Nick and Chris left us the day after our Salzburg trip. They arrived in Berlin for a couple of days of brother time.
Ernie and I did what any good parents would do after spending so much time with their kidsBwe slept in. It felt good and I could have easily given in to a day of reading and sleeping. But, I can do that at home so we headed out to see another sight on our list. We went to Nympemburg Palace. It was in a more residential part of Berlin we had not yet seen.
The palace itself was interesting, but not terribly exciting. What was exciting were the grounds, gardens, and transportation museum. The grounds and gardens were as impressive as Versailles and surrounded by a small fairy-tale forest. I thought the transportation museum would be dull, but it was fascinating to see the amazingly ornate carriages used by King Ludwig. Each was carved on every possible place on the carriage frame, the coaches and frames were gilded, the cabs painted with scenes or portraits and topped with some kind of statue announcing the arrival of the important person inside, even the driver had a special place to sit and Aslippers@ to set his boots into. The museum also had contained sleighs like nothing I=ve ever seen. The sleighs were made for hunting or pleasure riding and were decorated with carvings of mythological characters so large I don=t know how the passenger saw around them. We couldn’t use a flash so didn’t get the best pictures, but you can get an idea. You must also picture the horses covered in silver embroided blankets and wearing headdresses!
Our last day in Munich brought us to the 20th century. We took a trip to see the Olympia Park where the 1972 summer Olympics were held. We stopped for some Kentucky Fried Chicken on the way and it was definitely finger-lickin= good after all that German food. The park was huge and really gave us a feel for where the athletes compete during the games. The venues are being used by the community B the pool was filled with pleasure and fitness swimmers and children. The high dive looked HIGH and I will appreciate it, and the length of the laps, much more when the next Olympics come around. On the lake kids were floating around in giant bubbles, trying to stand up and get them spinning. Looked like fun!
We felt that we had to visit the famous Hofbrauhaus which was founded in the 1500's. It was as full of happy beer drinkers as the Oktoberfest. I guess when Oktoberfest is not in session, the Hofbrauhaus is the place to be. It was a big, two story building with a center courtyard and several different large rooms. We didn=t want to sit in the boisterous courtyard and were happy we found a perfect seat on the second floor overlooking the courtyard. The best part was that I was able to order a salad! I=d eaten heavy food and potatoes in many forms throughout the week and my body was crying out for greens. The salad was so good B full of healthy stuff. But wouldn=t you know it B it came with a warm potato dressing. I just couldn=t escape the almighty Bavarian potato. I=ll admit that the dressing was good, and the apple strudel we ended our meal with was perfect.
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Munich and surrounding areas. Ernie was ready to come back and stay for a month or two. That ain=t gonna happen, but it would be nice to see what the city is like when all the Oktoberfest tourists are gone. I wonder if they wear the dirndls all year long?
So glad you had a good time.
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