Residenz Museum

Today was a laundry day, which isn't as bad as it sounds.  My typical laundry day involves me sleeping in, having a nice breakfast at the hotel, catching the tram to the laundromat, dropping off my clothes for someone else to wash because they won't let me use the machines, and then heading out into the city to do some sightseeing till my laundry is done.  Today I went into Viktualienmarkt to buy some souveniers and then decided to peek into Peterskirche and Frauenkirche, two of the biggest Roman Catholic churches in the city.  Each time I've tried to go into them previously there has been some sort of mass going on, and I feel bad walking in right in the middle.  Today I was able to catch both of them just minutes before masses started.  I don't understand why they have masses every night of the week and right in the middle of the day on a Saturday, but they do.  Both churches, by the way, were very pretty inside, but I didn't get any pictures.  Sorry.

After the churches, I visited the Residenz Museum.  The Residenz was the home of the Wittelsbach dynasty up until 1918.  The first buildings in the palace were built back in 1385 and were added to in the 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries.  The museum audio tour brings you through about 100 rooms full of old paintings, furniture, family treasures, and classical sculptures.  I was a little tired from my long week of work, so I wasn't super interested in listening to everything the audio guide had to say about each of the paintings of old rich people, but it was still cool to wander through and see them.  One of the most impressive rooms is the Antiquarium, a hall built in 1571 to house the royal family's sculptures.  This room is the largest Renaissance ceremonial hall north of the Alps and is the oldest surviving part of the Residenz (most of the original buildings were bombed in WWII and restored after).  The elector, or emperor, or kind, or whatever he called himself used to host meals and ceremonies in this hall, so that must have been a sight to behold.  One impressive piece of art at the Residenz is the grotto made out of volcanic crystals, colorful seashells, and a bronze sculpture of Mercury.  It was really cool to see all of the details made out of shells, and that's all I have to say about that.

Once out of the Residenz I went back to the Viktualienmarkt to get some lunch.  I grabbed a bratwurst and a beer and sat down in the biergarten to relax and people watch.  A few minutes later it started to drizzle, so I finished my beer, quickly picked up my laundry, and made it back to the hotel just before the heavens opened.  Phew!

The Antiquarium in the Residenz

The grotto at the Residenz

More Sightseeing

Last weekend, Timothy, a friend of Nell and me, visited from London, so I took him around to some of the highlights of the city.  We walked around the city center, went up into the St. Peter's Church tower, meandered through Viktualienmarkt, and then made our way over to the Museum District.  I hadn't been over there before, but Timothy (an architect) wanted to see a few of the museums because he has learned about them in school and used them as influences in some of his projects.  It was pretty cool going from the old part of the city with classical architecture into the Museum District with much more modern buildings.  We didn't actually go into into any of the exhibits in the museums because of the limited time frame, but maybe that would be something to do in the future.  One of my favorite sights was the Lenbachhaus museum.  Nell's great-great-grandfather used to be the groundskeeper for the garden, which is pretty in the winter and probably gorgeous in the summer.  It was pretty cool to be connected to Nell from such a long distance!

Lenbachhaus garden

On Sunday, Timothy wanted to see the Alps, so I took him down to the Neuschwanstein Castle.  A few inches of snow had fallen overnight, so the drive and view from the castle were beautiful.  That definitely made my second trip worth it.  Later in the day we visited the BMW museum because Timothy's a huge fan and used to own a couple.  Even though the weekend was filled with things I've mostly done before, it was really fun to take someone else around who'd never been there before.