We have just returned from a lovely weeks holiday staying with my cousin Graham and his wife Gabi and daughters, Daniela and Melanie in Munich.
4/10/12
We parked the car at the Jet Parks 3 car park at the airport, that worked out really well. We flew out on the Easy-jet flight which left Manchester at 13.10. We had a good flight and Graham was standing in arrivals waiting for us. Daniela was waiting in the car and she drove us home to Olching. What a lovely welcome we had from the whole family. We were made to feel at home and we had a welcome drink and a very nice meal.
5/10/12
Melanie went off to Passau today, she is at university there. We had a nice breakfast on a lovely sunny day. We then caught the train into town (the S-Bahn 3), with Graham and Gabi. It was fun as we heard Graham's voice being used for the English announcements on the train. We got out of the train in the centre of Munich, Marienplatz, the station is very close to the Rathaus Glockenspiel and at 11.00 we heard the chimes and watched the wonderful show. There was a super atmosphere in the square as visitors gathered to watch and listen. It gave you a very warm feeling. Gabi pointed a lot of things out to us like the old town hall, the Glockenspiel is on the new town hall. She also pointed out the oldest Church (St Peters Church )where the Monks came from, that is how Munich got its name, this church has a large gold alter. We visited this Church and took pictures. We popped into the Ratskella, this is very close to Philips heart. We then had a lovely cup of coffee above the row of butchers, from here you look over a part of the market and also the old hospital. Years ago there used to be a canal in front of the row of butchers, it used to get really smelly so it then became a road. We had a walk around this area and went into the old hospital which is beautiful it is called Church of The Holy Ghost, it dates from 1392 and has a Baroque and Rococo interior. In the old days a knight came along on horseback and fed bread to the poor. There is a painting on the ceiling showing the knight on his white horse.
There are many traditions in Bavaria and one of these is to give the poor bread at the same spot near the old hospital. All the villages and towns have their May Poles where the people celebrate together. There are many Churches and clocks in the city, towns and villages and you can hear the chimes all around you, very comforting.
For the next hour we enjoyed walking around the super market. The stalls are so colourful. The Viktuelienmarkt is divided into sections fruit and veg, cheese, deli, wine,flowers, plants,fish, chocolates, cakes, herbs and spices and more! The standard of these stalls is so high and we have taken lots of photos to try and show how wonderful they are. We even saw truffles and hundreds of wild mushrooms !! We saw the beer garden, they only sell one brewery's beer at a time and rotate the brewery's they use, Munich brewery's only, they keep it fair that way. We then had lunch, yes beer with roast pork, potato dumplings with red cabbage. Other people joined us at our table and we got chatting, we met some South African twins, one lived in London and he was having his stag party in Munich, his brother had just arrived in Munich from South Africa.
After lunch we went passed the Opera House, passed The Residenz, which is closed because of work they are doing, we saw some of the garden, We then saw where the university area is, then went into the Theatine Of St. Cajetan. this is Italian Baroque style. This is very close to Konigsplatz which was used as a Nazi marching ground.
We then got onto the tram and went to the camera shop to get a new battery for our camera. Our next stop was The Fairground which is where the Oktoberfest is held. This was packed with people, we went on the big wheel and got a super view from there, we tried to get into a tent but they were all full, Daniela and Melanie were in one of them!! After a while we gave up and went back into town to go to a beer garden there. That was fun and we sat on benches under the horse chestnut trees taking in the atmosphere with conkers all around us!!! We then went to a food hall and picked up snacks for supper and had a relaxing evening back at home.
6/10/12
We got up early to catch the train to Passau. It was another warm sunny day. We had to change trains in Munich. The fares are so reasonable within Bavaria, it cost us 38 euros and that was 4 of us !!! You can actually buy a group ticket and then wait in the station to find other people to join you, as long as you sit near them it is allowed. It is a 2 hour train ride and it goes through some interesting countryside seeing The Bavarian Forest in the distance. Once in Passau we walked to Melanie's flat which is a riverside house beside the River Inn, they live on the top floor. We met Daniel there. We had a beer and white sausage for lunch which was nice. It is a beautiful city and the Rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz meet, sometimes the rivers flood and there are marks on many walls!! It has a great atmosphere. We walked along the Inn to The Danube and saw some large boats moored there. We had to stop off at a cafe/ chocolate shop of course to sample some local food !!! It was very nice. We went to the Cathedral which has the largest organ in the world. As we left the Cathedral the large bells were peeling. Passau is only 2 miles from the Austrian border and there are several long distance cycle paths that pass through the town, we noticed 1 to Salzburg. It was now time to catch the train again and Melanie and Daniel came back to Munich with us. Once home Gabi and the girls cooked another lovely meal which included bread dumplings.
7/10/12
It was a wet start to the day. We had a lazy start. We all had lunch at the house and then the girls went off to the Oktoberfest in their traditional costumes. We caught the train later and managed to meet up with them in a beer tent. Gabi was also in her traditional costume, we all joined in with the fun standing on the benches with the girls and their friends. There were about 10,000 people in each tent and yet you feel quite safe. We caught the train back at about 10.30 to beat the crowd, the girls were a bit later.
8/10/12
After breakfast we went off with Gabi and Graham to Gabi's Parents home. The girls were going later as Gabi then had to go into work. It was Gabi's Mother's birthday. We just popped in to say hello, they don't speak any English, it was so nice to meet them.
Graham then took us to the BMW works which was interesting, we had a cup of coffee there and had a good look around. It is a must do when in Munich. There were 2 beautiful Rolls Royces there, they are still made in the Uk !! Gabi had been to the bakers early in the morning and bought some bacon and cheese rolls, we enjoyed eating these whilst sitting on a bench by the lake at the Olympic Park. We then went up the Olympic Tower and had some super views in all directions right across to the mountains in the far distance whilst looking south. The fast lift takes you up through the centre of the building and it is very well organise. We took lots of pictures.
We then went back to the car and Graham took us to Lake Starnberg, a lovely area, King Ludwig 2 drowned in a shallow area of this lake. Graham took us to a small hotel with a cafe right beside the lake. It was very nice just sitting outside, eating a piece of Plum Datchi with a cup of tea !! We then drove through Tutzing to a viewpoint which had good views of the mountains and also of some friendly cows, with bells on. We then drove home.
Because Gabi had been working, the girls prepared a very nice Thai curry for us all and a good evening was had by all.
9/10/12
Melanie wasn't well, Gabi went to work. We drove into town with Graham, Daniela and Melanie. Daniela took Melanie to the doctors and we parked the car where we could. Graham showed us other parts of the city including the very beautiful Asam Church. We also went to the Apple Store. We later met up with Daniela and Lucas at an Italian restaurant for lunch which was very tasty. Daniela had moved the car to outside the restaurant, we then all drove to Nymphenburg Palace. It was pouring with rain by this stage. We met Gabi here, she had brought the little car and many umbrellas !!! We looked in the shop and then went to the pottery. Beautiful and very expensive, a lady was buying a porcelain skull when we were there which cost her about 4,800 euros, she was taking it back to Brazil !!!
We then then moved the car back to near the Maxamillion restaurant where we had had lunch, got on the underground back into town. We had tea and fresh doughnuts at Schmalz Nudel, they were lovely, it is a place for the locals. We then we went back to the market to buy olives and treats for supper. We then went to Pfalzer Residenz Weinstube for a glass of wine. Lovely atmosphere, the locals go there to enjoy each others company and they sell food there also.
We then went back on the underground to go back to the car and then home.
We had nice evening enjoying the delights we had bought from the market.
10/10/12
We got up early and had breakfast. It was a dull day but non the less we set off towards Garmisch to spend a day in the mountains. We went to Linderhof Castle and enjoyed a tour there, it was splendid. That was 1 of King Ludwig 2 castles. By the time we came out it was pouring with rain and we could not see many mountains at all. It was a great shame as it is a stunning area. We saw Castle Neuschwanstein in the haze, that had scaffolding on one side of it. We could see the lovely alpine villages and they were very pretty with flowers still out. We had lunch at Casthof Schweigner. Had a look around the lovely Church, all the Churches had harvest displays near the alter which were quite splendid. We then started our homeward journey which took 2 hours.
We had a quick turnaround as we had a meal booked at the Ratskella in town for 7.00. After a quick change, we all caught the train into town. We really had a wonderful meal all together and all had different dishes. It was great fun.
11/10/12
Did our packing and then went into Olching with Graham. Had a good look around this little town and looked in at the nice chocolate shop, things were very tempting. We thought that the standard of the food in all the shops we saw was so high the displays were lovely. Even a little town like Olching has 3 super small bakers shops which all sell a whole array of beautiful breads. Went home, had a glass of sherry and then lunch.
It was soon time to go to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Gabi and Daniela. We had such a lovely holiday and sampled a lot of Bavarian dishes many of which were made by Gabi, and some by the Girls, thank you. We also had lots of opportunities to see Munich and other parts of Bavaria, thank you Graham for all the driving and you all for all the planning, our personal tour guides !!!
Melanie drove us to the airport with Graham and we had a good flight home arriving at about 19.30
