Ready to go again? — An Elegant Sufficiency

We’ll continue our mooch around the city centre, stopping by the statue of one of the Maximilians outside the Bayerische Hof hotel (are you keeping up with all of these Maximilians? I’m not!)

A little further along, there’s a shrine to Michael Jackson at the foot of another statue, because he once stayed at the Bayerische Hof. What an eyesore…what a mess. And poor old Orlando De Lassus, whose statue is defaced. What do you think?

But just around the corner, we spot another memorial. This it marks the spot where Kurt Eisener was killed. I’m sure you know all about him without my explanation.

We are heading for Gmund, where we passed by yesterday, spotting an interesting paper construction in the window. Being Sunday, and being in Catholic Bavaria, the shop was closed, so let’s take another look.

Beautiful paper, lovely attentive staff, very expensive goods!

But a small purchase is ok, isn’t it!? (in a big bag!)

This is the grand part of the city, where large and very impressive buildings have brass nameplates bearing the names of Swiss banks and multi national corporations. Where the drivers of BMWs reverse down one way streets and are not particular about who they inconvenience.

Me.

But the shop windows have small, elegant displays and we can ogle them free of charge.

Oh, another Maximilian! Turning the corner from that delightful little tableware shop, we’re suddenly in the grandest of avenues.

Looking one way, there is the Theatiner Kirche and the Feldherrn halle.

The other way, there’s a wide road leading to the Siegestor

and right in front of us is the entrance to the Hofgarten

and the Residenz.

You know what I also spotted? A Starbucks. With free WiFi. I think it’s time for a little something, don’t you? Maybe I can google that knitting pattern as well!

It was so lovely to have emails from friends, to reply to them and have a little conversation. Maybe you were one of them? Did you groan when I replied “we’re in Munich, actually…”? I hope you forgave me if you did.

Leaving Starbucks behind, let’s stroll down the street and take a little look in the Hofgarten, shall we? But first, look at that poster for an art exhibition. Doesn’t it remind you of a work by Caspar David Friedrich? Well, reading a little more of the artist’s background, perhaps that’s not surprising. Were we staying a little longer here in the city, perhaps we’d visit the exhibition, but sadly, time is getting a little short.

Here’s a little different art to keep us interested. These pieces are inside the gallery which runs alongside the Hofgarten and depict scenes from Bavarian history. Of course, you’re familiar with all of that, aren’t you?

Walking back along the front side of the Residenz, our attention is captured by these lions. Did you spot that chap over there? Notice what he did?

Without breaking step, he gave that little spot a bit of a rub. Rubbing the nose of just one of the four lions will bring you good luck. Rub more than one and the luck will be cancelled out, I understand. I hope you didn’t rub all four?

So, my hero and I rubbed just the one nose each and off we went.

Oh my, in this part of the city we come across one grand building after another, don’t we? Unsurprisingly, this is Maximilian Square, and that’s the theatre over there.

The side of the Residenz is screened off whilst renovations are taking place, but did you spot the couple peeking out of the window?

Who can they be?

After the shortest of stops to admire the beautiful clothes in this shop, let’s go on further down the street. I think this is where we were yesterday.

I thought so. Here we are at Dallmayr, the German equivalent to Fortnum and Mason. Come on, we’ve got to go inside, haven’t we?

The coffee smells divine, as do the smoked foods down in the fresh food hall. Oh my, I’m not sure about weisswurst in a tin, though, are you? Surely, they can’t taste the same as the fresh ones.

But it seems like a good place to buy a gift for our Swiss host whom we’ll see later in the week, wouldn’t you say? But perhaps we’ll stick with coffee and chocolates and leave the tinned weisswurst here on the shelf.

Oh, what’s that opposite? I had forgotten about the felt shop! A queue stretches almost out of the door and I think that it’s just enough to look in the window. I hope that’s ok with you too. If I was after some thick felt, this would be the perfect place, but you know what? I have no idea what I’d do with it right now!

Let’s keep walking, because look, we’re back in Marienplatz. The Viktualienmarkt is just a short step away and en route we could call in and get that yarn in the wool shop, now we know what we’re looking for.

But my feet are beginning to ache, my hero tells me his back is aching too and perhaps you’ve had enough?

We’ll walk back to the hotel, past the “Maibaum” and in no time, we can put our feet up for a while. You know, that sounds like a really good idea right now!

That golden sign from the Hofbräuhaus means we’re very nearly home. We’ve packed a lot into the day and for now, it’s enough. It was so good to have your company though – hope you enjoyed your day in München as much as we did!