Munich

Munich and I are going to have to give things another shot sometime, cause this didn't work out so well.  I want to love Munich. There is so much potential there, this just wasn't the right time. 

First, the city is under massive construction.  I believe they are adding transit lines.  It made walking around challenging.  Sometimes you had to detour blocks out of the way to find a crosswalk.  The art museum was half closed, and of course it was the half I wanted

Second, it rained.  A lot.  There were showers every day, and one day was a total washout. That made it hard to really enjoy my time there.  It also closed the beer gardens. 

Third, I wasn't feeling great and had to force myself out, in the rain, to see things.  Overall these combined to a fairly unpleasant three days. 

So I need to return to Munich, especially once the AltePinakoteca is complete.  They had some of their Renaissance works on display including a da Vinci, but there was no Botticelli. Tons of Reubens , though.  Nothing against the guy, but every museum has rooms of his work.  It's not that special.  It's like the IKEA of art- anywhere in the world you can find it and it looks the same. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.   I started Munich wth a delicious döner kebab dinner and grocery shopping at Aldi.  The next  morning started sunny,  so I got a multi day tram ticket and set off exploring.  I followed the Rick Steves's walking tour in the morning sun, soaking up the history at the town hall and old churches.   Most of Munich was bombed and rebuilt after WWII so it seemed sort of like fake history in many ways.   Especially the "medieval" quarter. It was interesting to see all the places where the Nazi party got started.  Scary interesting, honestly. 

It started to rain just as I finished the walking tour,  so I caught a bus to the art museum, with its half closed galleries. I was so disappointed because I've read about this museum for years of Renaissance research.  Oh well. I'll just have to return. 

Day two was a washout.

Day three it was still raining.  However,  I couldn't spend another day just sitting around.  I went to the Egypt museum first. It was incredible.  Museums are really evolving into wonderful learning spaces.  Interactive displays,  pull out drawers of textiles, mixed in recreated art to bring artifacts to life.... I love it.  This was a great museum.   I strongly recommend it. 

Then it was off to lunch and an afternoon at the Residenz, the local palace.  The crown jewels were lovely, the state rooms endless, and the audio guide very detailed.  It was a good rainy day distraction but not as exquisite as some other palaces I've seen. If I could redo, I'd go to the Deutches museum instead. 

At night I visited a beer hall, since the beer gardens were closed by rain, then packed up for the next destination.