Friday, April 13, 2012

(Finally have internet so posting notes from the past couple of days) 

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Our first full day in Munich. We went to the palace where the Wittlesbach family ruled Bavaria for centuries.  The house has been turned into a museum showcasing not only the royal dwelling areas, when they weren't at their other castles, but also a large selection of their huge collection of paintings, porcelain and statues. Poor Ludwig II didn't like this palace much so he had to build all the others in the Alps as well.  

The ancestry hall was one of the coolest things. There were portraits of people in the Wittlesbach family line way back to 818 BC. How did they know what they looked like? We couldn't tell when they were painted or by whom. A couple of interesting points though. Each image was hastily cut out of the hanging frames during WWII to preserve them. They were stored somewhere away from the city until after the war was over.   Also, according to the tree the Wittlesbach family claim to the throne goes back to Charlemagne in Rome. Who knows if that's true but interesting.

Statue in the courtyard. He's holding Medusa's head. 

I don't remember who this is supposed to be but the shadows were cool. 

Of course my favorite room was the Music Room. The furniture and musical instruments in the room belonged to King Max I, crazy Ludwig's father. He ruled as elector from 1799-1806 then as king from 1806 -1825. 

The Spinet piano and harp were beautiful!

For lunch we had to experience the Hofbrau House.  The place is friggen huge and the beers are even huger! I drank 2 liters of beer.  Not all in one sitting of course but still! I am going to need to run so many miles when I get home to work off all this food and beer! 

The beer is as big as my head!

In our drunken state we tried on traditional German clothes and spent too much money on them! I have a dirndl and Nate has liederhosen.  Someone needs to have an Octoberfest party so we have an excuse to wear them. hahah.

After an afternoon nap we headed out again to get more beer and heavy food at another brewery.  

Sumo-San enjoyed the sauerkraut especially.