Munich used to be the capital of a kingdom. Bavaria. A kingdom with aspirations and at least occationally a lot of money too. There are huge, intricately decorated buildings, wide boulevards, high churches, the biggest inner city park in the world and museums full of art by the big masters. I guess, in the European context, Munich can’t really compare – what with London and Paris and Amsterdam and Berlin and Vienna as centers of former empires. But if you just forget about the competition for a while, there really is a huge amount of both high and low culture to enjoy. My first day in the city (28/6), I only spent walking around looking at all the houses.
In the middle of it all lies Neues Rathaus, the ”new” City Hall, only new in the sense that it’s not as old as (at least the foundations of) the Alter Rathaus, that lies on the other side of the .
On one corner of the Neues Rathaus, a dragon is climbing up the facade. Without a sign or anything describing how that came about. I wonder how that happened.
Next to the City Hall square lies Marienhof, apparently a popular place to meet. In the background, you can see two important things: the twin towers of Frauenkirche, and the crane. No other building in central Munich is allowed to be higher than the Frauenkirche towers, 99 meters high, and for some reason there was reconstructions going on all over the city when I was there. Hence the crane.
From within, Frauenkirsche is pretty sparingly decorated. It was built during the tail end of the 15th century, but was badly damaged during World War II, as most buildings in Munich were – so this white and light thing is, to my understanding, a result of the post-war reconstruction.
At Max Joseph Platz, by the opera and theater and the Residence, two orchestras were practicing for an outdoor concert that evening. I walked onto the square to the sound of ominous bass tubes and thought: This is so Wagner. Which, surprisingly enough, it was. I was pretty impressed by myself. I’m not really a classical music connoiseur. I stayed there for a while and listened to them finishing the practice session. The actual concert would be at ten at night, a competition bewteen Wagner and Verdi, and it seemed like the entire town was dressed up in red and blue, or simply just lederhosen, for this event. Munich was full of life.
The Roman style temple like structure at the head of Odeonsplatz made for a great place to view the bustle and preparations for the weekend’s festivities.
And in the Dianatempel in the Hofgarten, a man was playing the violin.
The high, gilded ceiling of the Michaelskirche. I didn’t know this, but Bavaria is traditionally catholic, and nowhere does this become more apparent than in this boastingly decorated, incredibly high and wide church.
A facade on the opposite side of the street from Michaelskirche. There were many houses in downtown Munich dressed in red flowers. I liked it.
One of the more luxurious places to shop in Munich is Fünf Höfe. From the outside, it looks like just any kind of building – but on the inside, the corridors and halls are all decorated in a modern fashion. Just the kind of geometrical decor that I love taking photos of.
The guide book said that Münich is a perfect mixture or high culture and beer. So, this is one of the more beer related Munich sights: the place of Oktoberfest. Now in June, it was only a huge empty space in the middle of the city. Very wierd.
Hofbräuhaus, the most famous beer hall in Munich, was more lively, with live music and tourists drinking buckets of beer for lunch. I only took a peek – drinking beer all by myself isn’t really my thing.
But just outside the beer hall, by a pharmacy, I found this little sign, next to a hook in the wall. Cute, but poor dog, having to be parked.
Katja Malmborg 