München!

The last weekend in November, Sarah, Martha, and I hopped on a south-bound train for Munich with the intention of having a grand adventure. After sleeping through the first couple hours of our almost 6-hour ride, we awoke to beautiful hilly countryside! It was a lovely contrast to flat flat Hamburg.

We arrived in the early afternoon and immediately set off to find our hostel, where we quickly deposited our things and headed out in to the afternoon sun. That day was spent mostly wandering around doing whatever we pleased and enjoying the old Bavarian architecture... and listening to all the silly Americans wandering around the crowded Christmas markets. Silly Americans. (They made me quite happy to know that they haven't discovered the wonders of Hamburg yet.)

This church had a pretty roof! How delightful.

It was a cold night, but a beautiful one at the market in front of the Rathaus. Too bad a million other people thought so, too. We ended up finding something sweet to eat and then went to bed early, as we were all exhausted from the previous week's worth of being busy and sleep deprivation.

The next day we made up a schedule for ourselves, bought delicious pastries at a bakery, and headed out into the sunshine for our adventure.

First on the list was a visit to the German science and technology museum, which was situated on its own island! They didn't have quite as many interactive exhibits as they had advertised, but it was still fun to wander around and learn about THINGS. One of my favorite rooms was full of oooooooold old old pianos and organs. They also had a textile section with lots of old looms, which made me think of Mom.

One of the windows in the museum gave us a pretty view of the clouds rolling over the Munich skyline.


After the museum and some delicious falafel, we made our way to the Residenz museum, the sparkly chateau home to all the ruling dukes and lords of Bavaria. It was quite spectacular and so huge that I really thought it would never end. The first room was my favorite - it opened out onto a courtyard and the entire back wall was decorated with intricately mosaiced shells.

There was a little Weinachtsmarkt going on inside one of its several courtyards.

There were several rooms filled with old religious relics. This is claimed to be the skull of John the Baptist! They had his mother's, too. (They looked the same - must be true!)


The third part of our adventure was going up in the huge TV tower that towers over the city. I would have liked to have been there with some daylight, but there isn't much chance of that at these coordinates. It was incredibly windy and we didn't stay long, though I still enjoyed the view. The big buildings seen here are part of the BMW World.

Once our feet found the ground again, we headed back to the Weinachtsmarkt at the Rathaus for a picnic of giant pretzel and fruit, which we consumed in the empty fountain in front of the Frauenkirche.


Then it was time for Sarah's birthday chocolate-covered banana, hot chocolate, and hot Honigmilch. Then sleep. Then six hours on a train headed north.

This week in Hamburg is another busy one with lots of homework, theater, and a wonderful Hilary visiting. I'll update about Prague as soon as I can.