After a wonderful dinner at Werneckhof by Geisel, we slept soundly. I of course, woke pretty early and just checked email, worked on a post, downloaded some photos. After the Missus woke, I went out and grabbed some coffee, organized stuff and then headed on out. While making some broad plans, I noticed that even though many places are closed on Sunday...which this day was, Museums in the Kunstareal ("Art District"), the city's Museum Quarter charged just 1€ admission! The Missus has been dreaming of travelling to Egypt and our last visit to the Louvre, where we spent most of the visit at the Department of Egyptian Antiquities added fuel to the fire. I told Her Munich had an Egyptian Museum....so of course we had to visit.
So, we headed off....it was a nice day....Sunday at the end of May seemed to be pretty quiet......
We knew we were close when we passed the Propylaea, a large city gate built in 1862 modeled after the Propylaea in Athens which is the gate to the Acropolis.
The main street, Gabelsbergerstrasse is very wide making things look a lot grander.
The Egyptian Museum looks kinda strange at first glance - big and boxy.
And there was this sculpture basically in front of the museum.
At first glance I was a bit puzzled; I actually told the Missus, "why is there a sculpture of what looks like a guy barfing in front of the museum?" After doing a bit of research, I found that this work is named Present Continuous by Henk Visch. If you want to know more, you can read this.
Upon paying our Euro and entering the museum, I got the design......it's to give you the impression you're entering an ancient tomb.
We loved the lighting, the nice spacing between exhibits, and there were just a few people in the place!
There are routes marked on the floors and it was just a fun place to visit.
And the Missus of course reminded me that I owe Her a trip to Egypt.
One of these days......
Right across the street is the Alte Pinakothek ("Old Art Gallery") and since it was only going to cost us a Euro and didn't look crowded we decided to check it out.
The collection features works by Raphael, Leonardo, Botticelli, Rembrant, and Rubens.
The Flemish paintings really caught my eye - like the Two Satyrs by Rubens (to the right).
And the Satyr and the Peasants by Jacob Jordaens. (below)
Things were starting to get crowded, so it was time to head off to lunch.
Like I mentioned earlier in this post....it seems like a lot of restaurants near the city center are closed on Sunday. I'd managed to find a place that wasn't too fancy; it was a sibling of a Michelin Starred Restaurant, and got some reservations for 230 in the afternoon. Which meant we could take our time walking there.
We headed South East, passing the distinctive Obelisk....apparently this was built to commemorate Bavarian Soldiers who fought with Napoleon's Army against Russia.
Then past the Statue of Max Joseph von Pettenkofer in Maximiliansplatz.
Then headed back up Amalienstrasse taking right turn on Theresienstrasse, noting that all the shops were closed and found Bar Mural....which was also pretty quiet.
Bar Mural was basically a wine bar, with a small eight item menu....stuff like Egg Benedicts.....Pastrami Sandwiches.....and the like. We decided to just get a couple of things....after all, we had a biergarten in our sights for dinner.
We got the cheese plate and the 63 Degree Egg with Tomato Compotte…...it was just meh......
The cheese was the wrong temp...too cold.
The egg was fine; the tomato compote adding some nice acidity, but this was underseasoned and kind of bland overall.
Bar Mural
Theresienstrasse 1
München, Germany
We decided to check out Marienplatz before heading back to the apartment for a nice afternoon nap. There was one thing I as kinda curious to see. It's that statue pictured to the right; it's of composer Orlando di Lasso. But look at the bottom of the statue...recognize anything? Yes....that's photos of Michael Jackson. According to Atlas Obscura, soon after Michael Jackson's death folks started laying flowers and wreaths at the base of this monument. Why? Well, there's no relationship between Jackson and di Lasso; rather this is because Jackson's favorite hotel in Munich; the Bayerischer Hof Hotel is right across the street. So this is better known as the "Michael Jackson Memorial" these days. Go figure....
Nearby is this interesting "statue".
It's an aluminum statue of Bavarian Statesman Maximilian Joseph Von Montgelas, aka "Maximilian Karl Joseph Franz de Paula Hieronymus de Garnerin de la Thuile, Count von Montgelas".....whew, can you imagine that signature?
As we headed to Marienplatz, we noticed police, road blocks, and could hear music playing. When we got to Marienplatz, we notice a very large, but really peaceful crowd.
We noticed folks.....adults, children, and even dogs and cats dressed in red jerseys. And then some folk appeared on the balcony of the Town Hall. Apparently, the local Football (Soccer) Team, FC Bayern had won the their league championship. It as great to see a large crowd, relaxed, mellow, celebrating with their local team.
It was a fun scene......Munich was turning out to be much more than we thought it would be!
Thanks for stopping by!
interesting city:)
Posted by: kat | Friday, 17 July 2020 at 01:28 AM
It is Kat! I know Satoshi was taking German classes...so he could probably put it to good use here! ;O)
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 17 July 2020 at 07:31 AM
The museum has some cool art!
Posted by: Soo | Friday, 17 July 2020 at 12:25 PM
Yes they do Soo....and at only 1 Euro admission on Sunday...what a bargain!
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 17 July 2020 at 12:36 PM