At this point, I am over a month behind on blogging, but it is my goal to catch up, and soon! Maybe if I put it into writing like this, I will actually do it. Here's hoping...
Anyways, back to my trip in early September with Kirsten and Co. After our stop in Salzburg, we drove to Munich. It was a really beautiful drive, although the beautiful weather gradually gave way to oppressive, gray drizzle as we got towards Munich. We decided that there was no better place to spend a rainy afternoon than the Munich Science Museum, which was billed as a place that "will change the way you think about science." Given that Kirsten and Ross are engineers and I am a chemist, we were a little skeptical of this claim, but we are suckers for a good science museum. Sadly, this was not a good science museum. Well, maybe it was, but it was not very interactive (half of the interactive things were out-of-order), the chemistry section was under construction (disaster!), and it was actually just rather dull. The highlights were learning a little bit about weaving in different patterns with a loom and seeing a cool pink rock. After, we had a bier in the Zeughauskellar, a famous bierhalle, and then had dinner at a restaurant that serves the biggest schnitzels ever!
The next day the weather was slightly nicer, so we decided to tackle the Munich Residenz (palace). It was absolutely massive and totally overwhelming. First we saw the treasury with all of the pretty and shiny things therein. The palace came with a free audioguide, and I have to say that I was already overwhelmed by all of the information by the end of the treasury.
Then we toured the main part of the palace, which had about 100 massive, sumptuous rooms. It seems that each ruler had decided to add on to the palace in ever more impressive style. It was actually sort of insane. After about the 10th room I stopped listening to the audioguide and just wandered from room to room, trying to take it all in.
For the afternoon of that day, Kirsten and I decided to take things a little slower while the others took a walking tour of Munich. I was still fighting my cold, so I was pretty happy to sit inside a warm tea shop and have a nice cuppa'. We also did a little walking before heading to the China Garden. We saw surfers on a standing wave in the river (see video), which was pretty interesting!
We all met up in the China Garden and had a beer while listening to an oompa band. It was pretty atmospheric. We then had a run-in with some old man that took money from Kirsten (it had fallen out of her pocket and onto the ground next to her chair) and wouldn't give it back. It was really upsetting, as he was with his wife and a group of at least 2 other couples, all retirees, I'd guess, and they ignored me and Kirsten when we spoke to them in German and English to try to get the money back. I guess I'd like to think that people are more honest than that, but it was really frustrating/disappointing and not the best way to end our time in Munich. But, it could've been much worse (it wasn't too much money, and none of use got hurt or lost, etc.), and we ended the evening with some more beer and a nice dinner.
Anyways, back to my trip in early September with Kirsten and Co. After our stop in Salzburg, we drove to Munich. It was a really beautiful drive, although the beautiful weather gradually gave way to oppressive, gray drizzle as we got towards Munich. We decided that there was no better place to spend a rainy afternoon than the Munich Science Museum, which was billed as a place that "will change the way you think about science." Given that Kirsten and Ross are engineers and I am a chemist, we were a little skeptical of this claim, but we are suckers for a good science museum. Sadly, this was not a good science museum. Well, maybe it was, but it was not very interactive (half of the interactive things were out-of-order), the chemistry section was under construction (disaster!), and it was actually just rather dull. The highlights were learning a little bit about weaving in different patterns with a loom and seeing a cool pink rock. After, we had a bier in the Zeughauskellar, a famous bierhalle, and then had dinner at a restaurant that serves the biggest schnitzels ever!
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| Pink rock! |
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| Zeughauskeller. |
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| Mondo schnitzel. |
The next day the weather was slightly nicer, so we decided to tackle the Munich Residenz (palace). It was absolutely massive and totally overwhelming. First we saw the treasury with all of the pretty and shiny things therein. The palace came with a free audioguide, and I have to say that I was already overwhelmed by all of the information by the end of the treasury.
Then we toured the main part of the palace, which had about 100 massive, sumptuous rooms. It seems that each ruler had decided to add on to the palace in ever more impressive style. It was actually sort of insane. After about the 10th room I stopped listening to the audioguide and just wandered from room to room, trying to take it all in.
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| This man clearly had fabulous taste in shoes. |
For the afternoon of that day, Kirsten and I decided to take things a little slower while the others took a walking tour of Munich. I was still fighting my cold, so I was pretty happy to sit inside a warm tea shop and have a nice cuppa'. We also did a little walking before heading to the China Garden. We saw surfers on a standing wave in the river (see video), which was pretty interesting!
We all met up in the China Garden and had a beer while listening to an oompa band. It was pretty atmospheric. We then had a run-in with some old man that took money from Kirsten (it had fallen out of her pocket and onto the ground next to her chair) and wouldn't give it back. It was really upsetting, as he was with his wife and a group of at least 2 other couples, all retirees, I'd guess, and they ignored me and Kirsten when we spoke to them in German and English to try to get the money back. I guess I'd like to think that people are more honest than that, but it was really frustrating/disappointing and not the best way to end our time in Munich. But, it could've been much worse (it wasn't too much money, and none of use got hurt or lost, etc.), and we ended the evening with some more beer and a nice dinner.
