Munich Meandering

During the almost two weeks that Nana and Grampa were with us, we spent a whopping 3 days in Munich.  They were built in as our down days; our days to rest and recuperate between all of the travelings.  Yet they somehow turned out to be the days that we walked the most. 

Monday - we took the U to the city center and with nothing really planned, and a sky full of cotton candy clouds and sunshine, we decided that the English Garden would be a great stop for lunch and a stroll.  As we slowly meandered and basked in the warmth, we stumbled upon a piano player in the pavilion at the Hofgarten, so we stopped to listen for a bit.

A bit farther on we watched the surfers in the river (it just never gets old...)

We stopped at the little outdoor sandwich shop to pick up drinks and lunch and took it right over to the park so the girls could play while we sat for a bit and ate.  Satisfied, we kept going through the park and out the other side so that we could go pick up Dulce from the dog sitter.  Which then meant stopping for Gelato because, well, why not.  We wound our way the final kilometer home and slept very well that night!

Our other day in Munich was the Wednesday before the long Easter weekend.  We were looking at a little bit less sun and warmth so we decided that an indoor venue would be best.  We chose the Munich Residenz.  I had already toured the apartments and the Treasury before (and posted it here), so I won't go into a lot of detail, but maybe I will put up just a few more pictures of my favorite parts...

Our final stop on tour was a place I had not been to yet - the Cuvilliés-Theater.  Originally built in the 1750's, it was completely destroyed in World War II.  The only thing that survives to this day are the seats and boxes, which had been removed before the war, and were installed in the new theater that was built in 1950's.  It is a meticulous recreation of the original and was reopened in 1958 with a performance of the Marriage of Figaro.

And then we tried out the cool acoustics on our way out...

By now we were a bit hungry, so we went off in search of lunch.  Not knowing it was the day of a huge futbol match between bitter rivals we were a bit taken aback when we walked back towards Marienplatz and heard the chanting and cheering long before we saw the hoards of people.  We scratched our plan to eat outdoors at the very crowded Viktualienmarkt and took a seat upstairs and away from the crowds at one of our favorites.  And after a liter of beer and about 3 lbs of food we called it a day.  We still had to pack as we were leaving for our long weekend the next day.

As for the 3rd day we spent in Munich - there isn't much to tell.  It snowed, sleeted, rained and was cold.  So we did what you do on those days and headed to the mall...