seeds to be kept for future generations.  Little scary the thought of this necessity. Who decides what should be saved?  Who counts all the seeds existing?

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children" (Indian Proverb)

http://www.heatherwick.com/uk-pavilion/