On Sundays the shops are closed and the museums are 1 euro each to enter. With this in mind we decided to see how many we could do in a day… ah not many 😅.. ”twas a bit hot and we had a late start!

Our first point of call was the beautiful St. Peter’s Church, the first church is this location was in 1158 with monks living around the surrounding areas. We heard a lot about these monks who are fine brewers of beer and the nuns were the brewers of schnapps. One story we heard yesterday was about the year that the monks decided for Lent that they were going to give up beer, but this was way to tough and so it was acceptable to have just one ale a day. All of those years giving up chocolate…ah I should have lived in Munich!

Anyway I digress it is a beautiful Church which has a fab Bell Tower that is 91 metres high and has 300 steps.

Our next stop was to be the Munich Residence however on the way we went past the Odeonsplatz. This is a big square and was initially designed as an entrance piece to the Royal residence. This square was traditionally used for parades and public events. In 1923 there was a Nazi march here where four police officers were killed and 16 Nazis. During the period of the Third Reich there was an annual march here and where all passers by where made to honour with the Hitler salute.

One of the best stories from our tour yesterday was in relation to a fire at the Munich Opera House about 200 years ago. Unfortunately there was no available water and so a decision was made that they would douse the flames with beer. So a chain of people starting at to form from the Hofbrauhaus brewery to the Munich Opera House. The only problem with this was that at the time Hofbrauhaus beer was only available to the royal family and I guess invited guests. So yep even though the number of helpers continued to grow throughout the night very little of the beer actually made it to the fire site and the building burnt down..it has been rebuilt see below 😂.

And finally to the Royal Palace in the Munich Residence, it wasn’t a euro today… but that was okay. Before the arrival of the kings of Bavaria (1806 – 1918), the residence was a political and cultural centre from way back in the 1600’s. it is huge place and has an amazing number of beautiful treasures. During each of our visits to residences and museums everywhere there have been many examples of relics that have bones in them and this palace is no different. It’s a bit creepy but apparently there are a number of “first class relics” here which means that the contain the physical remains of a saint or a martyr.. The place is stunning with not all parts of it being bombed by the Allies. We took the audio guide which was great as it gave us the context as so many different people have lived or worked here and put their own spin on things. In the areas that had been destroyed or severely impacted by the bombings the rebuild is acknowledged and is quite simple and tasteful.

I was particularly taken by the Queens Salon and throne room, some nice ideas for the “good room” at home. 👸

There were also some sensational place settings, everything old becomes new again, a little bit Villeroy and Boch’.

When Steve was ready to leave (probably an hour before I was), he headed off and then ages later came looking for me as it was a bit “Hotel Californiaesq” as the staff kept sending him in circles.

“I had to find the passage back to the place I was before

‘Relax’ said the night man,

‘We are programmed to receive.

You can check out any time you like,

But you can never leave!’

When we did leave it was almost 3.00 so we had a late lunch at a beerhall close by and then headed to get a Marvel fix…do yourself a favour “Ant man and Wasp”, it’s corny but just what we needed on a hot afternoon.