Colossal Waste: Europe Day 50 of 59, Munich

It would not matter which Lord's name I took in vain to express it, fifty days is a (deity's name used disrespectfully) long time to be on the road. Bizarrely, I feel no level of burnout or exhaustion. I am, to put it simply, used to this. The idea of being "home" seems more unreal to me than the idea of sleeping in a hotel and walking around all day taking pictures of things. In fact, at this point when I think of being "home" I imagine myself waking up there and walking somewhere to take pictures of something, with the plan to research it further on Wikipedia if I had not done so before walking to that something.

With that said... our first full day in Munich awaits.

This may look like every other room service breakfast, but note the pretzel. That pretzel, she is different. She is a München pretzel.

This is the view out the hotel window, with the back of the Hofbräuhaus and the spires of the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady) in the center and the Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church) to the left. We saw this view yesterday, but the setting sun was blinding at the time.

Before beginning the day, Barbie and I went to the roof terrace. After all, the light would be more conducive at noon.

The above pic is four pics stitched together by yours truly on the magical pixlr.com. I highly recommend clicking on it to see it larger. (If you're very clever, you will right-click on it and open it in a new window so that you do not lose your place here.)

Rooftop pics taken, it was time to venture throughout Munich on foot.

Near our hotel we came across Isartor. Isartor is one of four main gates of the medieval city wall. From Wikipedia: The Isartor was constructed in 1337 within the scope of the enlargement of Munich and the construction of the second city wall between 1285 and 1337 which was completed under the Emperor Louis IV. The Isartor is today the only medieval gate in Munich which has conserved its medium main tower and the restoration in 1833-35 by Friedrich von Gärtner has recreated the dimensions and appearance close to the original structure. The frescos, created in 1835, depict the victorious return of Emperor Louis after the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322.

There you have it. Much of Munich was destroyed and rebuilt in the 20th century, but the Isartor has in fact survived nearly 700 years.

German teens see this nearly 700 year old structure as an ideal place to kick around a ball. You have to love it.

We walked over to the Isar river, crossing the Ludwigsbrücke (Ludwig's Bridge), named for the Bavarian King. Munich is one German city that feels a strong connection to its pre-German roots.

The Isar. Not the prettiest color, but it does run through a metropolitan area of more than 5 million people. What color did you expect?

Eine Bayer Ente. A Bavarian duck.

Along the bank of the Isar we came across St. Lukas' Church.

St. Lukas' Church is known for its neo-Gothic interior within a Romanesque exterior. It is quite beautiful.

And the dome, it compares well against the domes of Italy.

A view of the Maximilianeum from the Maximiliansbrucke. Maximilian II was Ludwig I's son, and both have bridges. From Wikipedia: The Maximilianeum, a palatial building in Munich, was built as a home of a gifted students´ foundation and also houses the Bavarian Landtag (state parliament) since 1949.

What else? Maximilian's Park.

The Friedensengel in Prinzregentenstrasse. This monument commemorates the 25 years of peace following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, known as the Peace of Versailles. I've always been fascinated by the disappearance of Prussia. Today, I learned something thanks to the Friedensengel.

From Wikipedia: Following a prolonged siege, Paris fell on 28 January 1871. The siege is also notable due to the fact that it saw the first use of anti-aircraft artillery, a Krupp piece built specifically to shoot down the hot air balloons being used by the French as couriers. Ten days earlier, the German states had proclaimed their union under the Prussian King, uniting Germany as a nation-state, the German Empire. The final peace Treaty of Frankfurt was signed 10 May 1871, during the time of the Paris Commune of 1871.

There you have it. I now know that the German states united under the Prussian King at the end of the Franco-Prussian War, creating the German Empire and erasing Prussia from the map. But how long will I remember this fact?

Beautiful, isn't it? But this is definitely a column, not an obelisk.

The entire monument is one hundred percent inspired by the Acropolis of Athens. Another interesting fact is that Adolf Hitler's private apartment in Munich was located across the street. He likely looked at it when walking out for an errand. Perhaps he sketched it in his spare time?

I had begun the day wanting to walk to the Bürgerbräukeller, the site where Hitler began his Beer Hall Putsch which resulted in his imprisonment for treason, where he wrote Mein Kampf, which you might say makes it historically significant. But the Bürgerbräukeller no longer exists. Where it did exist one finds a plaque to Georg Elser, who came extremely close to assassinating Hitler with a bomb on November 8, 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller. Apparently it was never repaired after that bomb blast, which I share to make it clear that Munich didn't take down the site just because it was the birthplace of Hitler's fame.

Barbie asked a guy wearing a Beatles shirt to take this pic.

The view of the Luitpoldbrucke from the Friedensengel.

The Luitpoldbrucke features a statue on each corner representing the four seasons, same as our favorite bridge in Florence.

Autumn offers her grapes.

We walked back to Maximilianstraße to enter the city's center. There we spotted these happy people on a Segway tour. We enjoy walking, but imagine the ground these people can cover? Though it occurs to me that I hate standing still. Hate it. I'd rather walk for an our than try to stand still for that long. I wonder if I have this problem on a Segway?

The Maximilian Statue. He seems to be surrounded by beautiful men and women. I imagine his palace was a rockin'.

Maximilianstraße is the Rodeo Drive of Munich. There is not a single store in Beverly Hills that is missing here, which of course goes for the "rich" street in most major cities. Such an odd phenomenon, really. Gucci and Hermes are just like McDonalds and Starbucks, if you think about it.

Max-Joseph-Platz, with the Residenz Theatre behind it. The Residenz, which was the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs, is one of the most massive palaces you will ever see. But it is under repair right now so now great pic for you or me. It is mostly used as museum space today.

The Feldherrnhalle was built in 1844 to honor the Bavarian Army, by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Remember earlier when I went ahead and got into the Hitler stuff? The Feldherrnhalle is where the Beer Hall Putsch ended. From Wikipedia: On Sunday morning, 9 November 1923, the Feldherrnhalle was the scene of a confrontation between the Bavarian State Police and an illegally organized march by the followers of Adolf Hitler. When ordered to stop the marchers continued; the State Police felt threatened and opened fire. Four policemen and sixteen marchers were killed and a number were wounded, including Hermann Göring. As a result, Hitler was arrested and sentenced to a prison term.

Amazing to think of the historical significance of this place.

The central sculptural group was added in 1882, after the Franco-Prussian War.

Next to the Feldherrnhalle is the Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan. (The Roman Catholic Theatine Church St. Cajetan.) I have a feeling that this chuech survived the war as well. From Wikipedia: The church was built in Italian high-baroque style after San Andrea del Valle in Rome and designed by the Italian architect Agostino Barelli. His successor, Enrico Zuccalli, added two towers, which originally were not planned and then finished the 71 meter (233 ft) high dome in 1690. The facade in rococo style was completed only in 1768 by François de Cuvilles. Its Mediterranean appearance and yellow coloring became a well known symbol for the city and had much influence on Southern German baroque architecture.

This picture does no justice at all. The Theatinerkirche is one of the most beautiful churches I have seen. The detail of this baroque church is mind boggling.

The dome of the Theatinerkirche. I took around six pictures of this, trying to get it just right.

The doors of the Theatinerkirche.

A view of the Theatinerkirche from several blocks down the Theatinerstraße, which struck us a superior shopping street to the more posh Maximilianstraße.

The Neues Rathaus from the back. The front is where you find the Marienplatz and Glockenspiel.

The Frauenkirche (full name Dom zu unserer lieben Frau, "Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady") is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising and is considered a symbol of the Bavarian State Capital.

Okay. Let me say that I had "heard" that Munich is a city which was destroyed during World War II and rebuilt after, and that for this reason it is not as "beautiful" or "classical" a city as you find elsewhere. I find it very interesting that the Frauenkirche, which was built between 1468 and 1525, and was heavily damaged during World War II, and was then restored, basically feels untouched by the war. It feels like a five hundred year old church, and it is. After all, the Pantheon of Rome was repaired over the centuries but I still consider it an ancient structure. So... I just have to say that what I "heard" was not true at all. Munich is and feels like a European gem.

Inside the Frauenkirche it is more austere than the Theatinerkirche, but man is that ceiliing high. One hundred feet high. This church can house 20,000 worshippers.

Barbie always lights a candle in every church we visit, normally paying 50 cents. I like that we are donating a little in each place for their maintainence

A newer church.

The front of the Neues Rathaus, looking somewhat better in this light than yesterday.

The Mariensäule (Column of Mary) and Neues Rathaus together. What you cannot see is the thousand or so peple gathered around the Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel kick into action.

There they are. All staring up at some painted figures that are about to go around and around.

There they are!

See the knight! He's jousting!

It is cool. I mean, this was built built between 1867 and 1908. Can you imagine? This was techno-wizardry for the time. In fact, I compare it to the transforming robots in the computer animated transforming robot movie. The Rathaus-Glockenspiel was the transforming robot movie of its time. What was that movie called?

You want to talk robots? We walked away from the Rathaus-Glockenspiel before the show was over so that we could beat the crowd to McDonalds. And inside McDonalds was a robot where we could stick in a credit card, order our food exactly as we wanted, and then pick it up from the counter. In a foreign country, that is a very pleasant experience when compared to struggling in the queue and trying to order from someone who doesn't have the courtesy to speak English.

The Heiliggeistkirche (The Church of the Holy Spirit) which we did not get a chance to enter.

Peterskirche, which sounds much cooler to me than St. Peter's Church.

Inside St. Peter's Church, I read the signs asking for silence and then as I took this picture a guy loudly walked towards me saying, "Shhh! Shhh! Shhh!" I nodded. Apparently there was a service in progress. Nicely, the one pic I took came out great so that there is no reason to reutrn.

Another view of Peterskirche.

I saw this from a distance and said, "That looks old." We often walk towards old things. This is Löwenturm, which translates to Lion Tower. I typed the info from the small sign on it into a translation website and got this, "Legendary remainder of the first city wall Heinrichs of the Lion 12 jhd." I assume the "legendary" means it can be untrue, but let us imagine this to be an ancient tower that survived two world wars intact to be surrounded by modern buildings hundreds of years after its construction.

Across from the Löwenturm was a square with a fountain and this monk statue. As we know from yesterday, Munich means Monks. I had to honor the Monks who founded this city and sit with him.

The Monk statue was watching these cows. I have not read it, but I would not be surprised if the Benedictine Monks who founded this city were cow farmers.

Believe it or not, the Buddha statue that Barbie sat next to yesterday is right THERE.

Not only did I take a pic of this Bowie plaque in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, but I am now going to say something that will bore most of you. So move on if you like. But this is funny. The song Heroes mentions the Berlin Wall. I am not sure why they have chosen to commemorate this song on the Munich cafe, 370 miles away from Berlin. Was this a "Germany is Germany" moment?

From the hotel rooftop terrace, St. Lukas' Church is THERE.

From the hotel rooftop terrace, the Maximilianeum is THERE.

Okay, this next one was tough. With the naked eye, I could clearly see the Friedensengel. But when looking at the iPhone, there was just no way to catch that detail. So I did my best to point at it.