Munich!

We arrived in Munich 4 hrs later than we intended so we didn't get much done the night we arrived. We ate and went to bed and it was still late Unfortunately I paid for the peace of letting Elise watch a movie too scary for her because she cried and had nightmares for the first half of the night. We got up very late the next morning as a result.

 This is the courtyard of the Rathous or townhall built for Munich at the turn of the 19/20th century. We went up the tower and had a lovely view of Munich. It was cool and misty and we were loving it!

One thing I will say is that it's much more enchanting looking over the roofs of a city you know well. The view would've been more exciting had I known what I was looking at.

Maybe it would be more specific to say, "be familiar with what I was looking at". There was this little plan to point out the sites. It just didn't mean as much without knowing those places and buildings.

This dragon was placed on the building to remind the people of the terrors of the plague to the city.

I took the girls to the Toy Museum affiliated with the Rathous.  

They cut the basic shape out of these hoops, then slice and carve them. 

By this time it was really raining so the boys couldn't do what they'd planned. Sometimes certain parts of a trip are ribbed with hiccups. Rain, go in and find out they only take cash of which you have none, get cash from Matt, kids have to come everywhere with you because they're just that way, go back up the narrow tower stairs, download the free app to tell me about the items in the museum, go up the lift. Listen to the first 20 minutes and find out they have to go to the bathroom and they can't wait. Go down looking for the WC only to find out they don't have one. You have to go to the Rathous. I happen to have seen the Rathous WC and it requires change. Ask the Toy Museum Employee to break my larger bills, she's not excited about this as her supply is short. Answer Matt's many texts about if I want to do this or that or what they're going to do etc. Reply to see if HE can take girls to bathroom. He says he will. Girls whining and not really listening, Finally decide just to go downstairs slowly looking at what else they have and leave with Matt and go to the Rathous bathroom because everyone needs to go. . . I was feeling claustrophobic at this point. Girls bumping me in a tiny little tower museum for all that time going up and down, communicating with everyone. I needed a break. Matt said go, I'll take girls and feed them. You can go see the church we saw and get yourself something to eat. I wisely agreed.

This is from the St. Peter's Church. A bejeweled saint skeleton.

There were some nice carvings here, I couldn't really see the paintings very well. Much of the churches were destroyed and had to be redone, there's not much of the symbolism and history carved into them as there has been in churches in France or other places. Still, there is always a peace that I love for those few minutes.

I walked over to the markets afterward and this little shop of dried plants was so charming! I've never seen such beautiful dried artichokes. If I were growing them it would be so hard to let the choke bloom! I bought blackberries for lunch. 

I met them all at the Residenz which was a castle to rival the Louvre. The treasury was actually my favorite part. They had SO MANY TREASURES. We all got audio guides and there was SO MUCH INFORMATION. We would've been there all day trying to learn everything. I'm amazed at how little German History I know. Kings and Queens of Bavaria and most of the people mean nothing to me sadly. I need some work here. This is a beautifully carved prayer bead that a monk made over 18yrs. It's truly phenomenal. 

Really most of the "treasures" are pieces of art.

Many of them are religious. Here's a porcelain last supper.

Elise really didn't listen to anything that had to do with anything. Instead she typed in random numbers and listened. She would share random bits of information with me that had absolutely nothing to do with anything we were looking at but referenced some other room or story. This box was so intricate and beautiful. There are class etched stories from the bible.

These cups are carved from Ibex horns. Those are some big horns.

Apparently Amber is also called Bernstein? 

Tortoise shell violin. Not sure about those acoustics.

Persian knife with Arabic Calligraphy followed by an Asian tapestry.

Banquet Hall with a million paintings and busts of people I don't know. 

Rightfully tired. This palace was GIANT.

As much as there was to see, as enormous as it was(150 rooms I think) there were HUGE sections that had been bombed in WW2 that just couldn't be redone. This hallways had been fully painted and adorned with statues, now it's a blank yellow.

This chapel has almost nothing left of the ornate plaster, lighting, furniture etc.

Many rooms were just simulations or they recreated a typical room like this music room.

Whoever ate the golden apple should've finished it IMO.

This was the theater. A small but elaborately ornate theater.

When we finished at the Residenz we decided to check out the Gardens even though most of us REALLy didn't feel like walking. Samuel was immediately distracted by the wild quality of what was more like a park in our dictionary. I was admittedly a little bored but we decided to find a place to sit for a time and rest our feet. we saw some rushing water and Matt remembered that there was supposed to be surfing at this part. That was pretty intriguing so we decided to go check it out. Sure enough, there was water RUSHING under this bridge and surfers were riding the rapids on short boards. Elise was captivated. One of the more experienced surfers would splash the front row of spectators every time. She was so shocked at first but then she ventured back down for more. It was pretty exciting to her. 

After we got back, showered and changed the swimmers, and headed out for some food, Elise disclosed her blisters to me that she got walking back to the hotel wet. Thankfully I brought a pretty significant supply of band-aids because we've honestly gone through probably over a dozen between Elise's and my blisters,and Sennia's splinter. Dinner was a bit of an ordeal, almost everything is, and we finally sat down to eat just before 9pm. We should have done this night differently but we did have some authentic German food. 

Matt promised the kids ice cream while I was off by myself for those 30 minutes. They had to earn it by not fighting or complaining. By the time we got out of dinner the ice cream parlor next door had closed. This was almost a tragedy because Elise had been an angel all day long and never has anyone deserved ice cream more. We were heading back to the hotel hoping to find a place but right before we arrived there was a crepe counter that also had some delicious ice cream. THANK GOODNESS. I'm glad we could deliver on that promise!