Europe Day 52 of 59, Munich

After a few days in Munich, we finally began day 52 "Madrid Style." You see, next to our hotel is the Hofbräuhaus. Across the courtyard from the Hofbräuhaus one finds the Hard Rock Café. And a few doors down from the Hard Rock one finds...

The Starbucks. Or, as silly people say in fake German accents, "Schtahbüks."

Madrid Style. Barbie's breakfast on the right, your truly's breakfast on the left.

We had little agenda for the day, as we had covered about all one could on foot. It didn't take us too long to decide to head out to Schloß Nymphenburg.

You saw the Residenz in the heart of Munich. Outside town the Bavarian Royals kicked it here, generally during summer.

They started building this in 1664 and kept it up for around 70 years, each generation doing their best to put a personal stamp on it.

Inside, Schloß Nymphenburg is less ornate than the Palacio Real in Madrid, but I think it brings enough to the table to get any respectably angry mob of peasants going.

Honestly, rooms like this just impress you with their beauty and even a player-hater like me forgets to be disgusted.

This room is, in a word, hilarious. King Ludwg I is clearly High Hefner's idol. King Ludwig I ordered painter Joseph Stieler to paint 36 beautiful women from all classes, ranging from the daughter of a shoemaker to the daughter of a king. (There was no information on whether he slept with them before or after their portraits, but I think it is relatively likely that they all got the royal treatment at some point.) This celebrated "Schönheitengalerie" (Gallery of Beauties) was open to the public and was a main attraction back in the 1800's.

Ludwig was also an eccentric and notoriously bad poet. He became tainted with scandals associated with one of his mistresses, Lola Montez, and his affair contributed greatly to the fall from grace of the previously popular king.

Lola Montez, Countess of Landsfeld. Don't be fooled by her name. She was born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert and went by the stage name Lola Montez. She was an Irish-born dancer and actress who became famous as a dancer and then as the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Countess of Landsfeld. (I am winning the fight against comparisons to other actresses who slept with politicians.)

The Green Room. Not a great pic, but it is fun to call it The Green Room.

Just like a royal family to insist on a wildly fancy ceiling.

Another Chinese room. You might recall the Chinese themed room in Palacio Real.

Yours truly in a royal bedroom.

The back yard.

Not a bad entry hall, if you think about it.

It took quite a long time, but we finally have another metapic.

A painting of Schloß Nymphenburg circa 1730. Pretty much the same. I love how the foreground includes laborers. What good is a palace without laborers?

It takes serious cajones to paint the Saviour with a nation's flag that didn't exist in his lifetime, doesn't it?

On the way out, I took a pretty good swanpic. After taking this pic, I took a dozen pics that put together will make a 360 panorama of Schloß Nymphenburg, but I will wait until I get home to stitch them together. Home? That's in a week? Really?

After Schloß Nymphenburg we grabbed some fast food, met with a dude from the hotel for drinks (iced tea, to be specific), and generally kicked it in the hotel room. Nothing particularly photogenic until we went out for a traditional Bavarian dinner.

At dinner I ordered dark beer. Finally, a restaurant with a dark beer. It was great.

Barbie's potato soup.

My bread soup, which was actually a meatball in broth.

We shared this pot roast in sweet and sour sauce with a bread dumpling. We were very, very full after this meal. And we shared an entree. The average Bavarian must weigh 300+.

Walking the streets after dinner, we came across chamber music beggars.

It was pleasantly warm in Munich tonight. I took one last picture of the Odeonsplatz, the first one taken at night.

We made it all the way to our favorite Theatinerkirche, for one last pic. By the way, it is impossible for me to not notice that church is kirche in German, kirke in Denmark, and kerk in the Netherlands. How long does it take different dialects of the same language to become different languages?

One last pic of the Feldherrenhalle, this time at night.

If you think I got into the World War II stuff in Munich, just wait. We have called an audible at the line of scrimmage and are skipping Slovenia for a visit to Berlin. Tomorrow we get on a train for the capital of reunited Germany.

Nighty night.