After an uneventful flight (those are the best kind) we landed a bit early in Munich. I was lucky that the plane was not so full and I could stretch out on three seats in the middle section for several hours. Munich was in the midst of a heat wave (90+ degrees high each day). Another plane from the Middle East landed just before ours so getting through immigration was uncharacteristically chaotic considering this is Germany. Our luggage was waiting for us after the passport delay and we were promptly picked up by friend Ali Tezgor.
We cleaned up and ate some breakfast at his and Ozge's apartment. This is a pleasant and modern flat in a very nice location. We decided to walk to one of Munich's top attractions - the Nymphenburg Palace. This walk took us through the peaceful and appealing Hirschgarten - a green space with a small herd of tame deer within. This is also home to the largest beer garden in Bavaria (and that is saying something).
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| Randy and Ali on the balcony of Casa Tezgor with some late breakfast |
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| I am in front of Casa Tezgor |
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| The cute but lazy deer (it was hot!) in the Hirschgarten |
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| A baby deer heads for Mom |
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| One of the attractive buildings on the walk to the Palace Nymphenburg |
We reached the palace and strolled through the baroque rooms with their equally baroque paintings. Not my favorite style but impressive for what it is. Taking a brief view of the extensive gardens out back we walked back along the way we came. This time we stopped at the famed Hirshgarten beer garden and drank some pilsner and ate some sausage and sour kraut. Getting our true German fix out of the way, we piled in Ali's car and went to the city center.
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| Randy and I in front of the aforementioned palace |
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| A panoramic of the palace area |
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| One of the ceilings in this baroque masterpiece |
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| A selfie in the main hall of the palace |
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| One of the ladies adorning the "Hall of Beauties" - this one in Turkish dress |
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| One of two impressive lions at the palace rear exit |
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| The back of the palace seen from the garden |
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| The German flag waives in the hot breeze |
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| A swan mother with her four babies (cygnets, I think) |
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| A Maypole from the Hirschgarten beer garden |
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| Lunch in the beer garden - by the way, these are the "small" beers |
Our object was the Alte Pinakothek - one of the finest museums in Europe. It contains a huge collection of old masters especially by German and Flemish painters. Part of it was closed for renovation but fortunately the best of those paintings were shown as a special exhibit on the ground floor. We took the car for a look from the outside of the famed English Garden which looked to be very large, very wooded and very full of young people swimming in the small river that runs through it. Then we headed to our hotel - the Holiday Inn Munich South. The international hotel chains are ridiculously expensive in Munich and this seemed like the best combination of comfort and affordability. We checked into our very large two room suite with two full bathrooms (yea!). I took a brief swim in the indoor pool to try to relieve jet lag (it didn't work but it did cool me off). It started raining in the mean time and we relaxed in the suite until Ali and Ozge picked us up for dinner.
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| Randy walks to the Alte Pinakothek |
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| We went by the Technical University of Munich, one of two large universities in the city |
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| Hitler's headquarters building in Munich - now a performing arts high school |
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| Durer's famous and compelling self portrait at the museum |
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| A Rembrandt at the museum |
We went to a restaurant on the same square as the opera - Kuffler. It was lovely sitting outside in the air cooled by the earlier rain and we enjoyed German sauvignon blanc with pasta with truffles (!) for Ozge and I, a salad for Ali and salmon for Randy. The food was not delivered promptly but we almost didn't mind as the evening weather was so nice. When we finally finished dinner, the nearby theater and opera had both just let out so we took a brief stroll before loading in the car for drive to the hotel. A very full first day in Munich - tomorrow - Austria!
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| Ozge and Randy in front of the Munich opera house, rebuilt after the bombing of World War II |
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| On the terrace at dinner with views across to the opera house and theater |
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| Ali, Randy, Ozge and me at dinner - notice random bird friend on the windowsill |
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| Randy reads in our suite living room - his new murder mystery which he is very into |
