An Afternoon in Munich

We stayed in Regensburg until about 2:30. Then drove to Munich, about 2 more hours away. It was rainy the whole way. We drove through lots of hops fields. I’ve never seen those anywhere but in Moxee, WA. We checked in to our hotel, then headed out in the rain, walking about 20 minutes to the old city center part of town.

We spent the rest of the day there, visiting the old churches, the palace complex, the New Rathaus, the town squares. All in a steady drizzling rain.

The first bridge was constructed here in 1156-1158.

Here’s a shop just for Lederhosen! There are lots of traditional clothing stores in Bavaria.

This church looked interesting, so we went in. There was a beautiful art installation with paper doves of peace.

Here’s what the church looked like after being bombed in WWII:

We continued on to Marienplatz in the heart of this city of 1 million people.

The famous clock tower:

Next week Oktoberfest begins. I’m glad we dodged that! Here’s a bit about what is coming:

Oktoberfest’s roots can be traced back to 1810 in Munich, which is in the Bavarian region of Germany. On October 12th of that year, the future King Ludwig got married and invited the entire city to attend the celebration, which included a large feast and horse races.

Wikipedia: Oktoberfest is the world’s largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October, with more than six million international and national visitors attending the event. Locally, it is called d’Wiesn, after the colloquial name for the fairgrounds, Theresienwiese. Oktoberfest is an important part of local culture, having been held since the year 1810. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations that are modeled after the original Munich event.

During the event, large quantities of Oktoberfest Beer are consumed: in 2014, 7.7 million litres (2,000,000 US gal) were served.[1][2] Visitors also enjoy numerous attractions, such as amusement rides, side stalls, and games. There is also a wide variety of traditional foods available.