Tag:munich old town

Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2

We travelled to the arctic circle, Cairns, Qld, NZ, Melbourne, Stonehenge, and Norway on the first part of our imaginary travel journey. Then, we left Norway and sailed across to Greenland, continuing our imaginary journey. Finally, with a white wolf as our guide and a nosey penguin demanding to know why we were breaking quarantine, we observed the passage of Jupiter and Saturn across a dawn sky.

Imaginary Travel in Lockdown
Greenland with Photoshop and Luminar 4

Before leaving Greenland, we checked in on the polar bears we repatriated. Two of them were off hunting, but we spent a pleasant half-hour with Brutus. Unfortunately, he had stayed behind due to an injured toe (he’d stubbed it on the nosy penguin).

in the arctic circle - Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2

We said goodbye to Brutus, ducked out on the nosy penguin, and sailed to Paris. We planned to shoot a sunset from the top of the Eiffel tower during the annual migration of the Dodo bird. Being an imaginary travel journey, our planning and timing worked perfectly with no real-life nasty border problems, and we arrived just in time to catch them fly past.

paris at sunset from top deck of eiffel tower Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2
Sunset from the top of Eiffel tower during dodo migration – Luminar 4

From Paris, we took the train to Munich, just in time to catch the second wave of Dodo’s as they flew past. Our view from the top of the town hall clock tower was superb.

munich at sunset from top of town hall clock tower Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2
Munich sunset during dodo migration with Luminar 4

After a few beers in a German beer hall, we climbed the narrow staircase to the attic and went through the wardrobe to Wilsons Prom, where Aslan was waiting for us.

through the wardrobe to narnia
Wilson Prom with Aslan and Photoshop

We strolled along the beach with Aslan and listened to how things were going in Melbourne (badly), but he felt the tide was turning, and it was time to go. With that, we hopped in our boat and made our way to Kangaroo Island. Our guide this time was Gandalf. He had just arrived via eagle express and, knowing the SA police would be on our tail for sneaking in a back way. He was anxious to be on our way.

remarkable rocks on kangaroo island Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2
Remarkable Rocks KI, with Photoshop and Luminar 4
seal bay on kangaroo island Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2
Seal Bay KI with Luminar 4

We travelled around Kangaroo Island for a few days – trying to look like locals and keeping to the backroads. Our last stop on KI was Seal Bay – a fabulous spot and final landfall before Antarctica – which we weren’t going to. We had enough of the cold in the arctic circle. So we were heading home now. One night at a curiously named hotel and then back to Melbourne.

We did wonder, though – if Hotel Hell would live up to its name or it was just a tourist trap.

checking into hotel hell Imaginary Travel in Lockdown 2020 Pt. 2
Checking into Hotel Hell – wonder what the beds are like? (edited in Photoshop)

That’s the end of our journey… I hope you enjoyed travelling with us.

Munich – The Fascinating Old Town

We headed for the ‘old town’ on our first morning in Munich.  Benedictine Monks settled the Old Town in the 700’s, and Munich (Munchen) means “by the monks”. Initially surrounded by medieval walls, it’s filled with historic beer halls, museums, medieval churches, and the royal Residenz. It was heavily bombed during WWII, but after the war, Munich elected to rebuild and restore the historic part of the town rather than create a new modern city on the spot (as happened in Berlin and Frankfurt)

Karlsplatz Square

While cars do enter in parts, it’s primarily pedestrian plazas. Everywhere you look, there is something historic to photograph or explore. We passed through Karlsplatz Square and then through the medieval city gates built in 1337.

Karlsplatz Square
Karlsplatz Square

Fountain Boy sits just inside the New House City Gate.  Initially, the fountain was built in the middle of Karlsplatz Square in 1895. However, it was moved to the pedestrian zone right before the 1972 Olympics.  It depicts a naked boy shielding his face as Satyr (a drunk Greek woodland God) spits water at him.  Legend has it that the Munich citizens were outraged that a leaf didn’t cover the boys’ privates, but it’s since become one of the favourite fountains.

statues are everywhere
Statues are everywhere
Citizens Hall

The first stop on our walk was the Citizen’s Hall (built in 1810).  It stands out among the neighbouring buildings with a bright pink facade, but the interior’s gold-accented altar truly dazzles.  The altar and painted frescoes were added in 1778 when Citizen’s Hall was converted into a church. Unfortunately, it was heavily damaged in WWII, and as a result of the careful rebuild, it looks the same now as it did in the 1700s.

Citizens Hall
Citizens Hall
St Michaels Church
Saint Michael's Church
Saint Michael’s Church

From the Citizens Hall, we visited Saint Michael’s Church. Constructed in 1588, the vast interior has a barrel-vaulted roof and claims it is the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps.  Saint Michael’s Church is so large it served as the head of the Catholic Church’s Counter-Reformation efforts in the 1500s. Unfortunately, because of damage from the war, Saint Michael’s Church wasn’t rebuilt with the same over-the-top stucco interior as many other churches in Munich have. But it’s well worth seeing.  The bronze sculpture of St Michael fighting a demon-like protestant stands over the building entrance.  Interestingly, it was the only part of the church’s facade that survived the bombing of WWII.

munich old town
more statues

The rows of re-created statues at the front of the church portray the Counter-Reformation, an anti-Protestant movement in the late 1500s in which Saint Michael’s Church was the centre.

Saint Michael's Church
Saint Michael's Church
Saint Michael’s Church
Bears in Bavaria

Walking further along, we came to the Hunting and Fishing museum with its Bronze Boar in front. We waited for ages to get an image of the boar. Everyone stopped to get their photo taken with it.  It seems hunting boar, and fishing is very popular in Germany.  Finally, we got our shots and moved on.

The museum also houses the last bear shot in the Bavarian forests, preserved by taxidermy.  One of the guides told us the woods used to be full of bears, but there had been no bears in the forest since 1836.  They didn’t know why. Finally, one solitary bear turned up (after 170 years) in 2006 and enjoyed swimming in the lakes, eating honey and killing the odd sheep for seven weeks. However, a group of hunters shot him dead as a ‘risk to humans.  And they wonder where the bears went. 

“It’s not that we don’t welcome bears in Bavaria. It’s just that this one wasn’t behaving properly,” Otmar Bernhard, an official with Bavaria’s environment ministry, said.

The Guardian News
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Town Hall

Facing the main square (Marienplatz), the massive ‘new’ town hall is stunning and impressive. This was built in order to accommodate the bureaucracy of the growing population of Munich. Taking over 40 years to build, construction started in 1867.  It has six courtyards and over 400 rooms.  Dominating the facade is a two-story, 280ft tall glockenspiel complete with 43 bells making it the largest in Germany.

the new town hall
the new town hall
the new town hall
the new town hall
new town hall

While the figures in the clock look small (due to the structure’s height), they are, in reality, life-sized.  The town hall was largely spared during the bombing in WWII, with only the roof burnt off and some statues damaged.  We took the elevator to the top of the tower you see above to see the view over the old town.

view from the top
View from the top
view from the top
you can see for miles
view from the top
View from the top
The Fish Fountain

Outside the new town hall, in the square, is the Fish Fountain.  The fountain has been there since the 1400s, was given a three-storey makeover in 1860 and was levelled by the bombings in WWII. However, three butcher boy statues from the 1860 makeover were recovered and reused in a new fish fountain built in 1954.

fish fountain
fish fountain
Munich Old Town
fish fountain

The huge Holy Ghost church was built as a chapel in 1392 in the Hospice of the Holy Ghost, a medieval order flourishing in the 1300s. In 1724 the church had a makeover when beautiful frescoes were added to the ceiling by the Asam brothers. When in 1885, the hospice was demolished, it also allowed the church to expand.  WWII bombings left only the original choir, buttresses, and North wall of the nave intact. 

Munich Old Town
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This was my favourite church and ceiling we saw. The stunning ceiling murals have been recreated, the columns are topped with pink moulding, and around the church are seven large paintings depicting the “Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.”

Munich Old Town
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The Church of Our Lady, with the twin onion domes, dominates the Munich skyline (there are many churches in Munich).  Within the Old Town, a building height restriction ensured the towers would be seen, which was extended throughout the entire city in 2004 as skyscrapers started to pop up.

Munich Old Town
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The church on the site was demolished in the 15th century, and the graveyard was removed to make way for a larger church.  All the tombstones were then incorporated into the outside walls of the building. 

Munich Old Town
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St Peters

This would have been the most ornate, over the top church I visited.  There was gold everywhere, and the 18th-century gilded altar was ostentatious beyond belief.  A service had just concluded when we entered, and the priest had a field day swinging the incense.

Munich Old Town
St Peters
Munich Old Town
the alter at St Peters
Munich Old Town
St Peters ceiling

Opera and Theatre were always ‘big’ in Munich (Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Handel, Strauss, Wagner, anyone?), and Munich hosted theatre and opera performances since the early 1600s.  When the original hall burnt down in 1825, King Maximilian I built the current Greek columned opera house in 1825.  The 2100-seat opera house was the largest in Europe at its opening.  When mad king Ludwig II came to power, he expanded the opera house as he was obsessed with Wagner.  Like many buildings in the old town, it was reduced to rubble during the WWII bombings but was fully restored to its former glory.

Munich Old Town
Munich Old Town
yet more statues

Maps: we used an excellent free printable walking map Big Boy Travel

© Bevlea Ross